Spilled soda into G1S

I just spilled a small amount of soda into my husbands G1S it mostly went underneath it and around the power buttons and keyboard area. We wiped it all down as best we could without taking it apart and it was a small amount so I thought it was dried out and we tried to turn it on when I tried to turn it on the screen had a bunch of wierd colors so I shut it down immediately (I also had shut it down immediately after the spill).
Anyone have any tips on ways to try to salvage it? What type of damage is most common from this? If one part got wet would it have fried everything else or just the motherboard? Could we potientially get just the one part that got wet replaced?
Thanks for any advice.

 

Well ''soda'' (water) damage would have short circuited certain components...my guess is, if you are lucky it might just be the screen, if not the mobo might have to be replaced.

 

Unplug it and remove the battery, then leave it for a while until the soda dries out.

Was it soda water or something else? If it was just water and you're really lucky, the computer will be fine once it dries out. If it was anything else, you'll have to disassemble the computer and clean or replace the affected parts.

 

it was diet pepsi. I dont think it was the screen because nothing touched the screen, is there a good chance it is just the motherboard or is there a good chance that the whole thing is trashed? it really only went on a tiny area (the area around the power keys and the top right side of the keyboard

 

I am not saying its the actual screen, but what connects the mobo to the screen heh.

EDIT: have you tried turning it on again?

 

The mainboard pretty much is the "whole thing" in a laptop. Sugary soda will do some damage in there, you'll need to open it up and clean the parts with alcohol or the like.

Many G1S's have a year of accident protection, does yours? If so, stop now and send it in.

 

unfortunately his was purcahsed in july so no accident protection. If the motherboard is bad is the laptop pretty much a loss then? Or would it be possible to have it replaced for less than buying a new G1S?

 

The motherboard itself shouldn't cost too much... however, having it put in will cost you parts + labour. The motherboard probably costs ~250-300.

 

You can do it yourself if you have a manual. But that will void warranty, takes a while, and has to be done with much care.

 

Isn't the warrenty void anyway now? We have built our own desktops before, how much harder would it be to replace the motherboard in a laptop?
I am going to call Asus today and see what they say but any further advice is greatly appriciated. I am just trying to assess the chances of whether or not I just destroyed my husbands $2000 laptop. If it can be fixed for less than that I will be very happy.

 

Technically the warranty is void, but you can try to get it serviced under warranty anyway.

It's significantly harder to replace the motherboard in a laptop. Not impossible given patience and time, but a disassembly manual is essential (can't do it without).

Note that a notebook motherboard is rather expensive, 300USD+ I believe.

Also, before buying you should try to positively assess that the motherboard is at fault and not some other components. (that's difficult I know, but see the price issue above... maybe all in all it's a better idea to send it in for service, I think you pay 50 to 100 USD more but at least you don't need to buy components blindly)

And also let it dry for a few days, sometimes it takes a while until all the water has dried out. Maybe it'll start then (not a good chance but anyway).

 

It is possible nothing got zapped. Try cleaning it and see if it'll power up. The problem with sweetened drinks is that they'll dry out into a sticky mess which will eventually make the power button or the affected keys stuck.

I don't know if the dried gunk would be conductive. If not I suppose you could leave it if you don't mind the buttons or keys sticking. If it is conductive you might fry something by applying power to the computer.

 

Well just wanted to update this, we ended up putting it away on a shelf intending to send it in for repairs in january when we could afford it. When we called up Asus in January they said that we may as well try turning it on at home because that is the first thing they would do there, they also said that the worst of the damage always happens right away if the notebook is on so there was no point in keeping it off after it had a chance to dry out.
The good news is it turned back on and is working just fine, guess we didn't need to let it dry out for a month and a half but I am just happy it works .

 

Congratulations. Glad your laptop works again.

I drink sodas around my computer a lot, but I always move at least 2 feet away from the keyboard whenever I take a sip and I always keep the can at my arm's length reach. This habit has saved my G1S from quite a few incidents.

 

haha yeah, learned my lesson, drinks of any kind are never kept on the same surface as the laptops and I try to make sure whatever I am drinking has a lid (like a sigg bottle)

 

Since you spilled _diet_ pepsi, it shouldn't be very sticky and would dry better than the sugary kind. Though, I'm not sure about the acids and other stuff in diet pop. If you can take it apart to dry out, that would probably help, at least open up the case and make sure there's no standing liquid in there.

That said, my Mom spilled a glass of water on her old toshiba a few years ago and it was never the same... it would work, occasionally I wasn't there and couldn't clean things up for her. She just tried to dry it in the sun.