Split Drink on Vaio, Not WORKING!

I can't believe I did this!

I was playing a game on the Vaio Z12 the other day and accidentally split a diet coke on the keyboard. For a few moments it was fine, but then suddenly it powered off. Ever since then its hasn't been turning on at ALL!

As you can imagine, I started freaking out! I called the Repair center and told them I'm going send it in. Luckily, I picked up the 2-yr Accidental Warranty plan.

The thing I'm most worried about is my hard-drive. I have many essential files on the Z and would be incredibly disheartened if its all lost.

Do you guys know what the chances are of the Repair team being able to fix such a problem? Maybe just extract the hard-dive if possible.

Would they just have to replace the motherboard or processor? If its not fixable, what is Accidental Warranty's policy concerning unfix-able laptops (would they replace it instead)?

Any thoughts would be SOO helpful during such a distressing time. Thanks!

 

The HDD should be fine. The chances that your data is intact are very good. Tell them to put it in another PC and let you copy your files off it, and then they can get on with their repair work.

I don't know with diet coke, but with other sweetened drinks it is a major clean up job - all traces of contaminant has to be removed, and then everything has to be thoroughly dried before powering back on. If you had switched off, removed the battery immediately and kept it off there would be a better chance that nothing catastrophic has happened.

 

What HDD / SSD config does your Z12 have? If its a HDD without an optical drive, just open the laptop and put the drive in another laptop or external case. If you have a dual-SSD, you need to read them out sector by sector in order to restore the RAID volume later.

I don't think that you will get your data back after you send the machine in without making a backup on your own. Sony states in all their service guidelines that they will reset the drives or change them. You must backup your stuff before sending the laptop in. We can assist you in that.

 

Don't count on Sony retaining your data.

If you are so inclined, pick up a new Z12 or even a Z2, swap out the SSD's. You should be able to boot and pull your data off. The OS will likely be angry, but it'll be good enough to pull your files. You can then return it.

The RAID information is stored on disk, so what you are really looking for is a machine with RAID enabled and with Sony's SATA connector.

As for liquid spills, best thing you can do is immediately pull the power and battery. Water doesn't hurt electronics, water and current does.

 

We don't know if he has SSDs - he talks about hard drives.

Water doesn't hurt electronics if it is pure - if not, it is conductive, and that is bad. Pulling the power and battery immediately is the best course of action, like Zinks said. Moreover, when the water evaporates eventually, whatever was mixed with it gets left behind and needs to be carefully cleaned up. It is doable - I have cleaned circuit boards of medical equipment that patients have bled over, but it a painstaking process, very similar to what goes on in a dishwasher. Anything with exposed moving parts, like an ODD, generally doesn't survive. You also need to make sure the boards are completely dry before you power them up.

 

Ok, this is what I have:

256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology

So what exactly would I need to extract the data?

 

FWIW, I sent my z11 in twice, and both times the data was still on it. Albeit it wasn't for a spill.

 

If you had another Z1 or if you had a Z1 owner willing to do it for you.
For example you could send the drives to someone with a Z1, they boot off your drives into your OS and copy data by burning a DVD or copy to external HDD, USB stick whatever.

I love DC, but I don't get it anywhere near my computer.