Why do I always have horror stories?

Ok first things first, you may remember my previous posts re: Vista + my W3J
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1611625#post1611625
That's now an issue that's finally been resolved! the latest BIOS revision fixes the issue completely. YAY!
Thanks to all who made that happen, the W3j owners' club owe you all a great debt


Well, now that's cleared up it's time for my next horror story, but this time i've no-one to blame but myself... curious???
Ok, take a deep breath... I did it, the ultimate sin, drunkenly reaching over my laptop oblivious to the open bottle of beer next to it, you can guess what happened next



Ok, i'm sure you're all thinking that's the last thing my poor lappy ever saw...
but all was not lost!!! i recalled some exelent advice i'd previously read on this very forum, just had a quick look for it but couldn't find it (maybe some-one could help me out there?).
I did find this in case some frantic random searching has lead you here after spilling something on your machine:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/20/what-to-do-if-you-spill-liquid-on-your-laptop/

but that's not exactly what I did, it was only a mild splash of beer (if that's at all possible) so I didn't immediately dissasemble my machine.
I unplugged it, turned it off, removed battery, turned the unit over, wiped what beer i could off, and left him near a radiator with the lid open, propping it up like a big letter 'A' then proceded to use some very unprofessional language that I won't go into here

A few days later (n.b. it left it as long as i could before turning it back on to try and guarantee it was completely dry inside) I dismantled him as best I could safely do, and wiped down what was surprisingly, and very fortunately little beer inside.

Well that was around a week ago, and guess what, for whatever reason the gods were smiling on me IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

Not exactly my proudest moment, but quite possibly the the happiest moment of my lappy's little life. the only lingering problem is the still present faint smell of stale beer, and some mildly noisier, stickier, keys near the impact site
(Is there any safe way of removing individual keys? so i can clean the keyboard? i've restrained from doing so incase i damage one)
I'll openly admit i've been incredibly lucky, and i'll certainly always be far more cautious in the future, and I thought the sentiment was worth sharing.

DO NOT HAVE ANY LIQUIDS NEAR YOUR LAPTOP, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'VE BEEN DRINKING!!!

Well that wraps it up, i'm sorry to have rambled so much - thanks for reading this far!

 

Some horror stories are real and others are fake. You can tell the difference by reading them carefully.

 

does this read like it's been made up? I'm not trying to decieve anyone, just relay an experience i'd love no-one else to go through...

 

Yea, eating/drinking near a notebook, or any electronic device is a sign of disaster. So far, it has not hit me yet though LOL!


*knocks on wood*

edit: BTW Brigan, don't mind HJT's trolling, check his previous couple hundred posts, you'll see why

 

Enlightened as always Cori. thanks

 

Congrats on doing a good job of drying your NB. A lot of electronics seem to do OK if they're allowed to dry out. I have several friends who've dropped their Treos in soapy water, toilets (I didn't ask), and coffee. Lots of drying out (and not dropping anything in coffee that has sugar or cream) seems to do the trick.

And thanks for the reminder. I always have a glass of something sitting next to my lappy - coffee, water, tea, juice. Guess I better shape up.

 

Thanks for this. You are lucky that beer is a relatively innocous liquid without lots of sugar or acid. A friend of mine twice gave his Toshiba notebook some gin and tonic and got keyboard problems. The first time he came to me with the keyboard problem. Once the cause was revealed, I took the keyboard out, put in a bowl with some warm water and washing up liquid and gave it a good scrub (an old tooth brush is good for such occasions). Then it had a good rinse in clean water and was allowed to dry thoroughly before reassembly. Everything was OK. The second time he gave his notebook a drink he cleaned it up himself.

If my memory is correct, getting the W3's keyboard out isn't very difficult: Some screws underneath, some clips around the edges and then disconnect the ribbon cable. I would recommend taking it out and giving it a good wash and then it should be as good as new (all the dirt and food will also be cleaned up). I would refrain from removing the keys themselves unless completely desperate.

John

 

i hate to be the beared of bad news but cleaning wiping and drying all the beer under the keyboard will not help. it may be working now and for the next week or even months. if even a tiny drop got to the circuitry and was not cleaned with the proper solution (we use some kind of alcohol solution here) then eventually the laptop will DIE!