Laptop spill

BraziliaNZ

Hi about 2 months ago some drunken idiot spilled a glass of red wine on my laptop keyboard while it was switched on, I didn't switch it off just turned it upside down and hoped it would dry, stupidly enough... Anyway now when I go to switch it on the power button just goes green for a sec then it goes out again, nothing tries to boot. When I plug it into the wall the power light comes on on the laptop too. I assume it short circuited. The hard drive looks ok when i took it out and I was able to read data on it on another machine. As it's a new laptop I would like to get it fixed. Is it possible? What would they have to do, replace the whole motherboard? Would it cost as much as a new laptop? Thanks

Black_Knight

I would of though if it was going to break after a coating of wine, it would break pretty quickly. Not wait 2 months to give you grief.
It sounds to me like the battery is dead, the whole "power button just goes green for a sec then it goes out again" leads me to this.
Is it charging? Take the battery out and plug it into the wall, then try starting it.
Other wise.... could be the motherboard, not sure what the cost of one of those is.

How old is the Laptop? No warranty left on it no?

Only thing with red wine and a warranty is, liquid damage probably wont be covered, and red wine is not subtle! Either risk just sending it back to them with fingers crossed, or open it up (but dont break any seals) and remove the red taint on your motherboard, then send it off.

dango

Is it on your home insurance?

Overheal

make the eejit pay for the repairs. get in touch with the manufacturer, tell them what happened and theyll give you an estimate as to what it will cost

Fuzzy Clam

This here eejit did the same.
Even after drying out it wouldn't boot.
I voided my warrenty by stripping the laptop and cleaning all traces of dried red wine using iosopropyl alcohol and cotton buds (mainly around the power switch circuit).
I had to repeat the procedure a couple of times but it worked so you may be lucky and the damage mightn't be severe.

BraziliaNZ

yeah I just haven't had the money to get it fixed, but that laptop was/is like a baby to me, I love the thing . It keeps me sane while away from home. I got some dinero coming soon so hopefully they'll be able to do something. If a motherboard is fried, does that mean the graphics card, processors and all that stuff are fried too? I don't know a lot about hardware fellers

JæKæ

I spilled water on my laptop a few months ago, all over the keyboard. Just so happened that I had the right screwdriver to take it apart. So turned it off, stripped it into its components and left it to dry for 3 hrs.
Worked like a dream

I know Dell would do a collect and return on this, as it's hard to say what components need replacing. There's probably so many parts it needs, that it'd be better to get a 2nd hand one in the buy and sell or ebay

BraziliaNZ

yeah but this one was really new and powerful

JæKæ

Might be worth repairing so-is it under warranty at all? The high end warranties cover accidental damage like that.

BraziliaNZ

i don't think it is anymore - the thing is the dell website is a f*cking nightmare, and I bought it in NZ and am now living in Australia. If I take it into some computer repair shop here could they fix it? or would they need to get all the required parts from Dell?