NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! 9400 covered in coke!! e;fih;werhvtbhoqw :@:@:@

hey guys, my stupid friend's cat just accidentally knocked over a 2L bottle of coke into my inspiron 9400 when me and him were outta the room. i found out after i had to go in his room to get sumthing and i must say i dont know how long it was between the time i found it and the time it actually occurred. the notebook's front media button lights were on non-stop but the screen was just black and no other lights were on. i had bought the complete care warranty when i had bought my notebook and the CSR told me they would have it shipped to the depot to get it checked out. he also told me he would replace any parts that were defective, but i was wondering if any of the parts were salvageable? i have VERY important data on that notebook. would the coke affect the hard drive? i dunno what dell's policy is when it comes to liquid-damaged notebooks.

any input on this matter is greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

 

Sorry to hear dude, this happened to me with my 2nd-to-last notebook - hard drive was toast. I'd take it to a professional to see if you can recover anything off of it. I was able to get a couple of things off of mine, but not much. :/ I dunno what Dell's policy is.

 

I spilled coffee on my old laptop once. Only the keyboard broke though. I would have that cat put down though. lol. Anyways, I think Dell's accidental damage warranty would cover it.

 

Take out the battery and flip the notebook over. Let everything drain from the keyboard. I would try to take the hard drive out if you can find it and make sure that didn't get wet.
Tim

 

^^^ Yes, excellent advice. I had assumed that part and just glossed over it. It's definitely required to do, before anything else. By the time I got to my hard drive it'd already been wet, and then the pros couldn't do anything for me after that.

 

DO NOT MENTION THE CAT over the phone with Dell! Just tell them you spilled coke.

In my country (Australia), Dell's Completecare policy does not cover "animal" accidents (as well as "acts of God" ).

Just looked at the U.S. service agreement, though it didn't mention animals .. I don't think you should mention them anyway. (I'm assuming you're from the U.S cause most people seem to be).

 

If you don't have CompleteCare and want to clean it, you'll have to leave it off for a while, and disensemble it and wipe EVERYTHING down with a damp cloth. Sugar is a conductor, even worse when it's dry so you have to make sure it's all gone before you ever want to turn on your notebook.

 

From Dell's Web site, regarding their "Complete Care" warranty"

It sounds to me that if you spill liquid on your laptop, you better turn it off immediately. They will only replace the keyboard. If you short something else out, you may be out of luck.

 

crap....but the sales rep said it wud cover the entire notebook if any liquid had spilled on the notebook O.O

 

If your hard drive has important data on it, I *strongly* recommend removing it before you ship your laptop in to Dell. I had issues with my 700M when I sent it in to the depot and wouldn't trust Dell with any info that I did not have backed up.

 

Complete care covers the whole system not just the keyboard. The main reason why your system needs to be shipped to the depot its because they need to check the functionality of all the hardware inside the system and if they find it damage then they will replace it. ITs good that you have a complete care warranty on your system bec if not then that would be a big problem bec most commonly regarding spillage the most common part that needs to be replace is the mobo. HDD's well there not common to have problem due to spillage.

Just take out your hdd and let it dry and have somebody check your data if everything is still there. There are 3rd party companies who can help you regarding that or try to go to your nearest computer store and let them check on it.

 

If the liquid caused a short circuit on the board, it's toast.

 

If it turns out that you won't get a new notebook from Dell, you could always blame it on your friend, and make him pay for a new one. After all, it was his cat...

Other than that, I'd highly recommend that you keep drinks FAR AWAY from your next laptop.

 

just kill the cat, you'll feel much better

 

Did you mention that you have complete care?

What you should do is:

open up the keyboard, remove the metal piece under the keyboard.

Then let it dry for 1 DAY OR 2 .Just leave it there.. remove battery. DON'T ever try to turn it on if it's not 24 hour dry yet .

Look around in the chassis of the system, use dust blower or soft tissue towel and clean any thing that you see like coke liquid.

I'd say use the hair dryer at low temperature and blow it in the laptop for 5 -10 mins ... then leave it there... blow again afte2-4 hours . Or just leave it under a table light 60W bulb. (trust me ,i saved my friend's Nokia N73 by that way. The phone was drop in the toilet eww.)

The worst could happen is your motherboard dies. The best is your keyboard and touch pad dies. And the best of the best is your 9400 still alive with no damage.

About your data: Take out the hard drive by removing 2 screws with the icon like HDD then pull it out.

You can use a SATA to USB adapter and hook it to another computer, then it'll recorgnize the HDD and you can copy your files to another hard disk.

For other reason that the coke spills gets in to you HDD (not likely)... and all your data is gone, dont panic. There is another software help to recover loss data if your hard drive can be recorgnize by the system and still spinning well. Use GETDATABACK it's a computer technician tool that they use to recover HDD and they charge you alot when you do that at a store.

 

Maybe it is not the cats fault. Maybe an open 2 liter bottle near the laptop is the problem. Go cats!

 

Yes, no open beverages near the NB. I don't let any open drinks near any of my puters. They are always far away.

When I see someone with a drink near a computer at work, I become the Computer Police and start screaming bloody murder.

BTW, that friend would've had to grab that cat and haul a** down the street and stay at a friends house for like a week.

He would've been like, "I can't go home. Satan is there."

 

Laptop + 2L Bottle (unopened) == Benign
Laptop + 2L Bottle (opened) == Kinda Benign
Laptop + 2L Bottle + 1 Cat == Immediate Code Orange

 

status update:

i must say dell customer support has definitely stepped up a notch. i called today to see the status of the notebook and dell says its unsalvageable. they've decided to end me a 1720 to replace the 9400 and i shud be getting the specs soon. i'll keep u guys posted

 

Cool, new notebook!!!

As for the Cat, maybe the dog did it then placed the cat near the crime...

 

That's excellent advice - ALWAYS keep it simple and play dumb when talking to Dell support, trying to get any parts replaced. HD has occasional clicking but not yet dead, but you KNOW it's gonna die soon? Just to thru the steps they want you to and say the system doesn't even see the HD.

 

I had a disaster last year with a large glass of port on my old laptop. I leaned over to type and knocked the glass right over the keyboard. The laptop imediately went off and I nearly had a heart attack. Wasnt so much bothered about the machine so much as the data on it. I sat there stunned for a minute while my girlfreind grabbed and lifted it upside down to get the majority of the spill out. I then proceeded to down the rest of the bottle of port to calm my nerves. My girlfreind then took everything apart on my laptop and got a hairdryer on it. Cleaned all the liquid out and dried it as much as possible. I was so desperate I put it all back together and tried to get it to power up, totally dead. She ordered me to leave it till the morning. I staggered to bed, totally p@@sed and p@@sed off. In the morning came down to find my girlfreind powered it up no problem. Managed to get all my data off it and it has worked ever since (keyboard bit sticky). Moral of this, as previous posters stated, drinks and/or cats and computers are not good bedfellows. Also helps to have someone nearby with a level head to limit the damage. I wouldnt blame the cat though, even though mine seem to knock stuff over on purpose to get fed!