The laptop's been drinking

Scratchface

HI, I recently spilled a glass of wine over my laptop, I plugged it out straight away, and left it on the kitchen table to hopefully dry out. The 'other half', being unaware of the accident, came down the next morning and turned it on.
Smoke began to come out of everywhere with a really bad smell. The repair guy in PCworld said the mother board was probobly knackered, and HP's warranty would not cover accidental damage.
Is it really just fit for the bin or can anything be done with it.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Ruu_Old

You could attempt to locate a motherboard and try to repair it yourself. Whats the model of the laptop? Any idea if its dry or not?

Scratchface

I think it's dry by now, but there must be a lot of residue inside. It's a H.P. Pavillion but I dont have the model No. to hand. I can remove the memory and battery etc from the bottom, but I cant get the keyboard off. Any ideas ?

Ruu_Old

You probably should be able to remove the keyboard, theres just different locking or clamping mechanisms with each type of keyboard. I'm not sure about HP, have a look through your manual or maybe someone else with a similar laptop may be able to help. If you come across the model number post it up here.

Saruman

I repaired one a few months ago.. was staying with a friend in Cork.. his wife spilled COKE on it!!! Never came on since... (that was weeks before) Coke is very bad as its sticky...

anyway figured what the hell i will take a look.. was well dry after a few weeks. took it apart.. anyway half hour later i found a chip that was oxidised... got cotton buds and cleaned it off... bingo... was grand and worked fine.. there was an issue with charging the battery when i was there but i giess it sorted itself

On a side note... there is nothing stopping you contacting HP directly and tell them nothing You might get lucky and they may repair it. I think the repair centre is in santry...

Scratchface

Thanks for the advice. I have a freind who used to work for H.P. He said to contact them and play dumb, just say it stopped working.He gave me a number and I got through to Bombay, who switched me back to Milton Keynes repair centre. They troubleshooted it over the phone and sent a courier to my house to pick it up. Said it would be repaired and delivered back in ten days.

What will they say when they see the wine ? I'll say the courier was plastered when he arrived ! I'll let you know what happens.

JackKelly

You could take it apart and DIY clean it. There seems to be quite a high success rate. Read through the comments on this page.