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    Wine spilled on a laptop

    Discussion in 'HP' started by tomex, Aug 27, 2010.

  1. tomex

    tomex Notebook Enthusiast

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    A friend of mine brought me her laptop on which she spilled wine.

    The laptop does not power on with and without the battery.

    I was able to get the data off the hard drive, but I'm wondering if fixing it is possible or even economical.

    The laptop is an HP dv5 series with Vista home premium and it is already rather beat-up.

    Honestly, is it really worth it to fix it (or possible)?
     
    tomex, Aug 27, 2010
    #1
  2. nikeseven

    nikeseven Notebook Deity

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    I doubt its worth the trouble, multiple things could be fried and the time and parts to fix one or all would be more than a new laptop costs
     
    nikeseven, Aug 27, 2010
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  3. tomex

    tomex Notebook Enthusiast

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    yeah, that's what I think too.
     
    tomex, Aug 27, 2010
    #3
  4. Ramzii

    Ramzii Notebook Evangelist

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    How did you manage that, with a pc that cant be turned on?
    Remove the hdd? What did you use to connect it? And where did you connect it to?


    You could open it op, take a look. Its broken anyway.
    Maybe clean it up a little from the inside?
     
    Ramzii, Aug 27, 2010
    #4
  5. tomex

    tomex Notebook Enthusiast

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    tomex, Aug 27, 2010
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  6. OldMajorDave

    OldMajorDave Notebook Evangelist

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    Good job recovering the data. The folks are right, it's probably toast but....

    How long ago did the spill occur?

    Was the unit powered when the spill occured?

    Did it just never power up again after the spill, or did it start and then fail?

    Does she have an extended warranty with ADP, and perhaps not know it? ( Silly, but I've seen this at least twice before :rolleyes: )
     
    OldMajorDave, Aug 27, 2010
    #6
  7. tomex

    tomex Notebook Enthusiast

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    It happened 3 days ago. She said that it worked, but then it stopped. She never unplugged it removed the battery once it happened.

    No, no warranty.
     
    tomex, Aug 27, 2010
    #7
  8. OldMajorDave

    OldMajorDave Notebook Evangelist

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    So.... it was powered when the spill occured....failed.... and has not powered since?
     
    OldMajorDave, Aug 27, 2010
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  9. tomex

    tomex Notebook Enthusiast

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    that's right.
     
    tomex, Aug 27, 2010
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  10. OldMajorDave

    OldMajorDave Notebook Evangelist

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    Not so good. If however you're so inclined, try removing the:

    battery
    rtc battery
    CD/DVD drive
    hard drive (did that already)
    Remote (or door)
    all compartment doors
    RAM
    Wireless card
    Keyboard ( if you know how)

    Let it sit for a few days and air out. Try and dry everything you can get to. Put it all back and see what happens. If it's still toast, don't toss it. Sell it on ebay. You might get a few bucks. LCD screen, RAM, processor, HDD, and CD/DVD drive can all be salvaged.
     
    OldMajorDave, Aug 27, 2010
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  11. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    wine is acidic. modern circuit boards are multi layer but the edges are not sealed letting liquids seep in.

    this is not a case of a clean water spill.
     
    newsposter, Aug 27, 2010
    #11
  12. Blindsay

    Blindsay Notebook Enthusiast

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    i worked on a laptop that had wine spilled on it, we only had to replace the motherboard and keyboard lol. usually its not worth it, especially because it can be hard to tell sometimes exactly what is dead
     
    Blindsay, Aug 29, 2010
    #12