Liquid in Laptop

**Farrar** · August 15th, 2007, 11:47 AM

A friend's daughter spilled a cup[ of coffee onto the keyboard of her laptop. She turned it off as quick as she could and then let it sit open and upside down for 2 days. When she starts the unit up now, it stays "up" for about 3-4 seconds and shuts off.

He's wanting me to take a look but I have no idea where to start. sounds if though something has been shorted out.

Any ideas? New laptop?

Thanks,

Jeff Farrar

**CCT** · August 15th, 2007, 01:13 PM

Google 'coffee in laptop keyboard' - not uncommon but tedious cleaning is involved.

**Humilliation** · August 16th, 2007, 02:46 AM

She has a new laptop huh. Is it summertime where you are? If so, rinse the bugger out with a garden hose and then call the manufacturer for an RMA. Get the bugger replaced free of charge. Just make sure you rinse it out thouroughly and let it dry completely out in the summer heat before sending it back. Your daughter doesn't want to keep that bugger anymore since she has dumped some java on it.

Bugs Bunny; How many lumps would you like with your coffee Mrs. Rabbit?

Peter Puma; Iiieehhh, uh three or four, iieeeehh.

**Platypus** · August 16th, 2007, 06:39 AM

Leaving spills before treatment is the biggest problem. Corrosive and electrically conductive components of liquids like coffee or cola cause all sorts of problems if allowed to "sit & set". We regularly see video cameras at work that have had liquid entry, and while they can be dismantled and cleaned up, future reliability is uncertain. Deposits and electrolysis/corrosion can be invisible under surface mount components & other hidden locations.

The best hope for a unit that has received a spill, is to be immediately turned off and the battery removed. It should be quickly dismantled and thoroughly washed out with distilled water, then flushed with a pure alcohol and thoroughly dried.

And a technician will always find out what happened to a unit that is returned after suffering a spill...

**slgrieb** · August 16th, 2007, 08:41 PM

Not like the problem would be obvious or anything. Sorta like when I managed some rental property and one of my tenants wanted me to replace a window after "some drunk" threw a beer bottle through it. Broken bottle, broken glass all outside on the ground.

**xpuser357** · August 16th, 2007, 08:51 PM

That is just about what my nephew said. he used a bb gun and shot at window. small hole and large piece of glass on outside. and he said someone musta shot in from outside

**street1** · August 17th, 2007, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by xpuser357

That is just about what my nephew said. he used a bb gun and shot at window. small hole and large piece of glass on outside. and he said someone musta shot in from outside

Your nephew is as crooked as I am.....

**Wizard of Wiring** · September 4th, 2007, 02:31 AM

Is the real problem data on the laptop or spending $800(or whatever).
If I was going to take a look it would be primarily for data recovery or the possibility of purchasing a bare bones notebook and reusing the memory, chip, and drive if salvageable

**xpuser357** · September 9th, 2007, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by Platypus

Leaving spills before treatment is the biggest problem. Corrosive and electrically conductive components of liquids like coffee or cola cause all sorts of problems if allowed to "sit & set". We regularly see video cameras at work that have had liquid entry, and while they can be dismantled and cleaned up, future reliability is uncertain. Deposits and electrolysis/corrosion can be invisible under surface mount components & other hidden locations.

The best hope for a unit that has received a spill, is to be immediately turned off and the battery removed. It should be quickly dismantled and thoroughly washed out with distilled water, then flushed with a pure alcohol and thoroughly dried.

And a technician will always find out what happened to a unit that is returned after suffering a spill...

I`ll bet they have same thing cell phones have. Wife had juice spilled on her phone. Kids had dried it up, looked like nothing happened. But keyboard lite stays on when closed, you can see it in the dark, runs down the battery
Took it to a phone shop and under battery was a little dot that was red. My phone is exactly like hers under my battery it is white. So it is sorta like litmus stamp