Help. Spilled Coke on keyboard and now Vista won't load.

I'll be brief: I have an NP9261, I spilled Coke all over the keyboard near the Esc key, and now when I turn my laptop on, it beeps very loudly after the Sager splash screen and won't load Windows. Any ideas?

 

ahh...that must suck
Best bet is that let it dry...use a hair dryer to quicken the process try turning it on in a few hours and see if it works...hopefully your hardware is not fried.

 

The first thing to do when you spill something is to wait until it dries properly.

 

Wow I hope you let it dry before you tried turning it on. I would take it apart as much as possible and clean/dry what you can.

 

I've been reading the same advice from various googled sites, so I guess I'll just wait it out... any idea how long it might take?

 

Let it take 24 hours

 

Let it dry....24 hours is enough..

Thank god I have a Thinkpad T61p...

 

lol the goodness of a thinkpad spill-proof keyboard

 

Yes but only up to 60 cc's

 

open up the keyboard, and give it a good clean (with a small damp towel or napkin & Q-tips) on the keyboard and the area underneath, then let it dry.

very easy... not screws or anything required really.

I have went over this a couple of times.

Make sure the system is off. Not plugged into AC. Remove battery for precautions.

Its simple for Clevo keyboards. All you need is a basic (small) flat-head screwdriver.
There are 4 pieces of retractable plastic holding down the keyboard.
Look at the picture that I have attached.
Just push the plastic pieces gently upward (toward the lcd screen) which would retract them to release that part of the keyboard. This should only take less than 30 seconds.

After the keyboard is released, you will find a cable under it (connects to motherboard), you can remove it if you want, just remember its position.

Thats it.

Pic here of the location of tabs:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4612&d=1164575463

 

Thanks, Gophn. I know I've seen you post this before, but it had slipped my mind.

I found a bit of Coke on the metal plate between the keyboard and the mobo and got rid of it. The rest seems to have turned sticky already. Hoping for the best.

...Does anyone know if this is covered by Xotic's/Sager's basic warranty?

 

I kinda doubt it. What happened when you turned it on? Did it post at all? Did you see anything on the screen? Did you hear anything?

Just follow Gophn's suggestion and clean any coke, sticky or wet, with a slightly damp cloth. And yes, take the battery out, unplug the ac adapter. Unplug everything from it really.then leave it like that until it is dry. don't replace battery or ac adapter till then.

 

Turned it on, the Sager splash screen popped up, the progress bar moved, screen went black in preparation for post, and then the frequent, loud beeping started. I forced a shutdown after a few seconds of the beeping. So no, no post.

 

****. That doesnt sound too good man. I hope it works out ok. When you try again, if it fails, turn it off as quickly as possible, and call tech support. At that point you will probably have to send it in to replace whatever was damaged. This is just a guess on my part, but nothing worse than liquid, electronics, and electricity, execpt maybe sticky liquid.

 

Forgot to ask, did the splash screen complete its loading, or did it go black before the progress bar finished.

 

something seems to be holding up the post.

I would try the following:
1) remove the keyboard (cable as well) and try to POST it
.... if it posts, then the keyboard might have gotten a short
2) if your keyboard is still functional, go into the BIOS and disable the splash to see what is POSTing.
3) do a more thorough cleaning of the area that the Coke might have reached.

Lastly, remove all drives (optical and HDDs) and try to POST again.

 

Well, the bar made it as far as it usually does, so I assume it finished.

Thanks. I'll try these out tomorrow if I still have the same problem. Though I don't think I've ever seen an option to disable the splash screen in the BIOS... maybe your D900K's BIOS has more options, but if you haven't heard, the D900C's isn't exactly fully featured. :/

 

trust me, the D900K does not have many options.

Theres an option to enable or disable the "Diagnostics Screen at POST"

 

Oh, that makes sense. It's the opposite of what you posted before, though, so I was a bit confused.

 

With desktop keyboards, a trip through the top shelf of the dishwasher did the trick. (No Soap) Skip the dry cycle tho, the heat may be to much for the plastic.

to wash off Coke, it takes water...

 

and a good lawyer. or Daddy Bush. too vague maybe?

 

Though I don't think I've ever seen an option to disable the splash screen in the BIOS

Yes, It's there on the first page of the bios.

I Just turned mine on the other day. Just to See.

 

LOL....Thx for the laugh.....

If he had spilled a white power on the keyboard, The computer may have booted in half the time......

 

I wound try with out optical drive too
Maybe take some electric contact cleanner make sure get nice clean all pop off it

 

Ooookay, so we're randomly up and running again, but my tab key has gone berserk (I have to hold it down or it tabs constantly). I'll have to pull it out and give it a nice cleaning.

Not sure why it decided to works, but thanks for the help, folks. I'll post again if anything interesting happens.

 

Never put a notebook keyboard in the dishwasher. They are nowhere near as durable as desktop keyboards, and that will finish the job the coke started.

As far as the warranty goes, there is no warranty that will cover liquid damage unless you pay extra for accidental damage insurance. If there was some liquid on the metal plate between the keyboard and the motherboard, it's very possible some liquid actually got on the motherboard, and that could turn into a very expensive repair.

EDIT to add:
It looks like you have the system up and running now, but it sounds like the keyboard may have been damaged. If cleaning the tab key doesn't work, you'll have to buy a new keyboard to get back up and running.

 

replacing the keyboard might be your best bet.... like I said before, the keyboard might have shorted somewhere

 

Turns out it was just sticky. It still is a bit sticky, even after cleaning off as much of the Coke as possible, but the keyboard works just fine.

I'd like to get those keys that were affected (Esc, F1, F2, `, 1, 2, Tab, Q, Caps Lock, A, Shift, Z, Ctrl, Fn, and Win, if you're curious) back to their normal non-stickiness if possible. I've removed the keys individually and de-stickied them (as well as their respective braces) as much as I can by hand, but still the stickiness remains. If throwing my keyboard in the dishwasher isn't safe, what is?

 

buying a new keyboard... for $25-50

 

Try rubbing alcohol.

 

Like kl5167 says, rubbing alcohol may work, but stickiness on keys is very difficult to "fix." Someone spilled a bit of soda on my old notebook, and only the keyboard was affected. I cleaned off all the affected area immediately, but my keys still stuck when I used the notebook, right up until it finally died on me a few months ago. Be prepared to buy a new keyboard, because the situation may leave you no choice.