Laptop + Spilt Alcohol = Bad

smiles

Yes, I spilt a lovely glass on Southern Comfort on top of my laptop LCD.

Nothing touched the rest of the laptop, but it seems some of the alcohol got in under the side of the screen, and created this lovely light blotchy corner.

It still boots, etc. but the screen flashes white every minute or two and will eventually fade to black, occasionally with weird lines of colour.

Anyone know any rescue ?

I'm lost without the thing for this week especially

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Stephen

A new screen will set you back at least 500 quid (Damage to screens is usually not covered under warranty). Do you have a 14 inch monitor or something you could plug into it if you really need it this week?

Redshift

The only thing I can think of is a strip down and removal of the lcd panel and soaking the affected corner in pure ethanol for a while to try and draw it out. The Spillage may have only gotten under the protective plastic on the front which you may be able to remove and clear out the gunk. As for the behaviour or the screen I think the spillage may have gotten onto the ribbon connector for the screen and could be causing bad contact / shorts ect carefull cleaning of that connector with ethanol may restore function. TBH I don't think it will be easy and you will probably end up replacing it but it's something you can try if you're up to it.

Capt'n Midnight

If you are going down the cleaning road.. (cotton buds are handy)
don't use pure alcohol - first it is bloody expensive (duty) and would only be going to waste. instead get isopropyl alcohol (pharmacy) (main ingrident in head cleaner - also good for keyboards) it will be much purer than meths/surgical spirits and not quite as harsh.

depending on the laptop of course, but the fluorescent light is usually on the right hand side of the screen, and has HIGH VOLTAGES in it so don't poke fingers there, also high voltages are not good for the screen electronics in a permenant way.

Gillo

You can start by backing up any important information on the laptop, beacuse;
1/ with liquid spills it can take awhile for damage to show (corrosion can be a slow process) its possible some liquid got down to the motherboard, processor etc
2/ while trying to fix the laptop there is a good chance you may accidently do more damage

Sorry for stating the obvious but I'm always amazed at the number of people who don't understand why you should back up.

Rew

Stop using it, take the battery/power cord out and put in the hot press to dry out.

Liquid + electricty = corrsion 1000% faster

Sounds like its shorting out at the min. Striping down is an option. Whats your warrenty like?

smiles

Well just after I posted that I turned the thing on again and now the screen just turns white and doesnt show anything at all, machine is still booting tho in the background.

I'm going to borrow a monitor for the time being.

Warrenty is out of date, but they tend not to cover liquid damage anyway, but my house insurance policy covers "accidental damage" to the amount of €1000 on "audio-visual equipment, electrical equipment and computers", so I think I am covered, thank God.

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Rew

Have you dried it out for a couple of days somewhwere warm? the damage will get worse the more you use it till then.

My warrenty covers accidental damage for 3 years was about €150 or extra.

Capt'n Midnight

Before you put in a claim for the notebook, check if it will cause your permium to go up in future - many small claims are simply "loans" since you end up paying it back in higher premiums.

smiles

Well, being me, I ended up doing nothing with the laptop and just left it sitting in my room while I worried about everything else.

I turned it on yesterday and while there is still a blotchy mark in the corner of the screen, it's working perfectly!

Planning on opening it to let it dry out properly, but some of the screws are pretty tight and i don't have the proper screwdriver yet.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice, I'm very relieved!

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