Spilled water on laptop and it will not work - Can I fix?

NEED MORE HELP:

well, it would have smart if I had looked here first...
Anyway, I spilled water on my laptop (dell) and then turned it immediately off. So far so good. Then I remembered hearing "don't shake it to get water out" - check. I used a paper towel to get all the standing water off the top and then I tipped it over to drain the rest (without shaking). Hopefully still so far so good. But that's where I got nervous and realized I haven't backed my data since March SO smart. Anyway, so I got impatient and tried to turn my computer back on several times, none of which worked, presumably because there's still some wetness inside...

My question is --> no indications of any frying physically (no smoke, smells, sparks, sounds) but the inability to turn on, if I get the insides completely dry, am I likely to get it working again?

And if not - is there a way to get any of my docs from my hard drive that I had on there before I was so smart as to spill water on it?

If your comfortable taking it appart & taking a "can-o-air" to it then go for it, you have a good chance of getting it to work again if there was no smoke or "kzzzzzzzrsh" noises.

If you can't get it working there are a few ways you can get your files back.
1 : Take it to a shop & have them transfer the files to your new computer.
2 : Look for an external laptop HDD kit & convert that drive to an external drive which you could pull your files from then use to backup or whatever you wish.

Hi there.

I spilt a *small* amount of apple juice on my laptop keyboard. At first I imagined that it was smaller than it actually was - I just dabbed a towel on what I thought was a minor splash. Anyway, random keys started to be "pressed" so I realised it was worse than I thought. I tipped the keyboard to oneside and a teaspoon or so of juice came out. I turned off the machine, and left it open and on its side to dry out overnight.....

The machine comes on, so I guess I was very lucky. However, some of the keys are totally "dead". I dont really know what to do now.

I have looked on ebay and replacement keyboards for my machine are fairly cheap. Will this sort it out or do my problems run deeper?

Thanks for any help!

Yea that story pretty old it made it's rounds a few years ago(urbun legend stuff) it's funny to tell but we don't think someone really did it !

Yea I guess It all depends on the liquid(laptops are not that hard to disassemble(big thing is ,and i did this the first time I took one apart)
way before there was procedure to disassemble them,I would record
what screws came out of what holes(they are all marked with letters)
I made a little diagram,and the big thing was as soon as you took it apart and fixed or cleaned it ..don't let it sit ,put it right back together
while you still have that mental image ..lol

Once the women at work no you how to fix them .(laptops) look out.
cause they no how to dump everything they drink on them ,I swear.

i have spilled a cup of water on my laptop accidently i dried it for 2 weeks now even put a fan on iy to dry it but it wont work what can i do please help me to fix it

I just spit my drink at my keyboard, but it still works.

ok, I saw this tonight just being bored reading/surfing diff forums im not a member of and saw this,So i felt i had to pass on some knowledge that i got a hold of from a guy i met that works at AMD, If you ever spill anything in your laptop other than water, Like soda,Beer ETC, Turn it off quickly, Take it apart as soon as you can big thing if you can't take it all the way apart try and at least separate the screen from it usually a few screws and a ribbon cable, Get yourself some DENATURED ALCOHOL and straight FLood that whole thing with it and let it sit for a min or two and dump it out, Do that 2 or 3 times, and then let it dry for a hour or two, YOU MUST MAKE SURE IT IS DENATURED ALCOHOL!!! Rubbing alcohol will eat the protective coating off the circuts printed on the motherboard and destroy it, you can buy denatured alcohol at any walmart or hardware store, it is a little pricey about 10-15 dollars a pint depending where you buy it from, but will save you from buying a new laptop in most cases......... Ne ways i know this was a old post but for anyone else out there that might be in need of some Kick ass knowledge here you go!

Later

Pat


P.S PURE AMONIA works in place of DENATURED ALCOHOL, Make sure it is pure though and does not have any cleaning agents, You may also find that at Home depot,lowes,pepboys,autozone,any car racing shop It is a very popular Coolant for A/C Systems in big packing plants and hot rods and track cars, I run it in my 400 hp honda civic when i drag race it at the track,

nice, thanks for the info.

Hi,
I spilt water on my keyboard and after fighting it in various ways for some time, bought a new laptop keyboard. Here's a web page describing the whole process including installation of the laptop kbd. Feel free to ask questions.
http://www.ashtophoenix.com/comp/inspiron_8600_kbd.html
Hope it helps!
Cheers, Sid.

Hey Phoenix_s and welcome to Ozzu.

Thanks for your post and the link. Only problem is this post is 2+ years old. The original post was made 14th August 2003.

Not much point in bringing posts like this back from the dead because there is always a newer version of it somewhere.

Other than that small thing, happy posting

The post that never ends... Each year it gets resurrected.

maybe this would help?

too much work... And using gasoline to clean something that is going to be plugged into electricity. hrm... That may be a fire hazard.

gasoline?! maybe next time i'll read the article before posting it... i found it on engadget, so i thought, ok it might be something to reccommend here