Your Laptop Is Not A Sponge

Thank You, thank you, thank you! I have actually received my Windows Fanatics two days in a roll. Keep up the good work after hearing nothing from you all for the last month and a half. Now if I could only get the other news letters I am registered for, I would be in the cat’s meow heaven!

Hi,

My daughter has done this several times to her laptop and desktop keyboard. After trashing her laptop beyond repair and still not willing to only drink when away from the units, I decided to get her to use a piece of cling film (you know that handy kitchen stuff). She still drinks at what ever unit she is working on and still spills her drink, but the cling film, does the job really well and we have not had a laptop or desktop spill problem since…

Even the touch pad area works with it…

If the laptop has vents on the top or side, i just make a few small holes with a pin and this allows some heat dissipation, without the liquid getting through too quickly…

May not be every bodies cup of tea (no pun intended), but it works for us.

Vince Andrews

I simply don’t drink near the computer. Period. Most drinkable liquids, especially carbonated beverages, will short out any circuit they contact. Many people think keyboards are just mechanical, not realizing that they have their own little processors and circuits. Although they’re sealed from minor environmental hazards like over-zealous cleaning, the only liquid that should ever touch them is 100% isopropyl alcohol — on purpose, and in very small quantities.

That applies to laptops by another order of magnitude at least. I’ll eat in front of a computer, but I drink well back from the desk, and I never put a glass or can on the computer desk. It’s too easy to get careless. Turn around and get a book off the shelf, then turn back and WHACK, drip, sizzle. Not MY baby!

Having said that, I salvaged a keyboard once by running it on the top shelf of the dishwasher with cold water and no detergent for a couple of minutes, then drying it in the sun. It had kool-aid spilled on it by an excited granddaughter.

Simply use heavy duty plastic wrap over the keyboard.
Simple, cheap, effective and easily replaced.
I have clients who do this in “dirty” environments, like auto repair shops.

Chris,

This is a tad gross, but here’s my laptop spill story. Keep in mind that this laptop is owned by my company, not mine personally. So that added to my state of panic.

About a year ago I was holding my son trying to get him to sleep. He was facing forward on my lap. For whatever reason I had the laptop sitting in a chair in front of me. Myself, my wife and my daughter were watching a movie on the laptop. All of a sudden for no reason my son had a PROJECTILE VOMIT. It hit the laptop square on.

Needless to say, I freaked out! My wife and I got my son taken care of, then I checked on the laptop. What a gross cleanup job that one was. It had turned itself off as soon as it was hit (thank God). I didn’t know what to do, so I started with a surface clean. I must have cleaned it three or four times. When that was done, I decided to turn it upside down all night over some rags. I thought if anything could drip out (sorry for the mental image) it would at least not be sitting and fermenting.

Long story short, the next day the system still wouldn’t boot up. I got desperate and started taking it apart. I carefully worked on it all day, cleaning with Q-tips and rubbing alcohol. Combine that with fervent prayer. I couldn’t believe it when I put it back together and it started. Some of the lights don’t work anymore and the volume up & down buttons don’t work. Other than that it works as well as it did before the accident.

Computer circuit boards don’t disolve when wet so you can wash them with a non conductive solution such as distilled water , hot prefered to disolve the sugar and dirt on the board. multiple washings are always necessary to remove any conductive matter from the surface. isopropl alcohol can be used as a final wash ( in moderation ) to clean the last of the matterial that was spilled on the board. A blast of compressed air can be used along with the solutions to drive matterial out from under IC’s and switches plus to help dry the board after washing. Let the board dry before once again placeing it back in service. Electronic units that have been recovered from the bottom of the sea have been put back in service using simular methods.

Some keyboards contain sponge material under the keys instead of springs, These types will have to be completely taken apart then washed and dried.

All in all, It can be done but it always takes time to get all of that coffee or coke out and off of the electronic equipment.

barbara

I work at a laptop repair shop and have dealt with liquid spills a lot.

Especially with sticky fluids like coffee, soda or wine, simply letting the machine “sit and dry out” will make things *worse* because the fluid oxidizes on the mainboard and shorts things out over time. I’ve seen several machines that were “dried out” and worked for a week or two, then stopped powering up or developed other problems. Once the liquids sit and solidify, the damage can no longer be fixed.

In our experience, the best way to make sure your laptop is salvagable is to turn it off, pull the battery, and bring it in to a repair shop right away (Within 24-48 hours is best).

The machine needs to be disassembled completely (not just removing the keyboard, but totally taken apart to check for hidden liquid damage). Then the liquid can be cleaned with the proper chemicals and tested.

A lot of the time, if this procedure is done, you may only have to replace the keyboard and spend 1 or 2 hours of labor on the machine.

I hope this helps someone!

[...] response to this old post, Gnomie and Front 242 fan Don Dickinson [...]

my mum spilled paint on her laptop the comp still starts up but i cant put password in cause the keys wont work, can this be fixed.