My Laptop is Drunk

At least you did not spill tea / coffee / milk over the laptop! At the previous place I was working at one of our python developers split coffee over his laptop and the keys were sticky apart from the fact that he purchased a little USB keyboard for his laptop as he could not get his keyboard to work.

Also bad would have been cola or anything else sugary that gets sticky when dry. I guess technically that means it's not totally dry.

I spilt a little OJ into a laptop once. Luckily the spill was a bit further down the desk and only a little splashed in through the speaker grille on the side (the processor and HDD were on the other side). Taking it apart (I was suprised to find Dell had detailed maintenance manuals freely available) and cleaning it up made it work again.

My old laptop took a coke shower a few years ago. The right side of the keyboard had keys sticking for a long time and by far the key you cannot do without decides to die (yes, the backspace key).

Let's say I got pretty good at using the delete key combined with arrow keys to actually delete what I want. Talk about a pain.

My laptop got sticky from something else...

(puts on hardware tech hat)

For future reference, you can drive out most of the liquid from spills by liberal application of spray Tuner Cleaner (a/k/a Pot Cleaner). It is a spray liquid that evaporates easily and doesn't damage electronics.This works particularly well with sticky liquids (remember, sugar water conducts electricity). Buy Tuner Cleaner at any Radio Shack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=64-4315

You can avoid the problem in the first place by using one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00065C1H4/

Thanks for the advice. :-)

I think it must be unlucky laptop day today... I managed to crack the LCD screen on my Toshiba last night by tripping over the power cord and sending it flying...sigh

I have spilled water on my laptop twice and it still runs. Each time I shut it off and blow dry it for 3-4 hours. Then it takes a while, but it always seems to start. It's an old titanium powerbook.

I have one that had juice spilled on it.I used everything and not even a new keyboard will fix the problem.I was told that the juice short circuted the mother board because certain keys wont work at all.Some continously scroll forever.Some keep entering in the same letter as forever.This is a crying shame.Im glad it wasnt my laptop.If you use ceran rap plastic,it covers the keyboard and allows you to still freely type without ever worring about anything geting spilled into the laptop and it keeps out dust also.Take care all

HI. Earlier today i split water on my laptop and immediately unplugged it from the mains and wiped of any liquid, but even if i remove the batter and run it off the mains, it won't work. I have blow dried it with cold air for 5/10 mins and left it on its side to let any excess water drain out...
I dont want to tell my parents as this is my second laptop ina year...will it work again? and i think liquid got into the motherboard, so what if thats the case...? do i need to get it replaced? argh.
PLEASE HELP ME...
a skint and worried student! (email me as soon as possible PLEASE)

Hi, I also just spilled water on my laptop, and it was fine for a minute before it said it was logging off, then it shut down and hasn't come on again since. I've taken the battery out and dried to dry up any excess water but knowing my luck this thing will probably not work again. Am slitly paniced and and am completely and utterly screwed if my laptop is dead, it didn't make any frying noises or anything though, it merely said it was logging off then shut down so i'm hoping that's some sort of good sign..Am left now living on a vain little shrivel of hope that someone will have a miracle solution or if not then feel free to just lie and tell me everything will be ok cause this is just one seriously crappy day so far...

Hi! I got my friends laptop drunk last night by knocking off a full beverage into it. Unfortunately, everyone was in a state where reflexes weren't as quick as they should have been. My friend is now demanding that I replace it. Is there any chance it can be fixed. When I went to pick it up 24 hours later, it leaked liquid. NOT GOOD!!!!! Any advice would be appreciated.

I managed to spill fruit juice on my laptop - it was close at the time but some got on the keys.

When I tried to start it again it would not boot up. I managed to get it up and running, but know half the keys won't work. I have had to attach a keyboard to the laptop to type this.

Can anyone help?

Emily, the exact same thing happened to me, except that my laptop DID make frying noises. Very encouraging. I'm pretty panicked about this. It wasn't even a lot of water, and I dried it up as much as I could, and then went to bed, hoping it would be better by morning. It wasn't. I can't turn it on now. I'm really hoping it'll be okay in a couple of days, but I kind of doubt it. =(

Help. I split a little tonic water on my top righthand side of my dad laptop. Ergh. I tried blowdrying it and using the spray cleaner, any good proven methods of drying it? It's a dell inspiron 5100.

Yeah, I had my laptoop in storage while I was over seas for about a year... when I started it back up a week ago.. I found that 4 keys aren't working. 3, E, D, and C (I have to copy and paste each letter which is a total pain to instant message with)... Is there a way to just replace the key board in the laptop without buying a whole new computer?

I just managed to spill iced tea (sugar free, if that means anything) on my brand effing new laptop. It only got on one side of it, not over the whole thing. I unplugged it, but left it on while I dumped the tea out of it.. it worked first, but then proceeded to come up with an error screen that would not go away. Now, when I try to restart it, I get an error message saying the hard drive is not detected. I'm freaking out.. 1200 bucks and haven't even made a payment yet; is there any hope?? PLEASE help if you can

I have split water on my laptop twice, each time i removed the battery immediately shutting off the power supply and put it in the airing cupboard 4 atleast 24 hours. I didnt try to turn it on b4 the time was up and it works fine!! Tip - dont use a hairdryer you'll melt the keys and the components inside!!

A beer was spilled onto my laptop keyboard. Everything works fine other than the E key, O key, and the SPACE bar :(
Any advice???

Type your comment here.

After you submit the comment, check your email. There will be
a link you need to click to make your comment visible.

Your email address WILL NOT appear on the site, so don't worry
about being anonymous, even if you think you are (grumpY!).

I spilled about a half of a cup of water on my laptop. There was a small little spark in the middle of the keyboard and then it turned off. It will not turn back on. I am drying it out now and will try to turn it on in a few days. Does the spark mean the motherboard is dead? or could it just be a short circuit? Also, does anyone know price quotes for repairing these type of things? Any help is very appreciated.

i spilled a bear on my laptop keyboard and its over 3 weeks i was thinking its going to dry and work again normally but all to no avail.my x letter keep running and none of the key works at all its terrible.Any one got an idea,there is no laptop without a keyboard.

I ever spilled some cola on my ACER TRAVELMATE TABLET C111 when relaxing near the pool (sure a dangerous mix of risky environment...).
I let it to dry, but many keys stayed seized and kept scrolling, give buzzing alerts on setup, confuse the stylus input,...etc. Typing like crazy on the faulty keys while screaming various insults did not arrange things in any way.
So I decided to remove the kbd (3 screws underneath the case) and rinse it carefully under tepid water, drying with a hairdryer just after. It cured partly the problem, some keys randomly seizing at setup or after. Even some prealable strong "massages" of the keyboard before use did not help completely. 2-3 times of this process did not improve really the results.

So after securing my fate through purchasing a remplacement kbd (in an other language anyway), I plunged the whole kbd in warm water, for some 12 hrs. Then I shook it briefly to remove the excess of liquid and let it standing upright to sun dry for several hours. Now it works 100% fine.

UNPLUG IT AND REMOVE THE BATTERIES IMMEDIATELY!!

As a service technician, I was amused to read all the posts here, and thought someone should add some professional advice, for whatever that's worth.

First, you are talking about liquid contamination of both electronic circuitry, and it's mechanical accessories. NOTE: Since whatever you spilled in the unit is either corrosive or will leave residue when it dries, it is important that you do not simply dry it out and then forget the mishap. Deposits will further corrode the mechanisms and/or circuitry, or cause mechanical failure.

Let's take them one at a time.

A. Electrical circuits are pathways of electrical energy flow. I'm sure you knew that. Liquids can change the flow of that electrical energy flow wildly. When the circuitry gets wet - unplug or remove the batteries immediately!!! This is your best hope of saving the circuitry. I will talk later about what to do next, but know this - you must do some important things right away to prevent further damage, besides what may have already occured.

B. The mechanical assemblies (Keyboard buttons, DVD drives, doors, buttons, etc.) all are designed to work clean or with a little lubricant. The liquids you pour into the assembly, when dry, will leave deposits behind. This usually interferes with their operation.

What To Do:

If you can afford to, take it to a professional. You may have better luck, but may not. You might copy these instructions and take them with you. If they aren't interested in doing what is described here, Think about looking elsewhere. Unless you spilled the liquid into your DVD player and everything else, either take it to a professional, or be very careful to use this procedure only where it is needed!

If you whant to know what has to be done to be sure of no further damage, read on.

1. If you spilled high grade (80% from the drug store) Isopropyl Alcohol on your device, just shake it out and apply some canned air (avoid spraying the liquid) into your device and then dry it in warm air (90-180 Deg. F) for at least 24 hours. A hair dryer will work, but put the device inside a box and blow the hot air into the box and not directly onto the device. Don't let it get too hot.

2. If you spilled clean water onto the device, wash the water out with the alcohol described above, and then follow #1. I use a squirt bottle.

3. If you spilled anything else into your device, wash it out with clean water (preferably distilled). If whatever you spilled into the device has oils or grease, you may use automotive car wash liquid cleanser in your wash water. You may need to use a small brush. Then follow steps #2 then #1. Note that after drying, mechanisms that require lubrication, and where you have cleaned out all the old lubrication, should be re-lubricated with the proper lubrication applied sparingly. (white lithium grease is probably all you will need.)

Practical tips any professional would know:

The device should be disassembled enough to prevent the cleaning procedure from unnecessarily intruding upon mechanisms that do not need cleaning. In a laptop, crud from the CPU fan and heatsink area may migrate over to enter your DVD player, for instance, and not wash out when you follw this proceudure on a fully assembled device, rendering your DVD player inoperative. It's best to clean and dry only what has been contaminated.

If the liquid is especially electrically conductive (urine or other salty liquid) the chances of no damage to live circuitry are lower. But salty liquids are also especially prone to cause damage to the metal parts of the device. Wash it as soon as is practical.

Please do not try this procedure on cameras. The optics and mechanism need special care, only a professional can perform.

Hope you found this helpful.

I spilled about 2 ounces of Iced Tea on my Toshiba Satellight A100 laptop on friday the 13th (a very unluckey day) and right after it happened I cleaned up the mess and then tested it out and all was fine so then I was sure nothing would become of the iced tea i spilled and i packed my laptop up for a 2 hour trip to the city and when I got there and opened my laptop all of the keys were screwey and not working and doing other functions so I turned it off not realizing that that means i wont be able to log back in.

I left it alone for a good part of my weekend cause I had other plans but after inspection Im finding that the tab and backspace dont work and the following letters w p f h k and l

and 2 of those letters are needed to log into my computer.

Im on my moms computer right now and it looks like im going to have to send my laptop back to the manufacturer unless there is anything i could do like iv tried cleaning it and its not working but after it first happened all the keys were messed up but now its only those 8 keys.

Do what Curtis said. Remove the keyboard from the laptop so you don't ruin any other parts while cleaning. wash the keyboard with warm water and soap if needed because the spill was allowed to set and then some Isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Then allow to dry thoroughly before reassembly, at least a day or two. Sometimes I don't even use the alcohol. Just some warm water as long as it is immediately after the spill and hasn't been allowed to dry. This method works on Desktop keyboards also.

Hi,

I spilled iced vodka&jouice on my friend's Dell Latitude a few hours ago. We immediately turn it off, cleaned out all the liquid we could, turned it upside down, while still open, and it's now getting dried out near the aircondidioner.

Any further steps I whould take?
I am hasitant to get the keyboard off, not to screw it up further, since I haven't done that before. But if it's required, I may try to do that...

Thanks,
Shuly.

I forgot to mention, I took the battery out too
(sorry for all the spelling/spilling mistakes)...

Shuly.

hi all, I spilled some coffee on my keyboard this morning (with coffee mate in it). I bought a usb keyboard that I am using right now without problems.

My QUESTION to anyone who knows is - If I remove the keyboard to clean it with water like other people say they have done - will the laptop continue to function normally with the usb keyboard or will removing the laptop keyboard somehow disable it, I'd assume it will still work but if anyone knows that would be helpful? (my first laptop, not too experienced with them, and unfortunately, also my only computer)

When it happened, i immediately turned it over and dried it off, then went out and got a laptop cleaning kit - and let it dry for several hours, then cleaned it with a swab and cleaning solution on the swab.
At first the right arrow key was stuck as pressed down - and now the * on the number pad is stuck and keeps scrolling *** across, but only when I hit certain keys (like c, m and numlock and the enter key) - and then if I hit any other key it stops being stuck. This is why I want to attempt to remove and clean it.

Yesterday my dog spilt a cup of coffee on my desk and some of it got underneath my laptop and on my keyboard. I dried it right off, it works and runs fine BUT most of my keys are not working. They are not sticking like you might expect with coffee (with cream and sugar) but if you press a key, it won't do anything and others will work. With playing with it a few times, some of the keys that weren't working will work and the ones that were working won't. Most of my keys are not working at the moment. It turns on just fine - I have completley cleaned it. I even went as far as taking all my keys off and cleaning it up underneath and the underside of the keys - that didn't work, didn't make anything better or worse. It's been about 36 hours since it happened and the keys are no different. Any advice? I have used a hair dryer and even put it under a fan for a few hours, it's not sticky in any place I can reach and even under the keys, I even unscrewed the 3 places underneath my computer to see if anything was in there and there was no trace of anything being wet or sticky underneath the computer.

Any help would be AWESOME, I am a web designer and really need that computer to work on things.