Laptop gone due to water damage - use parts for new laptop?

sheroman01

Water got onto my laptop. I dried it out over a few days, reassembled it and unfortunately it's still not turning on. The laptop is only 1 year old and has an i5 processor, SSD and 8GB ram. If all of these are still in working order, am I best off buying a cheap or second hand laptop and just putting my parts into it? Or is that easier said than done?

you could only use the ram and ssd if they are working

the cpus in laptops are soldered in to the motherboard and have 0 resale value really.

unless you could verify that the complete motherboard is working then you might be able to sell that.

not sure how you would go about that tbh - you'd likely need an identical unit to do so and take it apart completely.

august12

sheroman01 wrote:

Water got onto my laptop. I dried it out over a few days, reassembled it and unfortunately it's still not turning on. The laptop is only 1 year old and has an i5 processor, SSD and 8GB ram. If all of these are still in working order, am I best off buying a cheap or second hand laptop and just putting my parts into it? Or is that easier said than done?

Check with your house insurance provider, some will cover this type of damage and may replace. If covered, check if your renewal will increase.

sheroman01

glasso wrote: »

you could only use the ram and ssd if they are working

the cpus in laptops are soldered in to the motherboard and have 0 resale value really.

glasso wrote: »

unless you could verify that the complete motherboard is working then you might be able to sell that.

not sure how you would go about that tbh - you'd likely need an identical unit to do so and take it apart completely.

Yep, will check that first of course. Was thinking the CPU would be the biggest problem. More than likely that's gone so, but can get someone to confirm. A shame if it is indeed gone or not worth selling.

august12 wrote: »

Check with your house insurance provider, some will cover this type of damage and may replace. If covered, check if your renewal will increase.

It happened in the flat that I'm renting. A massive leak in the ceiling caused it. Very, very frustrating. I don't think tenants are usually insured under tenancies for things like this but I'm meeting her tonight so let's see how that goes...I won't get my hopes up!

Pawwed Rig

sheroman01 wrote: »

It happened in the flat that I'm renting. A massive leak in the ceiling caused it. Very, very frustrating. I don't think tenants are usually insured under tenancies for things like this but I'm meeting her tonight so let's see how that goes...I won't get my hopes up!

Generally landlord insurance will only cover the LL's stuff so unless you have tenant insurance (which I assume you don't) you are stuffed here.

My wife spilt water on my laptop on Monday. Not turning on now either and ya know I was meaning to back everything up at some stage. Think the last time I did it was 3 years ago. Hopefully the HD can be recovered.

the screen might have a small resale value also.

might be worth taking out the ram and ssd and then putting the rest up on ebay as one item.

Alanstrainor

I'd forget even selling it, if you do you'd have to mark it as water damaged. I doubt it would be worth too much. I would probably take it all apart and clean it with isopropyl alcohol for one last go at recovering it. Chances of recovery are very slim though.

sheroman01

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I'd forget even selling it, if you do you'd have to mark it as water damaged. I doubt it would be worth too much. I would probably take it all apart and clean it with isopropyl alcohol for one last go at recovering it. Chances of recovery are very slim though.

I've heard about trying isopropyl alcohol to fix it alright. How does that work exactly? If it has indeed been short circuited, could isopropyl alcohol work?

what water actually usually does if there wasn't a complete short circuit is leave a deposit of impurities on circuits that may stop them working.

isopropyl alcohol may dissolve these.

I actually bathed a phone entirely in isopropyl alcohol once and it did seem to fix it.

that's not practical with a laptop

I guess using cotton buds might be the way to clean /apply

but the circuit board is so much bigger on a laptop.

a last-chance saloon type effort really that probably won't work.

sheroman01

glasso wrote: »

what water actually usually does if there wasn't a complete short circuit is leave a deposit of impurities on circuits that may stop them working.

isopropyl alcohol may dissolve these.

I actually bathed a phone entirely in isopropyl alcohol once and it did seem to fix it.

that's not practical with a laptop

I guess using cotton buds might be the way to clean /apply

but the circuit board is so much bigger on a laptop.

a last-chance saloon type effort really that probably won't work.

Thanks for the info and help! Yeah its a very slim chance alright but might try it anyway.

Pawwed Rig

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

My wife spilt water on my laptop on Monday. Not turning on now either.

laptop started working again today after 3 days in a bag of rice.:)

sheroman01

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

laptop started working again today after 3 days in a bag of rice.:)

That's unreal, great to hear! I haven't tried mine in a few days. Will try it once more then try the rice, thanks for the update

Just to confirm, how did you do it exactly? Did you have the casing taken off, or left on?

Pawwed Rig

sheroman01 wrote: »

Just to confirm, how did you do it exactly? Did you have the casing taken off, or left on?

Left the casing on and just submerged in rice for 3 days.


Not all rosey though. Battery seems to be f*cked and mains losing power intermittantly. Might need to replace it anyway but have all my data and the laptop is 8 years old so probably overdue an upgrade at this point anyway. I'll see how it goes over the next couple of days.


Now I must dig out that external harddrive to back up all my data

Alanstrainor

Backup backup backup backup and backup immediately with whatever means possible!