Maintenance: spilled milk on my xps

Hi,
Yesterday night I spilled about 1/2 a cup of milk on my m1210. Before I could do anything the laptop shut itself off. I then proceeded to unplug all the cables attached to it (including its battery). Then I let all the milk drain out by lifting it upside down over a sink. I took out the disk drive, hard drive, and extra stick of ram. I held a blow drier to the laptop for about 10 minutes.

Earlier today I took apart the laptop to see the extent of the damage. I cleaned up as much of the dried milk as possible then up the laptop back together again.

Luckily after 24 hours of drying the laptop boots up properly. YAY

My only question is, what other things can I do to ensure that the milk won't corrode/damage any parts of the laptop? I'm sure there's still some milk that I did not clean up.

thanks.

 

I think I would recommend opening the laptop, disassemble it, wipe everything with a damp cloth, rinse and wipe again (few times), leave to dry, and reassemble. You spilled milk not distilled water. If you dont want corrosion/damage, that's all I can advise you to do.

 

Milk will also start to smell really badly....

 

open it up and go get a soft toothbrush. also get some 91% iso alcohol from your local drug store. brush GENTLY all the areas of the mobo and any other areas where the milk may have spilled onto. the alcohol will not damage anything even the plastics as long as only a small amount is used. this will shine everything back up and remove any corrosion you may have got over time. keep rinsing off the brush with fresh alcohol during the process. circuit board cleaner works well also but costs a lot more $$. we use the 91% in circuit repair all the time where i used to work.

 

thanks for all the tips!

ps: How should I clean the keyboard? Can all the keys pop off or can I dunk the whole keyboard into distilled water?

 

not sure i would do that. maybe get a super soft fine paint brush and use the alcohol to get between and under the keys. i would not put the whole keyboard in water

 

please dont use a damp cloth, that is very bad for electronics... they make electronic parts cleaner and you need to use a bunch. as stated it will stink badly and needs to be cleaned off. i myself spilled coke on my keyboard, and i cleaned it all off with electronic cleaner and there has been no corrosion so far (about 1 year ago) with the exception of the keyboard, i had to replace that

good luck

 

and a new keyboard is cheap, give up on cleaning it off, it is nearly impossible and probably too late anyways. soaking it in water is not recommended, as it will ruin it for sure, but it is likely already kaput.

 

Distilled water is not so corrosive.
But you'd need to dry the thing out completely.

 

Distilled water probably won't cause corrosion as long as you make sure it's 100% dry before you place it back in the computer. You'll need a hair dryer (if possible, at its lowest heat setting as to not overheat the electronics or cause melting) blowing on your keyboard for multiple hours. I wouldn't do it personally, I'd just spend the $15 or whatever it is to get another keyboard.

 

dont use hair dryer if possible, becuase you are BLOWING milk into crevies.... try to use a vacuum cleaner if you have one, though not one that's too strong(or it'll pull electornics off)

after finishing everything, put your laptop in a sealable box/bag, and place those silica gel packs... leave for 1-2 days, remove all moisture

 

My son managed to spill "water" over the M1330 keyboard a couple of weeks ago. He also revealed (I was away at the time) that the "z" key got lost - presumably in a frantic attempt to clear-up the spill.

Dell came and fixed it NBD under the Complete Care cover. As I understand it the motherboard was OK. The keyboard was replaced, I think the top cover (it had previously got a dent), and a third part is listed.

Anyway, it works now - noticed some white crystalline deposit in several seams on the underside and sides of the machine which I cleaned off.
Bet it wasn't really water!

 

hey just an update: I managed to clean off most of the keyboard with a Fellowes brand keyboard cleaning kit. The keys don't stick anymore and there is no sour milk smell. Thanks for all the tips!

 

As the zfactor said, use IsoPropyl alchohol 91%-94% pure. A little bit of the water will not quickly evaporate but its already distilled and dries much more quickly and cleanly than actual distilled water and forget about the keyboard they will send you another if need be (for free) to put in yourself to save on them servicing your computer.

 

1st of all why would u drink milk while using xps????? U know that xps like pepsi or ****. lets try this next time get pepsi or **** and spill them on ur laptop as yuo did with milk. u gotta notice that xps will stay on and wont shut down!!! why!!!!>>?? because xps like pepsi and hate milk. get hair dryer to dry them out. redball lol kiddin