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Thread ID: 77306	2007-03-05 06:46:00	Water in laptop	Queenie (11959)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
530355	2007-03-05 06:46:00	Can't even blame the kids for this one! Tipped half a glass of water over the keyboard in the laptop, by the time I dashed to the kitchen and back with a teatowel it had switched itself off. I pulled the plug, tipped it on its side to drain outside in the sun and now it is in the hot water cupboard. Any advice? How long should we leave it in the cupboard before we can risk firing it up again? Is it screwed? Will the harddrive at least be recoverable? Jane	Queenie (11959)
530356	2007-03-05 07:23:00	Talking about the kids or the laptop?:D I dont think that there should be a problem with the hard drive but this has never happened to me so...	beeswax34 (63)
530357	2007-03-05 08:12:00	My neighbour once tipped coffee on his laptop and I guess it seeped through the crevices in the keyboard. The only thing fried was his laptop motherboard, everything else was fine. Best thing I'd do if I were you is copy my neighbour - open up the lappy and see if anything is fried. Would be harder, since water is clear, and coffee is brown (or black).	qazwsxokmijn (102)
530358	2007-03-05 09:20:00	Tipped half a glass of water over the keyboard in the laptop, by the time I dashed to the kitchen and back with a teatowel it had switched itself off . I pulled the plug, tipped it on its side to drain outside in the sun and now it is in the hot water cupboard . It's too late to help you now, the damage was done while you were off getting the teatowel, but this may help others reading this because liquids do get spilt into laptops from time to time . So, if this ever happens to you, turn the laptop upside down first and as fast as you can, then pull the plug and remove the battery as quickly as possible . A teatowel is of no real use at all, except to catch the drips . The top priority is to stop the penetration of the liquid spill then remove all power . After that, if it is just water and you dry it out thoroughly (HW cupboard for several days) then you might be OK . If it is tea or coffee, it will need professional cleaning so don't bother with the hot water cupboard, leave it upside down (on the teatowel) and get it to a repair depot asap . Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
530359	2007-03-05 16:31:00	Can't even blame the kids for this one! Tipped half a glass of water over the keyboard in the laptop, by the time I dashed to the kitchen and back with a teatowel it had switched itself off. I pulled the plug, tipped it on its side to drain outside in the sun and now it is in the hot water cupboard. Any advice? How long should we leave it in the cupboard before we can risk firing it up again? Is it screwed? Will the harddrive at least be recoverable? Jane As I see it, your sequence of actions AFTER the spill were all wrong. LT's are not programmed to shut themselves off when doused with water..they have no such survival instincts. Any subsequent shutting down can be likened to a person taking a dirt nap. We all assume the default position some day...even LT's. 1) Jump up immediately and with great force, throwing the LT onto the floor and hoping that Murphy's law (as a known and scientifically proven law of chance) will cause it to fall keyboard-down side to the floor thereby draining whatever water is going to drain from the keyboard...(not much, by the way) 2) Scream loudly, realizing that you've done something incredibly twit-like and to Hell with the teatowel or any other form of slurping up the water to save the carpet, tabletop, clothing or small pets. (Hopefully, the jumping and screaming will have also pulled the plug out of the wall and disconnected the power supply or the impact might have jarred loose the batteries, also accomplishing the same effect/cause. ) 3) Run madly to the file area where you keep all your sales receipts and warranties and read rapidly through the fine print to see if you're covered by acts of human silliness and sloppiness. Realizing that you are NOT covered by such actions and you now know you will need to make other plans. Be sure to check your homeowners insurance too for coverage. 4) Read the address and price paid for the original LT and resign yourself to going right back to that same place and buying another one. Cower in the corner in a fetal position, sucking your thumb or a convenient fist. 5) When your significant other arrives at the scene, blame the screaming and all the ruckus on the accident done by the kids/dog/cat/parakeet. Claiming a personal seizure may or may not be a good idea if your vehicle driving is also suspect here. If you have a crazy aunt in the attic like everybody else has, now's the time to invoke her name as the culprit. If you saw any sparks, flames or smoke, you should just skip down to instruction # 4 and #5 and proceed from there.	SurferJoe46 (51)
530360	2007-03-05 18:44:00	It’s hard to say what you chances are but I would leave it open and tip it upside down on a tea towel with a paper towel between & nearest the keyboard . The reason to leave it open is to not make things worse by tipping water into the screen . Then I’d sit it in this upside down hinged position in the sun for a week . You could put it in the same position in the hot water cupboard over night . As already mentioned in another post the power must be disconnected and the battery removed . After a week you could replace the battery and see if it goes . If it doesn’t, then it’s off to the repair man and a check of the insurance policy . ;) I doubt everything will be toast and I give you a very good chance of recovering the Hard Drive, RAM & a fair bit else . But, if you don’t feel confident doing all this, a trip to a serviceman ASAP would be the best advice . ;) Good luck . :D	B.M. (505)
530361	2007-03-05 19:42:00	Um yes. Tipping it upside down straight away and removing power sources was the thing to do, not fetching tea towels. You will most likely have to make an insurance claim on it. Pull the HDD out and see if its OK and you can retreive your data. You'll need a 2.5" adapter probably. I had a call from a lady once who wanted to know if I could fix hers - her 2 year old had peed in it.	pctek (84)
530362	2007-03-05 19:56:00	As I see it, your sequence of actions AFTER the spill were all wrong. LT's are not programmed to shut themselves off when doused with water..they have no such survival instincts. Any subsequent shutting down can be likened to a person taking a dirt nap. We all assume the default position some day...even LT's. 1) Jump up immediately and with great force, throwing the LT onto the floor and hoping that Murphy's law (as a known and scientifically proven law of chance) will cause it to fall keyboard-down side to the floor thereby draining whatever water is going to drain from the keyboard...(not much, by the way) 2) Scream loudly, realizing that you've done something incredibly twit-like and to Hell with the teatowel or any other form of slurping up the water to save the carpet, tabletop, clothing or small pets. (Hopefully, the jumping and screaming will have also pulled the plug out of the wall and disconnected the power supply or the impact might have jarred loose the batteries, also accomplishing the same effect/cause. ) 3) Run madly to the file area where you keep all your sales receipts and warranties and read rapidly through the fine print to see if you're covered by acts of human silliness and sloppiness. Realizing that you are NOT covered by such actions and you now know you will need to make other plans. Be sure to check your homeowners insurance too for coverage. 4) Read the address and price paid for the original LT and resign yourself to going right back to that same place and buying another one. Cower in the corner in a fetal position, sucking your thumb or a convenient fist. 5) When your significant other arrives at the scene, blame the screaming and all the ruckus on the accident done by the kids/dog/cat/parakeet. Claiming a personal seizure may or may not be a good idea if your vehicle driving is also suspect here. If you have a crazy aunt in the attic like everybody else has, now's the time to invoke her name as the culprit. If you saw any sparks, flames or smoke, you should just skip down to instruction # 4 and #5 and proceed from there. Pre 4) Once it's completely dry, take it to the shop (assuming it's still in warranty) and say it just died for some reason and hope they don't figure out what really happened:xmouth:	RealBigDog (11623)
530363	2007-03-05 21:16:00	Can't even blame the kids for this one! Tipped half a glass of water over the keyboard in the laptop, by the time I dashed to the kitchen and back with a teatowel it had switched itself off. I pulled the plug, tipped it on its side to drain outside in the sun and now it is in the hot water cupboard. Any advice? How long should we leave it in the cupboard before we can risk firing it up again? Is it screwed? Will the harddrive at least be recoverable? Jane The hot water cupboard is a great place to cultivate fungus with its high degree of humidity. Once saw a camera lens so full of fungus it looked as though it was stuffed with cotton wool. Don't suppose fungus would be good for electronics either.	heaton (3697)
530364	2007-03-05 22:48:00	Hi Queenie, Take a bow, you've done everything pretty much right! Impossible to predict what (if any) damage - maybe 50/50 will be perfectly OK after a couple of days in the sun (and warming cupboard) . Worst possibility would be if water had reached the power supply . This could obviously bring a danger of electric shock (real danger if this is an older model where the mains lead plugs direct into the laptop itself) . If you wanted to know more - on most laptops - would take a repair-guy 5 minutes to lift out the keyboard and see if the water had penetrated any further . Needs the right person to do this - risk of doing more damage or invalidating any warranty! Regards, Martnz	martnz (271)
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