Spilt Beer on Dell Inspiron Laptop

I knocked over about 1/4 of a beer on my laptop this weekend. The computer did not shut down, I had to take the battery out to shut it down. The USB mouse still worked before shutting down, but none of the keys worked or the laptop mouse. I could click on all links and they worked fine. I took the computer apart and took the keyboard off and let it dry for over 24 hours. it still doesnt' work. any ideas? is it shot?

 

First of all, what a waste of beer!

If you are sure that all of the components are dry, do you have access to an external usb keyboard & mouse. Try those to see if you can do anything. It's possible that it's just the keyboard / trackpad, and these can be replaced via eBay and are relatively painless to replace. Which model of Inspiron is it that you have?

 

It is a Inspiron 1525. The external mouse worked until I shut it down. Unfortunately I can't even get it to power up at all now...no lights or anything.

Yes...Total waste of beer!

 

Oh so no power at all? This is not a good sign, as I'm sure you are aware. Can you get any life out of it if you power it up with the battery removed (but plugged into an AC outlet)?

I'm afraid this is one of those things that without tools to test the various components, it's a difficult one to diagnose. Not the answer you were looking for I know.

 

nope, won't power with the battery out either. Also removed the HD/CD Drive/Memory. still nothing. I read somewhere that it is probably the mother board...sounds expensive!

 

Let i dry!!I stupidly did this to my sisters laptop a few years ago,It was about 3 in the morning and i knocked a full glass of coke onto her laptop!

Not fun as i dissembled it totally at 3 am and left each component to dry,The next day i put it back together and it was dead,Since then she got a new laptop and recently i tested it,Plugged it in and switched it on and it all came to life!Sadly she's somehow lost the hard drive and i can test it

 

Yeah, these things take a while to dry. 24 hours with the keyboard off isn't going to come close. You can bake the electrical components (other than the hard drive) at a low temperature, let the pieces dry in the sun on a bright warm day, use a blow dryer or hot air gun on the pieces, or let the laptop sit and dry for a week or maybe more. You want hot, dry air. Otherwise this can take forever.

 

No!I would not recommend a heat gun

Surely that would heat the components and in the end they'd expand with the heat and never work again?!

 

The heat gun is dangerous, definitely because you could warp components in the computer (I've done that easily in the labs). But you could also melt the solder and give components an opportunity to move in ways they aren't supposed to.

 

The best idea is just to let it dry on it's own accord. Ideally, if you have a de-humidifier, you'd place it in the same room as that to dry out, or in an airing cupboard should be fine. Baking it in an oven or some such, as Greg mentions, would potentially melt the solder - although this does require considerable heat to do so. There is also the danger of melting any plastic components / connectors.

 

I've dunked my cellphone more times than one and a dehumidifier blowing the warm dry air on it still takes a quite a while to fix it completely. It usually has random quirks and power issues for a couple of weeks even if left by the dehumidifier for a few days. I wash all of my desktop components regularly because the dust buildup they get is crazy. I also washed my girlfriend's old laptop to sell on ebay. I just wipe the hard drives and disk drives, but I dunk everything else in soap and water. I usually bake the pieces in the toaster oven for a while at a bit over the boiling point of water. I set them on dry paper towels. I would never put plastic parts themselves in there, but they usually dry pretty easily as they have nowhere for the water to hide. I use a hot air gun for the power supply and then let it sit in the sun just in case. The one I use is probably less powerful than what you have in the lab and I don't hold it real close and steady. I've done this 4 times now with perfect results. If you don't at least take the laptop apart and let it dry, the parts inside could still remain wet for a very long time.

 

When you drop a cell phone or iPod in water, the common resolution is to leave the device in a bag of dry uncooked rice overnight. I've actually resurrected a completely submerged cell phone this way before. It might work with a laptop as well, although you're going to need a lot of rice.

 

yea rice works as well as a dehumidifier.

unfortunately this is how my inspiron 8600 died. spilt a pint of beer on it. i dint bother fixing it as it was already 4 years old and already half dead lol.

moral of the story?

dont use your palmrest as a beer mat or you'll loose two things you dearly love lol.

 

I can't imagine anyone doing this :O Washing all the components like doing the dishes...

Certainly this can't be harmless to the components right?

 

It also depends on what you wash it with. I wouldn't recommend it, though if you are going to do so then I'd suggest de-ionised water.

 

It really bugs me when the parts are covered in dust, but it does sit on the floor and I guess it filters the air in the room. Soap and water can't harm anything. The most that can happen is a slight tarnish on the heatsink, but nothing else. I do rinse the soapy water off.