Water Spill on 17.... :(

So one of my kids managed to spill water across the keyboard on my 2 year old Alienware 17. I don't have accidental coverage.
When it spilled, I turned it upside down. The computer was still turned on, so I shut it down normally through windows no problem.
I then left it open and upside down for a day. But when I then tried to power it up, no go, nothing.
When I plug the charger into it, the light that would normally illuminate around the power button doesn't come on, and the computer won't power up.
So what has likely fried? Is it worth it to have a local company look at it, or inquire with Dell? I don't really feel like dropping 1K to repair a 2 year old computer....

 

You can call dell, I called them once before and they told me its 430 dollars plus tax in your state, they ship you a box, you put you laptop in and they send it to some place where they replace what needs to be replaced and mail it back to you. Except for me I had a burnt out screen so I wasn't going to pay 430 dollars for a 80 dollar screen. That's the one and only time I've ever called dell so I don't have much experience in that category. Maybe someone who knows or has done it can chime in. But in your case, dry that puppy out thoroughly and call dell.


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More than likely your motherboard is dead. That would be my first guess at least, it really depends how much water got spilled on it and how much made it through the keyboard. Did you disconnect the battery after powering it off when the water was spilled?

My general rule of thumb for water/liquid damage is a full disassembly followed by a soak/wash in isopropyl alcohol and then I let the parts dry for a day or so with a fan blowing on them to make sure they are completely dry. Fully reassemble while checking for further damage. Just a note, do not wash things like the hard drive, SSD, or fans.

I'd recommend taking it apart to look for damage if you can, you'll be able to tell where the water went due to corrosion/buildup on the parts. You can try cleaning them, I've been successful before (only once though) in resurrecting a MacBook that had a "cup o' noodles" spilled on it.

Depending on where you are and how much you're willing to spend it might be best to get a quote on a repair, if it is the motherboard you can buy a refurbished one on eBay for ~$250 and then just pay labor to have someone install it. It looks like you're in Canada, if you were close to me I'd be happy to take a look. If you do end up getting rid of it shoot me a PM with some pictures as I'd be interested in buying it.

 

Hey, so odd thing happened today.. Still wouldn't power up, so took the back off again with the intention of putting it in a large bag of rice in case there was still any moisture in it, even though its been several days.
After taking the back off it, I removed the battery. Then, for the hell of it, I tried powering it up plugged in, but without the battery connected. Powered up!
Shut it down, re-connected the battery, and tried starting it again (still plugged in too), no go. Removed battery again, boom, starts up perfecty again just plugged in but no battery.

SO.....Does this mean the battery is shorted out? Or is it possible it is some part of the board that connects to the battery? I guess I'm wondering if I should bother spending money on a new battery...

Thx!

 

If you keep the machine plugged most of the time I wouldn't worry. It's trial and error on this one, the battery or the mobo.

 

If that shorted out the battery and not the motherboard you better go buy a lottery ticket.

I'd say use it with the battery disconnected for like a week, play some games, really use it hard to make sure nothing else is acting up. If that works a battery would be the cheaper option to replace at ~$90 on eBay. If there isn't any corrosion in the connector for the battery on the motherboard you should be good to replace it but I suppose it's possible the new one won't work either. You won't be able to tell until you have another one to test.

 

You can also try to clean the battery and motherboard contacts to see if that helps.

I had the "plugged in, not charging" bug and other bugs in different laptops, and after I used a piece of folded P2000 sandpaper to clean all the contacts, they worked ok.
After the sandpaper cleaning I did use rubbing alcohol to clean it thoroughly.

 

Basically you need to get all your PCBs, which had water spillage washed in Ultrasonic bath. This is not something that can be done at home, local PC repair shot should be able to do this. You keyboard needs replacing, it will fail sooner or later most likely. Don't use the sandpaper to clean the contacts, use the contact cleaner and fibre pen (around £5 on ebay) or very small flat head screwdriver to fix your battery (run it between the 2 metal plates just like the mainboard connector would when the battery is installed). It will be the battery contacts, which need cleaning, not mainboard contacts most likely.

 

The Ultrasonic bath and the fibre pen are indeed the better options, I was just stating what worked for me.

A "dead" motherboard worked again after cleaning the entire pcb area with rubbing alcohol and Q-tips (did it very carefully off-course).