O.T. Beer in the laptop

[mc9395]

Anybody else done this and what was the outcome? Spilt a beer in the keyboard last night. Sun dried this morning comes on almost starts shuts off. Anybody know the survival rate? Thanks

[02roadcling]

A couple weeks ago everybody here was talking about the dishwasher and a couple daze drying.

[tmwmoose]

sounds  like it drank more than you give it another day off

[CraigArizona85248]

A couple weeks ago everybody here was talking about the dishwasher and a couple daze drying.

Ummm... they were talking about desktop keyboards.  DO NOT try the dishwasher trick with your laptop!

mc9395, give it a few days to dry out.  It's hard for it to dry inside so it takes a little longer.  It will probably survive, but you may have to get inside it to clean things up.  Not that easy with a laptop.  If it's a newer model and still worth some $$$, you may want to take it to a pro.  Otherwise, it's not really rocket science to disassemble.  Just takes patience to figure out what needs to come apart and in what order.

-Craig

[02roadcling]

Oh.... yeah, lol.  I hate laptops.

[PC_Hater]

Not beer, half a large glass of port into a macbook. Aaaargghhh!
It might be a bit late now, but what you should do as soon as the spillage occurs is turn the laptop off and then put the keyboard under the tap and run water through it. Really.

The sugars and acids will destroy the innards so you have to wash them out. Orange juice is especially bad for laptops if you need to explain it to an insurance company!

Get as much water out as you can by shaking and then leaving the laptop to drain, then put it somewhere warm and dry for a couple of weeks. If you are lucky it will come to life and work as though nothing had happened. Usually it doesn't of course, but you knew the laptop was trash as soon as the beer went in anyway didn't you?
The port killed my laptop...

Taking the laptop apart will leave you trying to remove sticky beer stains from the circuit boards and connectors. Try it by all means you have nothing to lose.

[Billy]

I had the keyboard replaced in my dell laptop by a local computer shop for less than a C-note. 4 yr old daughter mashed a gummy bear in there. 

[PoorUB]

Years ago a friend's house flooded. One thing he was pissed about was his brand new computer got wet, and very dirty. I looked at it, and we took it out into the driveway and took some degreaser and the garden hose after it and flushed it all out. Then we left it in the sun to bake for a few days. It came back to life and worked flawlessly for a few years, untill he upgraded. The lucky thing was it was off and unplugged when it got wet.
I was not so lucky a few years ago, we had a water pipe break and flooded my home office. The computer was running and it shorted out the moards and ruined the hard drives, mnitors got wet and died to. The insurance company was nice to me on getting a new one.

[mrmike]

MC, Hell you never liked that laptop anyway,lol. I've found my kids I-pod nanos in the laundry and they did the same thing your laptop is doing but after a couple of weeks being left alone they came back to life and are still working so there's hope for you but in the mean time I'd be looking for my next upgrade and if it does come back to life give it to one of your kids.

It's like getting a scratch on your gas tank.....just an excuse to get a custom paint job. lol.

Mike

[quikbike]

Put it in a large plastic bag with a couple cups of white rice. The rice will pull the moisture out of the laptop. Hopefully it was not damaged by trying to turn it on before it dryed out.

[bhubb7]

How can you waste beer like that?

[mc9395]

Thanks for the good info. Sounds like 50-50. Probably would be fine if I hadn't had it on at the time. I'll dry it out and see what happens. Thanks

[Coyote]

Hot tap water is the way to go. As was said, turn the device off immediately and don't turn it on again until dry. The biggest thing with laptops is the display. If you get contaminants in the display, you will likely have to replace it. The rest, keyboard, motherboard will be fine washed and dried. Don't wash the hard drives though. We wash circuit boards here every day. Good luck!

[CraigArizona85248]

Remove the battery before you start running water over things.

[harleyjt]

Regardless what you try...   I'd be watching the Sunday paper to see who has the best sale on a new laptop.   
jt

[road-dawgs1]

I've had laptops with stuff spilled before.  I own a bunch of Dell laptops.  Take it apart and let it dry out.  I don't know what brand it is, but there are always keyboard assy's on ebay for a reasonable price.  I've replaced several parts on my laptops with ebay buys (screens, keyboards, mouse, etc.) I now have a rubber keyboard cover that I got on ebay for $3.95 with free shipping......all the way from China.  Works great.