⚠ Forum Archived — The THSCC forums were discontinued (last post: 2024-05-18). This read-only archive preserves club history. Visit thscc.com →  |  Search this archive with Google: site:forums.thscc.com your search terms

THSCC Forums

Tarheel Sports Car Club Forums
It is currently Tue Apr 07, 2026 10:06 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:33 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 11:37 pm
Posts: 642
Location: Raleigh
So my dearest loving wife spilled tea on our HP pavilion laptop keyboard last night. As the story goes, the computer died instantly so she unplugged it and wiped all visible moisture off. When I was told of the incident ten minutes later I immediately began disassembling covers and air Drying the internals. There was no moisture in the area of the hard drive or memory as far as I can tell. I am thinking that as quickly as it died, the power supply may have have shorted?

Whatever the case, it's still dead. The only sign of life is a small led that lights when the external power is plugged in. I know its a long shot, but Is there any chance of a simple fix for this, fuse somewhere or some failsafe?

_________________
92 Miata 1.9L naturally aspirated. SSM 21


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 11:42 am 
Offline
Queen of the Guinea Hens
User avatar

Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2003 11:32 pm
Posts: 3122
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Possible, but your best chance of a fix is to google the model name and "spilled" or something similar and see what others may have posted about it. And it sounds crazy, but looking at eBay using the model may turn up commonly broken parts that are user replaceable, too. You see that with *some* electronics, anyway. With laptops it's usually just screens, but sometimes other parts. The other idea is to possibly buy a matching model off eBay with a busted screen and turn two into one.


--Donnie

_________________
My Blog


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:19 pm 
Offline
My stiffness is only an illusion
User avatar

Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:49 pm
Posts: 4658
Location: on line looking at car ads
I've heard of people putting cell phone into a baggie w/ rice to pick up the moisture. Could you do the same trick w/ a larger garment bag?

_________________
Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:49 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm
Posts: 1350
I would think that it's toast. If you're lucky, you can most likely grab any data off of it by pulling the hard drive and browsing through the files on another computer.

As someone who was a computer janitor for a while, I'm really glad that business laptops have drainage built into the keyboard. I've tested it before (not on purpose) and it works really well.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:34 pm 
Offline
Retired Admin
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2003 1:34 pm
Posts: 3276
Location: Durham, NC
I have not dealt with something as large as a laptop, but I have had good luck (phones and gaming devices) with both embedding in bags of rice, or heating an oven to a very low temp (150 degrees or so), turning off oven and then putting the component in the oven to let it soak for a few hours. You have to be careful with the oven method as too hot can result in melted plastic (as you would expect). Usually when I do the oven method, I have disassembled something as thoroughly as I can. Stuff like screens, cases, etc. don't go in the oven. Regardless... right now, rice is my preferred method as it seems to be much safer than the oven method. Neither works 100% of the time. Sometimes I try rice first and if that doesn't work it might spend some in the oven (nothing much to loose at that point). If the spill was something like a sugary soda, I rinse the disassembled parts in clean water prior to trying to extract moisture.

Good luck and I suspect the purchase of broken components from eBay to create a Frankenstein is likely work the best.

Richard

_________________
Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:07 pm 
Offline
You're just jealous

Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:14 pm
Posts: 2553
Location: Raleigh, NC
Was there sugar or ? in the tea? Might make a difference in what's possible.

_________________
Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:17 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 11:37 pm
Posts: 642
Location: Raleigh
Great suggestions. After more drying the status is unchanged. I checked eBay and I could buy another laptop like mine and swap parts, but I can get a comparable new one for a couple of hundred more. I think I'll go this route since I don't know the extent of the damage. since the hard drive did not get wet I think it's ok. I found that I can get a hard drive adapter for less than 5 bucks on eBay so I can remove the drive from the old computer, connect it to the new computer and transfer my files. Anyone had success doing this?

_________________
92 Miata 1.9L naturally aspirated. SSM 21


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:22 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 11:37 pm
Posts: 642
Location: Raleigh
DickRasmussen wrote:
Was there sugar or ? in the tea? Might make a difference in what's possible.


Not sure about sugar, but she did add milk. I read that residue from either can cause circuits to short.

_________________
92 Miata 1.9L naturally aspirated. SSM 21


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Wet laptop
PostPosted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 2:43 pm 
Offline
Queen of the Guinea Hens
User avatar

Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2003 11:32 pm
Posts: 3122
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
The rice and drying tricks only work if you get the device shut down before short circuits happen. Sounds like in this case something shorted out and the thing died nearly immediately. Drying that out won't "fix" it.

And yes, as long as the hard drive wasn't hurt in any way, jerking it out and using an adapter should get you your files back pretty easily.


--Donnie

_________________
My Blog


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group