Er, so I spilled a fair amount of water on my Thinkpad T61p

and now it won't boot past the BIOS (Of course I let it dry off for a few days, actually sealed it in a container with some rice)

When the water hit it I frantically started yanking all the cords out and tried to shut it off ASAP but before I could hit the button it went "boop" and powered off (not a good sign).

After letting it dry off I tried booting it and now it won't boot past the BIOS. I'm thinking the damage is *probably* on the motherboard, but I'm not sure how to diagnose it so I can know exactly if it's worth replacing or not. I got the laptop in 2008 so my thinkcare warranty is long expired. What's the best course of action to take to try and figure out how much it's going to cost to fix? Oh, It's got the nVidia Quatro FX 570m GPU.

 

No drinking...

Seriously, I have no idea. But, you mean it does not go past the POST? Or does it POST and you can enter the BIOS but not into the OS? From what you say above it's not that clear.

In any case, I would definetely call Lenovo and ask for their opinion on the matter.

Did you open the case and try to blow-dry the internals? This might be more effective that making a laptop-risotto!

Also, I thought thinkpads have a spill-proof KB, no? Or did the water go everywhere?

 

BIOS but not OS

YouTube - ThinkPad T61p Unboxing & Bootup

It gets to that screen and just kind of... chills there.

 

Generally speaking here:

If you spill liquid on your laptop, here are the immediate steps you should take:

1. Turn off your computer immediately. Having your computer on could short out the motherboard.
2. Remove the battery and, if comfortable, remove the hard drive to avoid data loss.
3. Open your screen as much as possible and place your laptop on a flat surface with the keyboard faced down.
4. Take a hair dryer and blow, blow, and blow! This will help dissipate the liquid.
5. Do not even think of turning your computer on again right away. Keep your laptop off for at least 3-4 days.
6. After 3-4 days, turn your laptop on and hope for the best.

 

This is a story from another post, just to make you feel better:

"I had an IBM Thinkpad that got wet when a leak in a camper roof left my laptop sitting in a puddle of water. Luckily the laptop was set to shut down when left unattended overnight. I picked it up, shook it dry, towel dried it off, opened it up to carefully dry any spaces that I could get access to, put it back togerher, and left it to dry near a window like others have done, only to try to turn it on a few days later and the machine did not respond at all! I thought it was dead for sure, so I put it away in the box that it came in, in the basement storage. Three months later, on a day that I had nothing better to do, I pulled it out and tried it , and guess what, it worked! I had inadvertently put it next to our dehumidifier. Turns out IBM incorporates a moisture sensing device in their laptops that kills all the power to the device if it senses too much moisture! After the three months in storage next to the dehumidifier, it apparently dried out sufficiently to deactivate the safety device! Hope you can be so lucky too! Resist the urge to try it too soon, this can fry any electrical device if moisture remains. I would suggest taking it to a professional repair shop to open it up. I was very lucky. Hope you are lucky too!"

 

I guess my question is more along the lines of "how screwed am I"

I went through the proper steps in order to prevent damage but I'm pretty sure due to the volume of water (a whole solo cup, ugh >_<) I'm pretty sure it shorted out the mobo before I could hold down the power button to shut it off (like I said, I yanked out the power cable and went to shut it down when it powered itself off). I then took out the battery and HDD and took off the palm rest and removed the RAM and then put it in a sealed container with about 2 pounds of rice for about 4 days. When I reassembled it, it refused to boot to my HDD or disc or anything really.

I'm just wondering what your guy's thoughts are on how screwed I am. Does this sound typical of a whole BIOS replacement? And isn't the 570m soldered to the mobo? Would that have to be replaced, too?

Hmm, I'll have to bring it to a local repair shop and have them give it a look over. What I'm confused about is the fact that it boots and everything, just won't boot past the BIOS. Not sure what that indicates exactly.

 

What we think on how screwed you are is absolutely worthless... I just wish your lappy gets over it!

 

Yeah I suppose I'll just have to take it in to a local place.

 

if it shows bios then I don't think the motherboard is damaged? Maybe your hard drive is what has failed? try taking it out and putting the HD into an external enclosure. Can you read it now? Try plugging a USB DVD drive into the thinkpad and booting an OS disk. Does it load?

 

I took my HDD out after the spill (right after i took out the battery) and it was dry. I tried to boot to a linux disc but it just sits on that BIOS screen. I guess there's a chance both the HDD and disc drive failed... Not sure though.

 

How much liquid did you spill on the laptop ?

 

Half of a Solo cup or so.

 

what if you boot the laptop without the ram, does it beep? Also which area of the laptop did you spill the water on?

 

I haven't encountered any beeping but I also haven't booted it up without RAM. I'll try that Tuesday night when I get back home (and can access my laptop).

I spilled the water over the entire keyboard area.

 

Same thing happen to me. I dried off what I could. I removed the battery and all the removable panels on the bottom. Like the ones for the memory modules. I put the laptop inside a medium size box. I proped up one side with a book so any water inside would move to one end. I closed and sealed the box. Then I set the box in front of a window so it was in direct sunlight. I left it there for 5 or 6 hours (moving it occasionally). I took it out, put everything back together and it started right up. I was shocked it did. Didn't have any problems with it after that. The heat caused the moisture to vaporize and the cardboard absorbed it.

Good Luck.

 

Interesting. I'm sure by now all the water has vaporized already but that's a neat trick.

 

Yeah, that woulda been a little help, a few days ago....

Why?? It's pretty simple to get a fair look at the top side of the mobo...? Few screws on the bottom, and keyboard and palmrest pop off, couple cables (touchpad/keyboard) unplugged and you're set. Should just do that.

 

That's how far I had it when it was drying, but what do I look for? Scorched black streaks across the circuits? =P

(But really, I'd prefer to not pay someone else... what do I look for?)

 

Of course... that why the "Generally speaking"

 

I've had a few (desktop) motherboards shorted out. They didn't look any different from a working board. It turned out that the chipset was shorted out and most of the time you can never tell a nonworking chip from a working one. I guess if you were to open it yourself you could check to see if there is still any residual liquid in the machine. I would take it to a repair guy and ask him to test all the components to see if they're salvageable. If it costs more for replacement parts than to get a new laptop, then get a new laptop. I'm guessing you don't have accidental damage which is why you're asking this question.

 

I thought with thinkpads, instead of turning the computer face down, just elevate and let drainage holes do the job? Am I wrong on that? Face down works for majority of brands, but Thinkpads are built to withstand some water...

 

Yes, let it drain before turning it over. Here's the instructions from Lenovo's Matt Kohut:

Spill Stories

My own spill story is there in comment #37.

 

I just don't understand why if you spill water over your keyboard the laptop would not turn off, supposedly that's why there are drainage holes.

 

That would be an expensive "precaution". Looking at the number of "spillers" compared to non-spillers it's my guess that the 'fix' would be cost prohibitive.

Renee