# Water damage + USB Ports



## algierstwin (Jun 12, 2011)

Hey guys,

I am the proud owner of an Alienware Area-51 ALX however yesterday evening (less than 24 hours ago) my girlfriend spilled some water on to the tower case much to my frustration. However what's done is done.

After mopping the mess (with the computer on) on, I proceeded to check whether the top front 3 USB ports were working as that's where the water pooled. They were, however not working, power was being received by my phone for example but data transmission and recognition by the computer was not. I than realised that perhaps I did further damage by plugging something into the socket while they were perhaps still wet?

12 hours later here I am and I turned my computer on this morning to find USB Device Not Recognized flashing up on my taskbar continuously, there is nothing plugged in to the front 3 sockets so I am assuming the USB device it's referring to is the USB ports themselves. I checked Device Manager and there is 2 Unknown Devices under USB Controllers that weren't there before. I assume these are the damaged USB ports? 

What I would like to know is what is the likelihood of the ports ever becoming functional again? As many of you are aware Alienware is hard to repair and customize without the right tools to take the case apart so it's not as easy as replacing the USB ports. 

Also should I leave the computer off for a few days or attempt to dry it off by any other means? I mean I can see or feel no dampness yet I can't get my fingers into the areas that are probably affected.

So in short, is this water damage permanent? The continuous USB Is Not Recognised popups suggest that the PC is picking up the USB ports and this gives me hope, what's the likelihood that they will recover with time (i.e dry out) and is there anything I can do to aid this process or prevent further damage?

Your feedback would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks.


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

Most likely permanent damage since you plugged it in when wet. If everything else works OK, you can just use a hub to connect devices.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817394106
Note I assume the rear usb ports are still working.


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