Coffee on the laptop. Any hope?

[Bikewer]

The wife killed her laptop today. Didn't spill much coffee, just a bit on the keyboard....I pulled the battery right away and wiped up all the surface moisture...

Wouldn't boot. The power button shows white, and nothing happens. Only way to turn it off is to pull the battery again.

Called HP support and we pulled the hard drive and replaced it, and pulled the memory sticks and replaced them. No visible moisture in these compartments.
No go. Since HP won't cover spills, they are willing to send me a shipping box on agreement to pay 400.00 bucks. Machine cost 600....

Anything else to try? I have the thing sitting inverted with the access ports open and a fan blowing on it at the moment.
It was straight coffee, no cream or sugar....

One of our police officers dumped a whole cup of that nasty machine-dispensed "cappucino" into the radio console of her police car a couple of years ago. Fried everything...Radio, emergency lights/siren console, PA system....

[nimzov]

I lost my Toshiba Satellite laptop the same way (except it was tea). It never restarted.

I hope it turns out better for you.

[Ducky]

There's a good chance you'll never get it to boot again. my suggestion is to pull the battery and power supplies, let it dry, pull it apart and start using electronics cleaning putty to try to get it clean.

[Kevin_Lowe]

As a complete amateur I think there are two possibilities. One is it's just dirty, in which case it needs to be pulled apart and cleaned with a suitable solvent, I have a vague idea acetone is used for this but please don't do anything with potentially dangerous chemicals without getting an expert opinion.

The other is that the liquid caused bits of the computer to short circuit and overheat before you could pull the battery, in which case you're just screwed.

[cStyle]

one trick you can try is to dry it out with a desilicate. If you don't any (which is likely) buy a bag of rice in a plastic bag. Put the laptop and the rice in a large ziplock bag and leave it sit for a day or two. with any luck the rice will absorb the water any your computer may come back to life.

Like the others said, pull the battery for sure!

[Ohforf]

Some reasonable Instructions can be found here. (http://www.ehow.com/video_113626_clean-laptop-spills.html)
I think its very important to really let it dry, because the coffee might be
acidic and cause corrosion, even worse when there is Voltage.
I have seen dark stains that look like dried coffee in old (still working) Keyboards, so there is hope.

[Beanbag]

MOST electronic circuit boards undergo a water wash sometime in the assembly process after all the components have been soldered in place. Because this is a nothing-to-lose scenario (the worst you'll end up with is a non-working laptop, which is what you have got now anyway), here's what I would do if it was my laptop:

First, remove the hard drive. The data on the drive is probably still good, so you want to protect the drive above all else. If possible, plug the hard drive into a working computer and copy important files off to either a USB stick or to another hard drive as a just-in-case backup.

Then, with the laptop case open and the hard drive still removed, take it to the kitchen sink and with the spray nozzle wash out the interior of the computer. REALLY: I'm serious. Hose it out thoroughly, inside, outside, and keyboard. Just use plain warm water -- no soap or anything that might leave some residue. You might want to be careful with the LCD screen. Rinse the lower part thoroughly, then allow it to drain.

Take the computer outside and carefully shake the crap out of it an all directions. You want to sling as much water out of it as possible.

If you have access to a compressed air gun, blow out the inside at a fairly low pressure (say about 30 psi). Again, the object is to get as much remaining water out of the inside and keyboard.

Allow the computer to air dry. A hair dryer set on LOW can be used to help things along. Take your time and make sure it's good and dry. Overnight is not too long; a whole day propped open would be better.

Once you're SURE the machine is really dry, install the battery and turn the computer on. Even without a hard drive, you should see the initial bootup screen on the LCD. (Note: you might have to reinstall the memory). Eventually you'll get some error message about no boot device or drive -- this is a good sign.

Assuming you get the initial boot screen, turn the machine off and reinstall the hard drive. Reboot and keep your fingers crossed.

If you think I'm joking, Jerry Pournelle wrote in his regular column about taking his favorite keyboard into the shower with him whenever it started sticking or getting grungy. Rinse out, shake out, and allow to dry.

Based on the info you've provided, those are the steps I would take if it was my machine.

YMMV.

Try plugging the drive into another machine and backing off critical files first.

Beanbag

ETA: I viewed the link Oforf provided. It has good advice, only it doesn't mention rinsing out the machine. I would go with the water rinse, particularly if there was sugar in the coffee. Just draining will leave a sticky film inside. On a humid day, it will soak up moisture from the air and become conductive again, possibly causing more damage.

[alfaniner]

I hope it was just black coffee and not a granda mochalatte frappucino.

I did the same thing a couple months ago (black coffee). Worst, when starting my first backup in quite a while. Left it alone, upside-down, on a fan for a full 24 hours.

I couldn't get it to boot but I did get an error screen. With a little research, I followed a suggestion to plug it in the wall socket with the battery out. Something about it thinking the battery is the power source when it's in and not recognizing it doesn't have enough power.

Got everything back, and am still using this laptop to this time.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Looks like you should have bought a MAC. I believe they replace lots of stuff no questions asked. My son got a new case for his for free after dropping and cracking it.

Are you sure it's had time to dry inside though? And is the battery still good? One of our cell phones went through the wash and it worked with a new battery. The battery, however, was not only killed by the water, they have a pink spot that spreads when wet telling the company water has gotten on it, so you can't just claim it stopped on its own.

[Ohforf]

Looks like you should have bought a MAC. I believe they replace lots of stuff no questions asked. My son got a new case for his for free after dropping and cracking it.
*sigh*
At the same price, he can buy 2-3 Windows Laptops.
I have been looking into that... 1500-2300 Euros for a Macbook Pro.

[Zep]

No, no hope. You will never get it back, and it will be too cold anyway. You are just going to have to make another cup of coffee...

[Blue Mountain]

Sorry I can't offer any advice over and above what others have posted here. I'll just make the comment that I almost always use an external keyboard with my laptop, partly because I find it easier to use, and partly because I hope if I ever have such an accident it will be the external keyboard that gets the liquid and not the built-in one.

[JWideman]

Pulling the battery right away was smart. Trying to turn it back on after merely wiping down the surfaces, not so much.
What happens is that the liquid leaves a path for the electricity to flow, even when it dries. This is because when it dries it leaves deposits. What you have to do is fully disassemble it and wipe it down with alcohol, then let it air dry for a few days. This removes the residue and alcohol doesn't leave any of its own.
For a $600 laptop I'm not sure it's worth the effort and it might be too late to save it, but I guess you could try.

[a_unique_person]

MOST electronic circuit boards undergo a water wash sometime in the assembly process after all the components have been soldered in place. Because this is a nothing-to-lose scenario (the worst you'll end up with is a non-working laptop, which is what you have got now anyway), here's what I would do if it was my laptop:

First, remove the hard drive. The data on the drive is probably still good, so you want to protect the drive above all else. If possible, plug the hard drive into a working computer and copy important files off to either a USB stick or to another hard drive as a just-in-case backup.

Then, with the laptop case open and the hard drive still removed, take it to the kitchen sink and with the spray nozzle wash out the interior of the computer. REALLY: I'm serious. Hose it out thoroughly, inside, outside, and keyboard. Just use plain warm water -- no soap or anything that might leave some residue. You might want to be careful with the LCD screen. Rinse the lower part thoroughly, then allow it to drain.

Take the computer outside and carefully shake the crap out of it an all directions. You want to sling as much water out of it as possible.


I worked for a large company that had an Amdahl mainframe, cost a fortune but the roof was only fit of a chicken coop.

During huge storm, water came cascading down, right on top of the computer. They turned if off immediately, called in the Amdahl engineers who went to work on it with hairdryers. After a day or so, it was powered on again and didn't miss a beat.

[JWideman]

I worked for a large company that had an Amdahl mainframe, cost a fortune but the roof was only fit of a chicken coop.

During huge storm, water came cascading down, right on top of the computer. They turned if off immediately, called in the Amdahl engineers who went to work on it with hairdryers. After a day or so, it was powered on again and didn't miss a beat.

Lucky. I'm guessing the water never reached the board in the first place.

[Evilgiraffe]

As a complete amateur I think there are two possibilities. One is it's just dirty, in which case it needs to be pulled apart and cleaned with a suitable solvent, I have a vague idea acetone is used for this but please don't do anything with potentially dangerous chemicals without getting an expert opinion.

The other is that the liquid caused bits of the computer to short circuit and overheat before you could pull the battery, in which case you're just screwed.

Bolding mine.

Please don't use acetone. It's much too aggressive a solvent and will likely start dissolving many of the plastic parts of your laptop. Iso-propyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is a fairly gentle solvent that will help remove water without damaging plastics.

[/semi-expert opinion]

[Andrew Wiggin]

MOST electronic circuit boards undergo a water wash sometime in the assembly process after all the components have been soldered in place. Because this is a nothing-to-lose scenario (the worst you'll end up with is a non-working laptop, which is what you have got now anyway), here's what I would do if it was my laptop:

First, remove the hard drive. The data on the drive is probably still good, so you want to protect the drive above all else. If possible, plug the hard drive into a working computer and copy important files off to either a USB stick or to another hard drive as a just-in-case backup.

Then, with the laptop case open and the hard drive still removed, take it to the kitchen sink and with the spray nozzle wash out the interior of the computer. REALLY: I'm serious. Hose it out thoroughly, inside, outside, and keyboard. Just use plain warm water -- no soap or anything that might leave some residue. You might want to be careful with the LCD screen. Rinse the lower part thoroughly, then allow it to drain.

Take the computer outside and carefully shake the crap out of it an all directions. You want to sling as much water out of it as possible.

If you have access to a compressed air gun, blow out the inside at a fairly low pressure (say about 30 psi). Again, the object is to get as much remaining water out of the inside and keyboard.

Allow the computer to air dry. A hair dryer set on LOW can be used to help things along. Take your time and make sure it's good and dry. Overnight is not too long; a whole day propped open would be better.

Once you're SURE the machine is really dry, install the battery and turn the computer on. Even without a hard drive, you should see the initial bootup screen on the LCD. (Note: you might have to reinstall the memory). Eventually you'll get some error message about no boot device or drive -- this is a good sign.

Assuming you get the initial boot screen, turn the machine off and reinstall the hard drive. Reboot and keep your fingers crossed.

If you think I'm joking, Jerry Pournelle wrote in his regular column about taking his favorite keyboard into the shower with him whenever it started sticking or getting grungy. Rinse out, shake out, and allow to dry.

Based on the info you've provided, those are the steps I would take if it was my machine.

YMMV.

Try plugging the drive into another machine and backing off critical files first.

Beanbag

ETA: I viewed the link Oforf provided. It has good advice, only it doesn't mention rinsing out the machine. I would go with the water rinse, particularly if there was sugar in the coffee. Just draining will leave a sticky film inside. On a humid day, it will soak up moisture from the air and become conductive again, possibly causing more damage.

I second this idea, with a couple of variations. First, I'd use distilled water, since it'll dry with no residue. Most tap water has dissolved minerals in it, and can leave hygroscopic (absorbs water from the air) residues, which might still be conductive. Second, after you shook and blew as much water as possible out of it, I'd do the bag with dessicant as mentioned in a previous post. You really do want it completely dry before you try to boot it.
Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

A

[a_unique_person]

Lucky. I'm guessing the water never reached the board in the first place.

Luck they didn't deserve. The manager of the datacentre had warned them for years it could go at any time, but nothing was done to fix it.

[learner]

I spilt a whole mug of Cofee onto my laptop last year. All I did was,, in this order-
1/ Unplug it
2/ Turn it upside down and give it a good shake.
3/ flush thoroughly under tap (not screen)
4/ Hang on washing line for an hour or so
5/ Dry with hairdryer ( not mine my girlfreinds) :)

Job done. No problems. Very lucky.

[Ducky]

I worked for a large company that had an Amdahl mainframe, cost a fortune but the roof was only fit of a chicken coop.

During huge storm, water came cascading down, right on top of the computer. They turned if off immediately, called in the Amdahl engineers who went to work on it with hairdryers. After a day or so, it was powered on again and didn't miss a beat.

A while back they were installing new HVAC units on the roof above a datacenter. It rained like hell that night and there was a leak pouring water onto the ceiling tiles in the datacenter. Luckily those tiles were made to retain pools of water on them, but it was coming down on the side of a row of very expensive big iron sun servers - running commerce critical databases.

Being the NOC Ops guy on 3rd shift that night, I called facilities management. Here's how that conversation went:

"Hi it's (me), there's a leak in the roof. It's raining hard and water is in the datacenter. I've tarped off what I can, but I need some help. I think you'd better come in and get a contractor out also."

"*groggily* What? What does weather.com say?"

"Uh. Weather.com says it's *********** raining in the datacenter. Get out of bed."

Needless to say we had a guy out patching the roof and another couple of guys tarping off what needed to be in the ceiling rather fast after that.

[Christian Klippel]

As already mentioned, use distilled water to wash it all out.

Alcohol may help to remove the residual water then, and evaporates faster afterwards. However, if you want to apply alcohol, it should be pure alcohol. Most of the solvents you find in home-improvement shops are not clean. Many contain tiny amounts of oils and other stuff. At least over here.

As for drying, take your time with that. The problem is that in such confined spaces as in a laptop, there are only small openings where moisture can evaporate. That also applies for moisture that gets underneath the chips. There is little airflow, so it takes much longer.

Greetings,

Chris

[quadraginta]

Only one thing to add, or at least reiterate.

Be patient. Very ... very ... patient.

I've told this story before, so I'll keep it short.

Dropped a Motion tablet computer into a six in. deep mud puddle at work. 'Power on' flickered power light, then nada. Opened up case. Paper towels. Hair dryers. Etc., etc. For days. No Joy.

Turned over to company IT dude. IT dude, with typical efficiency, kept in office for two months before contemplating journey to manufacturer. Tried "one more time" before packing up to send.

Machine booted. Returned to field. Used happily and without problem for two more years.

[Newtons Bit]

I had a similar incident when I was in college. I had opened my desktop case and left it facing motherboard up on the floor. It was overheating because of a bad case fan and this was the easiest way to keep it running before I was able to get a new set of fans. That worked well for awhile. And then I overturned a huge glass of water directly on top of the cpu and motherboard. I got a REALLY strange blue screen of death before I was able to pull the power on the thing. I got it dry but it still wouldn't turn back on. I tried everything to see if there was any water anywhere but nothing helped. I even pulled the motherboard out of the case to see if it was wet behind. No water was there. However when I plugged the power supply back in it suddenly started working again.

I don't leave my cases open anymore.

[nota]

Looks like you should have bought a MAC. I believe they replace lots of stuff no questions asked. My son got a new case for his for free after dropping and cracking it.

Are you sure it's had time to dry inside though? And is the battery still good? One of our cell phones went through the wash and it worked with a new battery. The battery, however, was not only killed by the water, they have a pink spot that spreads when wet telling the company water has gotten on it, so you can't just claim it stopped on its own.

yes apple will replace ""SOME"" defects like cracked cases
on some machines sometimes
on other known flaws they do NADA PROCESS IS RANDOM
example new macbooks will get a new free case if cracked
older ti g4 macbook with known flaw willNOT be replaced
when hinge fails [and almost all tig4's fail at the hinge]

APPLE WILLNOT REPLACE WET DAMAGED MACHINES
not to say they never have or will but policy is wet damage is user error and user pays for repairs