What To Do When You've Spilt Liquid On The Laptop

[jyl]

My Thinkpad was looking very grubby, so I moistened a towel with isopropyl alcohol and was about to clean off the screen when I knocked over the bottle, dumping 2-3 ounces of isopropyl alcohol on the screen and keyboard. Ouch.

The laptop was running at the time. I immediately flipped the laptop over, thinking to keep the liquid at the keyboard instead of the motherboard, unplugged the AC cord, and pulled out the battery. Last I saw of the screen, it was displaying the normal Windows desktop.

Now I have the keyboard removed, the access cover off the underside (where you'd install memory etc), and the laptop on its side, with a fan blowing at the underside.

What other tips do you guys/gals have for "what to do when you've spilt liquid on the laptop"?

(I'm hopeful this Thinkpad isn't fried. I once had a laptop submerged in muddy water, which poured out when I removed the covers, and that machine worked fine after drying out for a day. So did the equally submerged jeep, but that's another story.)

[AFJuvat]

With alcohol, you should be ok. Let it dry out for a few hours and try again.

AFJ

[red-beard]

I think of the old SNL skit where the Nuclear Plant Operators dump a drink on the control keyboard:

"THE PEPSI SYNDROME"

"What about coke?"

"Yep."

"R.C. ?"

"Even RC."

"How about 7-up?"

"Nah, it's the Un-cola."

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I had a ThinkPad T22. Awesome machine--rock solid stable, even running Win2K (though NT4 was better).

I spilled 1/2 a bottle of sweetened iced tea into the right side and keyboard. I quick shut it down, unplugged, etc. When I flipped it over to take the battery out, tea poured out of the audio jacks and the processor vent. Got the battery out, turned it upside down, and let it dry for the weekend. Slapped the battery in on Monday and it fired up and ran like a champ. Only problem was that the CD-R release (to swap out w/ a floppy) was a little sticky.

Fast forward to a year ago, I got a forced upgrade to a T42. It has BSOD'ed weekly (at a minimum). It occasionally forces a shutdown due to low battery--when it's plugged in. I never thought I'd wish/pray for my old laptop. What a POS the T42 is!

[island911]

Water (and various other liquids) doesn't cause shorts. However, the impurities that can go in to solution do. and will align in the presence of electricity. (short) So, remove any and all power sources. Let dry, thoroughly! (you're lucky, alcohols evaporate pretty quickly)

[gassy]

My daughter spilled a huge glass of OJ two weeks ago on the table, a lot of it going right into my Macs DVD slot...makes weird noises now, and when ejecting, a DVD comes out about a 16th of an inch and I have to try to grab it with my figertips. Takes me about 3 tries before I get it. Niiice.

[widgeon13]

Just don't let that Think Pad drive for eight hours!!!

[jorian]

Isopropyl should evaporate and cause any long term issue.

A friend of mines' son sprayed an entire can of WD-40 onto his laptop. Works OK but the screen looks like something Timothy Leary would use as a screen saver.

[jyl]

Alas, this laptop is not unscathed. Boots up to the login prompt, then the keyboard doesn't respond to Ctrl-Alt-Del. Also there's liquid marks over half of the screen. I guess the IT dept is going to be irritated with me tommorrow (this is a work laptop).

[vash]

did the same with water. i had to order a new keyboard. kinda neat how that thing comes apart on a laptop. the mouse pad is kinda possesed, but other than that, it works fine.