Water Spillage on Laptop, recovered.

Shamo

Had a bad night last night!

Accidently spilled half a pint of water on my Inspiron 8600, stupid I know, won't be having any water close to it anymore!

Anyway it was dripping, turned it sideways and the water was draining out.
Turned it off, unplugged everything, took out the battery, hdd, fan, ram, cdrw etc.
Unscrewed everything and opened the case slightly, turned it on it's side and put a room fan on it for an hour, then left it over night on it's side.

Woke up today, put the fan on it for a few minutes again and connected up everything.
Turned it on and it's working again!

Thought i'd post this for some advice if it ever happens to someone.

seamus

Lucky one.

Most water damage is caused when the machine is turned on again. Usually, water will cause two circuits to connect (which shouldn't connect) and cause a short, which could do any damage whatsoever.

For anyone who spills any liquid on any electrical component - if you're lucky enough that's it's turned off, don't turn it back on, take apart as much of it as you know how (and are comfortable doing - ie if it's a telly, chances are you could take it apart, but you've never done it before - not a good idea). If it's turned on, and hasn't instantly died, turn it off instantly. For a laptop, best not to press the off button, but to do a hard shutdown, removing both power supply and battery.

Then leave in a warm, dry, airy place for a long time.

oneweb

Originally posted by Shamo
opened the case slightly, turned it on it's side and put a room fan on it for an hour, then left it over night on it's side.

Just for reference, try not to apply excess temperatures as this could damage some components also. High force air might actually spread the water over parts that might not have already been covered too. If possible, try to leave dry at room temp or just above for as long as possible, no matter how desperate you may be to see if it still works!

Shamo

Originally posted by oneweb
Just for reference, try not to apply excess temperatures as this could damage some components also. High force air might actually spread the water over parts that might not have already been covered too. If possible, try to leave dry at room temp or just above for as long as possible, no matter how desperate you may be to see if it still works!

Yeah, the fan wasn't very powerful but got enough circulation around the motherboard to dry it out. I had it on hot for a while then i'd turn it onto cold for a while and so on for the hour. I didn't have the patience to leave it for a few days to dry it on it's own

So much water came out of the laptop at first I thought it'd never dry!

bambam

had the same thing happen but with a pint of beer !!

fooked up the keyboard royally. No probs I thought, I'll get a new one off Dell. I checked the US website and found the price to be about $30. So, I ring up Dell Ireland and they tell me that they don't do parts, period - I said WHAT !! and they say try "this" 3rd party company in England. Wait for it... the English company were charging 95 Sterling !! (maybe this should be in Rip off forum...)

Anyhow, I hunt around ebay.com. After many replies from sellers stating that they won't deliver outside the US, I found this great company who will. And what's better they charge around $30 for the keyboard --- www.rpctech.com

Oh and just to let you know how irresponsible/thick I am -- I spilled a glass of red wine on the new keyboard last week.. sigh

RicardoSmith

....never drink and surf...

oneweb

Originally posted by Shamo
I had it on hot for a while then i'd turn it onto cold for a while and so on for the hour.

Opps, I'm at it again Beware stressing the components by contracting/expanding them too much too fast that way.

Kazu

We all know what really happened