Spilled water on a laptop's keyboard

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haroldo
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Spilled water on a laptop's keyboard

Post by haroldo »

The laptop (obviously) doesn't work, is it completely gone, or is there something that can be done to revive it?
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wheerdam
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Post by wheerdam »

Maybe you want to remove the harddisk and hope that the data can still be saved?
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old momokatte
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Post by old momokatte »

If the keyboard is irreversibly damaged, you may be able to have that part replaced. What brand and model of laptop is it?
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chrisgeleven
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Post by chrisgeleven »

My girlfriend spilt coke on my previous laptop and I lost use of my backspace key because of it. Popped the key off and you can see the dark spot on the circuit board where it shorted out.

I am so lucky the rest of the keyboard still worked, although the right side of it never recovered full as the keys stuck and it was hard to type at times.

Not sure what to tell you :(
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Post by nosebleed »

I've seen spillproof keyboards that can be hooked up to laptops. They are kinda weird to type with but you don't have to worry about damaging them from spills.
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nilson
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Re: Spilled water on a laptop's keyboard

Post by nilson »

larryd wrote:The laptop (obviously) doesn't work, is it completely gone, or is there something that can be done to revive it?
I'd disassemble it, see what is visibly damaged, and you may be lucky enough that it's only something replaceable that was damaged (Although not too much is replaceable in a laptop...) Nut definately gt your hard drive out and (make sure it was not damaged; you could screw it up worse and possibly screw up your desktop) hook it to a desktop and copy your files. If it is visibly damaged (burn marks from a short?) then if the data is important enough to you, you will almost certainly be able to retrieve it via a data recovery center, but from what I've heard they can charge you hundreds...
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johann_p
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Post by johann_p »

I have had similar situations (spilled water on various electronic devices, dropping a cellular in a bucket with water ..) and managed to get them all going again. If it really is only water (and not coffe, or something containing acid or suguar or both like Coke):
- first of all, remove batteries and disconnect power
- DO NOT TRY AND TURN ON
- soak up as much water as possible with tissue paper or a similar
- put in in a warm dry place: the radiator of our central heating is perfect - about 40 degrees C
I would not go beyond 70 degrees C
Make sure there is plenty of ventilation
- Let it stay there for several days(!) depending on size.
- If you are good with screwdrivers and you will not mess up warranty by it etc you can try to disassemble the thing to make the soaked parts smaller. Some things cannot reasonably be disassembled though.

The bottom line is that water evaporates after some time and usually does not leave enough residue to cause any problems. Most parts in electronical devices (including harddisks) are not easily damaged by spilled water. Just be patient.


Obviously you already have turned it on so if there is a shortcut you might have to replace parts - if you are not confident at what you are doing let technical service do it :)
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Nitin
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Post by Nitin »

Johann_P wrote:The bottom line is that water evaporates after some time and usually does not leave enough residue to cause any problems. Most parts in electronical devices (including harddisks) are not easily damaged by spilled water. Just be patient.

And if keyboard is the only thing damaged, try using an external USB keyboard.
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old Harry Waldron
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Post by old Harry Waldron »

Great advice by all and I like Johann's advice of letting it dry out good

plus the USB keyboard test if you can borrow one.

After drying, if your system boots up and all you have lost is the keyboard (try a USB one as vfwlkr recommends or check with the manufacturer on a replacement keyboard).

If nothing comes on, the keyboard short circuiting could have impacted the motherboard itself ? Thus taking it to a PC repair shop might be the next order of business (get an estimate, as sometimes it's cheaper to buy new than to repair).

Good luck
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Goldzilla
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Post by Goldzilla »

There are some pretty small jelly keyboards if you need something for travelling. I almost always use an external keyboard with my laptop. I have a little device that plugs into one of my USB ports and it has three USBs, a NICE, two PS2s and a serial and parallel port. And it has a transformer though I don't need that for just the keyboard.

At the office, I plug the mouse into USB1 and the port replicator into USB2.

I did buy a USB keyboard but the performance was terrible. This is the IBM Multimedia Keyboard. The keyboard has a PS/2 connector that plugs into a PS/2 to USB adapter which goes to the USB port. Works terribly in that it frequently lost typed characters. The PS/2 interface on my replicator works much better.

I bring the port replicator with me and it's about the size of a narrow deck of cards.
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haroldo
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Thanks to all!

Post by haroldo »

As this is for a friend, I will provide them with their choices!
Pikhq
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Post by Pikhq »

With some laptops, if it soaks the keyboard, the mobo is fried. I hear that laptop HDs make good paperweights.... :-p
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MsPraline
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Re: Spilled water on a laptop's keyboard

Post by MsPraline »

My 7 year old accidently spilled water on my laptop keyboard. Needless to say, I was not happy! ](*,) I prayed [-o< then took the following steps:

1. Disconnect all cords, USB's, etc. from laptop.
2. Pour the water out of laptop and dry off with absorbant towel.
3. Remove battery from the laptop.
4. Lay laptop upside down, flat on another dry absorbant towel.
5. Leave laptop alone to dry for 48 hours.
6. Power up.

I'm using the laptop 48 hours later. :D =D>

This worked on a water spill that was dealt with immediately.
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James
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Re: Spilled water on a laptop's keyboard

Post by James »

Holy old thread Batman!
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condorito
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Re: Spilled water on a laptop's keyboard

Post by condorito »

That only means the spill wasn't so bad, no magic there. Under the keys you've got a rubber layer that holds the keyboard circuit, it's supposed to be protected like that.
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