# Spilled beer on laptop



## alkijim

I love my cat but she knocked over my beer and spilled on the laptop. It was on and running. I found it in the morning dead and black. I pulled the battery and hard drive and opened up the keyboard to air dry. Still no joy. Any ideas about what to try next?


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## Rollin_Again

> Any ideas about what to try next?


Get some more beer!!

Seriously though, does the computer do anything (fans, lights, etc.) or is it completely dead?

Regards,
Rollin


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## Elvandil

Ebay.


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## GForceMan

aawww man...now that was a waste of beer!!!!


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## 1002richards

You could try this:

# Turn it off. If need be, do a hard shutdown.
# Blot up excess liquid with a soft cloth. Don't use a wiping motion, that just pushes the liquid around.
# Remove any cables, external drives, removable bays and external Network Cards.
# Blot up the liquid that may have gotten on the removable media.
# Do not take apart the casing. This can void your warranty and you could damage internal components.
# Tilt the laptop from side to side to allow the liquid to drain out. Do this gently and do not shake the laptop.
# Place upside down so that any excess liquid that you couldn't reach will drain out.
Use a blow dryer if you have one and set it on the coolest setting. Carefully dry the laptop, paying attention to the keyboard and the parts you removed. Keep the blow dryer moving over all parts.. The minimum recommended drying time is one hour but it leaving the laptop to dry for at least 24 hours is preferred.
Once your laptop has had time to dry, reattach the removable components and start up the laptop. If it starts up with no problems, then run some programs and try using the external media..
If the laptop does not start up or there are other problems, it is time to take your laptop to a certified repair service. 

Tips:

1. Water is the easiest liquid to clean up on a laptop. It is a case of moving quickly to ensure water doens't get into the internal casing.
2. Other liquids, especially those that are sugar based will makes things sticky and is harder to clean up. Use a slightly damp warm cloth to clean up sugar based liquids.

What You Need:

* Clean soft cloth.
* Blow dryer
* Time - to let the laptop dry out.


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## mtzlplex

All I can say about this is "at least it was beer", I hate it when it is water/tea/or coke.


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## JohnWill

Well, what really needs to happen here is a THOROUGH washing! of the keyboard and main PCB. Best is distilled water, but plain tap water is loads better than beer. Next, it will have to be TOTALLY dried.

I've rescued a few laptops that have had Coke, tea, and OJ, but not beer yet. I've also had some that were too far gone. The faster you get the residue washed off, the better the chance of having a working laptop when you're done.

Note that you'll have to crack the case to have any realistic chance of saving this machine if the beer got past the keyboard and onto the main PCB.


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## ozziebeanie

Well never liked laptops where you have the keyboard over important parts of your computer, I spilled coke once undid it all washed it in the sink and got the dive tank out and air dried it, and it worked.

Keyboards dont like mango juice either.


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## Reboot Camper

It's almost certain it has to be opened up and the mother board inspected. I knocked over a glass of wine which went under the laptop. I immediately disconnected, took out the battery and mopped carefully with absorbent towels. Perhaps because of the fan it was sucked up inside because when the tech opened it there were wine stains here and there. Fortunately it was working again but had to stand and dry out for weeks. And that was even a very little of the wine that got under it. Beer is less viscuous so perhaps it wouldn't spread so far.


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## JohnWill

Yep, I really don't hold out much hope for fixing something like this externally. Truthfully, the longer you wait, the less chance you have of reviving the machine. Ideally, you get it before the spill dries.

My RX for this is to wash the MB with lots of water, then use compressed air to dry it as best you can, finally, I bake them in a LOW oven for a few hours, in the 125-150F range. Do NOT exceed 150F or you'll do more damage than good! A small fan or a convection oven is even better, since the airflow helps with the drying process. The important part of the treatment is to remove ALL the contaminant from the PCB. Obviously, you can't freely wash stuff like DVD or hard drives, but most PCB's will do fine with a water wash. Most PCB manufacturing uses water wash after the soldering pass for components.


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## ozziebeanie

JohnWill said:


> I've rescued a few laptops that have had Coke, tea, and OJ, but not beer yet. I've also had some that were too far gone. The faster you get the residue washed off, the better the chance of having a working laptop when you're done.
> PCB.


 Glad i am not the only one that manged to get experence in this area


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## JohnWill

They weren't my laptops.


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## RootbeaR

JohnWill said:


> They weren't my laptops.


Better to practice on someone else's.


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## ozziebeanie

JohnWill said:


> They weren't my laptops.


You are lucky i gained my experience from my own stuff ups years ago, but at least I am not the only one that stuffs up 

Practicing on other computers is a good idea but I was the first one to spill stuff before anyone else I knew did.


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## JohnWill

I'm so lucky that people bring me computers to "practice" on. The only problem is they always expect them to work when I get done.


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## ozziebeanie

I can imagine some are past saving, I have been lucky in the couple of accident's I had a long time ago, not only did I save things but learnt from it, as in putting cups of coffee/tea on table next to the table the computer is on, any drinks on computer table have to be the type with lids on, I tend to be a bit accident prone sometimes so have to set those rules for myself more than anyone else.


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