Proof I'm STUPID

[RetailWorkhorse]

So I accidently spilled about 1/2-2/3 cup of tea onto my laptop keyboard.

Oooooops! DAMMIT!

Took computer apart to get the liguid out and let it dry. It turns on okay now but after a little bit it will shut itself off. Mum's pretty sure there's still some liquid in it so it's heating up and causing it to become all humid and stuff. Can't afford to replace it and what little money I DO have is going to get new tires for my Jeep before I have a blow-out.

Anyways my problem is this:

The suddenly shutting-itself off. It doesn't go into "save" mode to pause all my programs before it shuts off like it does when it's battery is low, so I'm wonder just what I shorted out this time. It didn't spark or smoke or explode. It just.....the fans will "sigh" and it turns itself off. Will this rectify itself as it dries out or do I have to take it into the computer-docter's?

Thanks, mates.
-RW

[Der Cute]

you're in trouble.

Laptop?

Even if you took the kbd off, you still had liquid seep into the board.
Was this tea sugary, by chance?

I'd see if you know someone who can take the laptop apart totally and wash the motherboard with isopropyl alcohol. Rinse it off and get all the gunk off.
You may never be able to find it, tho...check the areas where power goes to the board and the power connection at the top of the chassis (your on button).

Good luck and dont have just anyone do it. Take it to a shop thats reputable OR have a very good friend do something with it.

You'd have to get this thing bare bones and rinse the parts off with alcohol.

Is it still under warranty?

Cutenoob

[Amina516]

Sorry about your laptop. I had something similar happen to my laptop...only instead of tea..it was my daughter's vomit...everywhere.

My husband did exactly what cutenoob suggested, and cleaned everything with alcohol. It's worked great and that was almost a year ago.

Good luck!:D

[RetailWorkhorse]

The tea had Splenda in it, so, no not sugary (thank the gods).

Computer hasn't been under warrenty since a year after I bought it (in 2002). It's old and the casing is cracked and broken in some places (like where the wireless internet card would go) because of an 18 pound CAT sitting on it.

I have no one to take it to, and my hardware guy is AdvancedFlea...who lives across the ocean.

It's a royal pain in the ass to get apart (I'm afraid of breaking it) so I didn't clean it with any alcohol.

[Crazeyal]

For the love of all that's holy do NOT turn it on again until all the water is out. It may be a pain to get apart, but all the first thing a tech is going to do is strip and clean it. Q-tips and alcohol is the way to go.

The contacts on the battery might be shorting, so you could have an overheat or a fire. I'm not a comp repair tech but I play one at work.

Tip 1:The general rule of thumb is that if it is not coming apart easy, you are probably forgetting a screw to unfasten.

Tip 2: Get a styrofoam cup and put all the screws inside. They WILL grow legs and walk away, no matter how flat/stable/re-enforced your table is.

Tip 3: Take a digital photo if there is ANYTHING you are unsure of while taking it apart. It will save you LOADS of time, rather than the trial and error method.

[Broomjockey]

The tea had Splenda in it, so, no not sugary (thank the gods).


Unfortunately, for electronics, Splenda still counts.

[RetailWorkhorse]

Unfortunately, for electronics, Splenda still counts.

You'd be right.

I fried my motherboard. Tech says it's inoperatable. Looking for a new one but can't afford much because I gave all my money to my parnets to keep THEM out of the hole.

I feel so so stupid.

*Dresses in white and mourns*

[crazylegs]

You'd be right.

I fried my motherboard. Tech says it's inoperatable.

You silly pony.

But if you've fried it what computer are you using to get online?

[Raventhistle]

Once upon a time I dumped a whole can of Coke into my laptop. I tipped it on it's side, let it drain, turned it off, and let it sit for a week. Turned it back on and it worked fine. It might just need a couple of days to air out. Good luck!

[RetailWorkhorse]

You silly pony.

But if you've fried it what computer are you using to get online?

Grandmother has a computer with broadband.

Am currently looking at a Dell (DUDE! IT'S A *Thunk*) Refurb. Has no video card, sound card, or modem (since when has THAT stopped me?). Need to get Mum's input, though.

[lordlundar]

Boy that reminds me of a time I was working as a CSR.

I had a customer come up buying a keyboard and mouse, and he told me that he had a short occur and that the keyboard and mouse wouldn't work anymore.

I told him to bring it in and have the techs look at it, because when a short occurs, it's rare that those 2 die without something more serious occurring.

He comes in a couple weeks later and tell me I was right. I think he said only about 3 components survived.:lol:

[Naaman]

Grandmother has a computer with broadband.

Am currently looking at a Dell (DUDE! IT'S A *Thunk*) Refurb. Has no video card, sound card, or modem (since when has THAT stopped me?). Need to get Mum's input, though.

What's your budget and do you know what parts are salvageable? I'd hate to stand by and watch someone by a new Dell, let alone a refurb... :(

[froglet]

You aren't stupid, accidents happen.
Clumsy, klutzy, or any other accident-prone-type adjectives, but don't call yourself stupid. Especially if you learned anything from this experience.

I'd offer to take the laptop apart for you, but I live too far away :(

[RetailWorkhorse]

What's your budget and do you know what parts are salvageable? I'd hate to stand by and watch someone by a new Dell, let alone a refurb... :(

My budget is rather low and EQ and her SO are building me a new computer. All I have to supply is the moniter and keyboard.

Haven't a clue as to what's salvageable. The Tech I took it to freaked when I told him I had 12 Gigs of Anime I could NOT lose. He's taking it off and putting them onto....something. I dunno. Haven't heard back from him as yet. I'm hoping I can get my computer back and at some point just replace the motherboard (Which everyone under the SUN tells me is impossible IF they know I have a laptop. If they think it's a desktop, like everyone ASSUMES I have, then they say "oh, it's easy" and pisses me off).

[Broomjockey]

It's not impossible to replace the mother board of a laptop.


Just REALLY FREAKING DIFFICULT. Especially if you've never done it before. It's also rarely worth it. *shrug*

[RetailWorkhorse]

But, Broom, I LIKE my perverted cracked out gamer laptop (damned thing weighs a ton, too). I guess it's been time for an upgrade for a long time, though.

[Der Cute]

Uh, if you have 12 Gigs of Anime that is soooo important to not lose - BURN THEM TO DVDS!!!

Any data whatsoever that is important to a person - back it up on something besides a hard drive. Period.

I keep my resume on Google Documents, my usb stick AND my hard drive.
I have pictures from a vacation. I've burned ALL of them to a DVD.

Don't ever let this happen - Oh I'll back it up next week/tomorrow/whenever it's a blue moon.

Cutenoob

[Evil Queen]

Okay Cutenoob, don't be patronizing.

RW, if you can get your 12 gigs of Anime back, I woudl suggest you burn them to DVD+R disks, like Cutenoob said. The disks are pretty cheap, almost as cheap as CD+RWs and can fit at least 12 episodes to a disk (that's my average for CSI:NY anyways).

If your disk drive won't do it (Because some people like myself still have CD drives and not CD/DVD drive combos) write me up a list and I can get your anime for you, have BF burn it to a few disks for you and ship it when we get your computer finished (we're picking up a majority of your companants today, to be installed today and possibly shipped by the end of the week).

He also has Pumpkin Scissors so I'll see if I can get those sent to you as well.

[Broomjockey]

Okay Cutenoob, don't be patronizing.


I don't think Cutenoob was being patronizing (and if you really think that, you should have reported it). CN was stressing just how important back-ups are. If you get a head-crash on your HDD, it's thousands of dollars usually just to get it looked at, since it usually goes out to specialized data recovery companies.

[lordlundar]

But, Broom, I LIKE my perverted cracked out gamer laptop (damned thing weighs a ton, too).

If you put a new MBoard in, it's not going to be the same perverted cracked out gamer laptop anymore though.:angel:

[froglet]

Is the hard drive itself toast? It's possible that it shorted out, but if not, you should be able to pop it in an enclosure and use it like an external drive.

That is exactly what I did when my lappy got wonky (not completely dead, but won't charge), I now have access to all my files. The enclosure itself was only $40 and can be hooked to any USB port.


(Course then I realized I could actually hook it into my computer. Being a laptop noob, I didn't know the odd looking connection from my Dell HDD was a fricken adaptor hiding a completely familiar IDE connection...)

[RetailWorkhorse]

Uh, if you have 12 Gigs of Anime that is soooo important to not lose - BURN THEM TO DVDS!!!


That only works if 1) My disk drive actually was a CD-DVD-RW (It's not) and 2) My computer actually recognize CDs/DVDs (It hasn't for 6 months but then I have a CD PLAYER and a DVD PLAYER connected to my TV so what did I care?). The only reason why I have anime and music on it at all is because I was hanging onto it until I could get EQ to transfer the files over to burn them for me.


And I would appreciate Pumpkin Scissors, EQ, thank you.

(EQ, remind me to buy a new keyboard for Mimi before I leave, this damned thing is annoying to use, I don't give a crap if it's "better" for you, it's a royal pain to type on.)

[Der Cute]

Is the computer now declared toast? Take out the old hard drive and hook it to another computer and get the data backed up.

From now on, do not save important data to a hard drive with an OS on it. Because, well, they break, and you need to reformat....or other things happen.
Even if the laptops nowadays come with huge hard drives, it's not a good habit to use them for storage.

Get an external hard drive. And even with that, if the data is really important, such as financial information, burn a CD/DVD/other format copy on a regular basis.

You can always get external CD/DVD burners too.

Cutenoob

[Eric the Grey]

The Tech I took it to freaked when I told him I had 12 Gigs of Anime I could NOT lose. He's taking it off and putting them onto....something. I dunno. Haven't heard back from him as yet.

Is the hard drive itself toast? It's possible that it shorted out, but if not, you should be able to pop it in an enclosure and use it like an external drive.

I agree with froglet here. If you pick up an external USB enclosure you'll not only save your anime, but you'll also have a fairly compact drive to carry around with whatever you may need. They come in incredibly handy. Just clean off anything you no longer need like the OS and program files.

Even if the rest of the laptop is toast, the drive should be salvageable.


:cool: Eric the Grey

[Evil Queen]

RetailWorkhorse says the hard drive is not toast! YAY!

(btw: I already have Pumpkin Scissors waiting for you and your other downloads are in the queue)

[Geek King]

RetailWorkhorse says the hard drive is not toast! YAY!

(btw: I already have Pumpkin Scissors waiting for you and your other downloads are in the queue)

Pumpkin Scissors was alot of fun. I also recommend Utawarerumono, Gundam 00, and the new Macross Frontier series. Utawarerumono is being released to DVD in the US now, and Macross Frontier is due to be on SciFi Network this fall.

[Evil Queen]

No. No Gundam 00. It was lame. Gundam Wing, however, was happy fun times. Particularly Quatre Raberba Winner. ME-OOOOW!

[Geek King]

No. No Gundam 00. It was lame. Gundam Wing, however, was happy fun times. Particularly Quatre Raberba Winner. ME-OOOOW!

[/tease]
Ah yes, Gundam Wing, featuring special Gundam armor that only protects you until the mech runs out of ammo. :lol: See also: Gundam Emo
[/tease off]

I had to show the Wing movie at SugoiCon one year, and I had to laugh at the girls who hissed at Duo's girlfriend. Fair enough though, you have a right to your own tastes. I might tease you about it, but I won't go all fanboi on you.

[Evil Queen]

They're just in it for the pony tail. :D I had a long pony tail like Duo's a short while ago (I cut it myself, thanks) and considered Cosplaying as Duo but thought better of it because... well... I didn't want to run from a mob the whole time!