Spilled wine on laptop!

[shazp]

Yes. you read correctly. I spilled a little wine on my laptop and managed to turn it over before it did too much damage.

However, when I turn it on, it beeps continuously, bypasses my setup files and the keyboard is inoperative. Touch-pad and optical mouse work and the hard drive functions. I did restore which helped but still no keyboard action.

Now, here's my question. Do I need to replace the system board, keyboard or both? I'm running Windows ME, btw.

Thanks!

 

[muthabored]

Sorry to hear that...
Although you managed to turn off your laptop at a certain point, that doesn't mean that some of the wine didn't seep down into the "innards" of the laptop, more than likely causing some sort of damage to the systemboard. Spillage of "sticky" substances (orange juice, coffee that had sugar added to it, wine) will most definitely ruin a laptop keyboard. Remove the parts that are still functioning (RAM, HDD, etc.)so that your "semi-functional" systemboard doesn't render THEM useless but more than likely it's going to be downhill in terms of the systemboard.

 

[nlm9802]

time to buy some alchol wipes/swabs and take it apart as much as possible.
the only bad thing you did (other than spilling ) was turning it back on before cleaning it. whenever liquid is involved it should remain off until thoroughly evaporated (water) or until cleaned and evaporated (sugary liquids)

If you don't feel comfortable taking it apart and cleaning it, you can take it in to be serviced, but most places will learn that its not under warranty and try to charge you hundreds, or convince you to buy a new laptop through them with a discount for your old one.

Nick
Computer Support, no not just hardware.. I support everything

 

[diogenes10]

I've read of using distilled water to clean keyboards-don't know if thats safe for a laptop board after it's out of system or not. One reference follows:

http://www.howtocleananything.com/hca_article_computer.htm

 

[bcastner]

If the system beeps, the hard drive works, and you can manage to do a system restore operation, in the main you have not damaged the device.

The beeping is due to what the system believes is a stuck key, and one or more literally may be stuck.

But it does not sound as if you did anything fatal to your laptop. Leave it off for the moment, case open, and upside down on a paper towel. If you could possibly direct a fan onto it for an hour or so it would help to dry the thing out.

If you are in any way handy, removing the keyboard and cleaning it is generally not a big deal. Often the manufacturer's web site includes detailed pictures of how to remove the keyboard. I know the Dell site is quite good in this regard, as is IBM. Just make a written note as you go along about what screws were removed and from where. Drawing a little diagram helps.

Or pay a service department to do so. nlm9802 in his comments above has obviously had a bad experience with a service department, but a site that specializes in laptops deals with the issue of gunked keyboards all the time and the cost should be reasonable.

But do not continue to turn it on until it has had a chance to dry out. Gunked up is one thing, shorted out from liquids quite another. muthabored's comments above are quite true, that the last thing you want to do in a situation like this is to turn it on until it has had a chance to dry.

Now a true story: I was on a trip that required that all baggage be checked. I had stuck a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry from the Duty Free Shop in my laptop case. The bottle exploded somewhere during the flight, and at arrival I discovered my laptop swimming in cream Sherry. I took it to the hotel restaurant kitchen and asked the bemused chef to put it in their freezer. I retrieved it 12 hours later, let it warm to room temperature, cleaned as best I could the circuit board underneath the keyboard and anything else I could easily reach, and it still works two years later.

The freezer trick works because it will quickly immobilize and dry liquids. There is zero humidity in such a setting. I am not recommending you freeze your laptop, but the basic principle is the same: eliminate free liquids, dry the unit out thoroughly, clean where possible, and only then turn it on.

 

[Bobg1]

Try plugging in an external keyboard and see what happens.