Help spill on A500 now wont turn on

Hi hope someone can help me I have a Toshiba A500 that got about a quarter of a glass of red wine spilt on it (told the wife not to sit with it on her knee and a glass in her hand) anyway I turned it straight off when she told me removed battery, memory and hard drive and left it to dry for 3 days.

On putting everything back in and plugging it in I find that the power light (to show adapter is plugged in) comes on but not the battery charge light, and you get nothing on trying to switch it on.

Is it completely gone or is there anything I can try, not affraid to take it aprt if needed but is there anything I should watch out for when putting it back together?

Looked at http://www.irisvista.com/tech/ but the A500 guide link takes you to the A505 page which is similar but not the same I don't think.

 

Red wine will leave a residue which may be shorting out the electronics so you need to wash it off. So you will have to strip the computer down looking for traces of dried wine. Start with the keyboard but you may need to also extract the main board if the wine got onto it. Most components can tolerate a good bath. I use water with some liquid detergent and then a good rinse or two in clean water.

John

 

Thanks John will give it a go, do I just soak the components or do I need to use something to rub them over?

 

I would first soak and then scrub with an old toothbrush to help shift any residue.

John

 

any liquid is bad. especially sugar or acid (red wine). if the computer is on or pluged in when spill happen? it will just fried the motherboard.
Anyway. I am sure your keybd and MB will need replace.
wine? BAD! TIME TO SHOP for NEW PC. It will cost you more to repair. even if it turn on or washed? it will go bad sooner or later.
See alot of spills on computer. People should stop giving computer alcohol, coffee or soda.... just bad for the pc.

 

Umm, he has absolutely nothing to lose, so he may as well try it.

And I can assure you that John knows what he is talking about, if he didn't think it was safe, then he wouldn't have posted it.

 

I try to speak from experience.

Some years ago one of my work colleagues asked me how easy it was to get a new keyboard for his notebook (which was actually a Toshiba) because some of his keys had stopped working. Interrogation revealed that the keyboard had received a small dose of gin and tonic. Given that we were in Bangladesh at the time, so parts weren't easily available, my action was to remove the keyboard and give it a bath + scrub, as recommended above. Once dried out it went back into the notebook and worked fine. A few months later the keyboard got another dose of G & T and that time my colleague fixed it himself. A thorough clean is always worth a try, even if not always successful.

John

 

I would not suggest soaking the mainboard to clean it. Any water there even if there is no power going to it would be fatal to the board and its components.
The keyboard is different as it is just a contact board (Press a key and close a circuit)

Try just disconnecting the keyboard and then turn it on, if it starts to post buy a new keyboard as they are not all that expensive.

This tutorial will help you get the keyboard out.
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-A505/removing-optical-drive-1.htm