How to Clean Up Laptop Spills

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Step 1

Shut down the computer immediately.
Step 2

Wipe up any liquid. Tilt the computer to the side to drain any liquids.
Step 3

Remove any removable parts from the laptop, including the power cord, printer and mouse cables, the floppy drive, CD drive, modem cards and battery. Do not disassemble the laptop body to remove internal parts.
Step 4

Once the parts are removed, gently lift the computer and turn it to the side and upside down to drain any liquid. Tilt the computer in a variety of directions to verify that there are no pools of liquid lurking, but be careful not to shake it or handle it roughly.
Step 5

Repeat with the floppy drive and other removable parts.
Step 6

Use a hair dryer on a cool setting to dry the laptop and its parts if you can.
Step 7

Allow the computer and its removable parts to dry for 24 hours before you reassemble it and turn it back on. (If you are under a tight deadline, let the laptop dry for at least an hour before you reassemble it.)
Step 8

If the computer does not work properly or does not turn on, bring it to a computer repair professional, although the damage might be irreparable. Spills are one of the leading causes of laptop deaths.

Comments

babycheese said

on 1/5/2009 Unfortunately, I didn't read this site until after. I kept it on and it was charging. I only attempted to do these items about one hour later. I am drying it now. Is it too late for my computer?

Shafey said

on 9/29/2008 Last night my dog knocked the table and some water spilled onto my laptop I didn't know about this site. The first thing I did was unplug it and shut it down then got off as much of the water as I could I let it sit overnight to dry ( did not invert it or remove the battery) thought I dried everything out ok This morning I plugged it in and turned it on hoping it was OK it is coming up as hardware malfunction
So is this a total loss? any ideas on what I do now??
Help!
Thank you

jparziale said

on 9/26/2008 I am the world wide expert on repairing very expensive equipment which often gets wet. I started with $10-20,000 medical equipment but after perfecting my methods, now we do all laptops ipods and phones. If anyone needs this repair, see my website www.macadamia.us

jamesmartin2009 said

on 8/26/2008 Hi...thanks for sharing such a useful information,it really helped me as it happened with me 2 days back with my new laptop that I got from http://www.checkcost.co.uk/laptops/c/4220/. I followed the above instructions and it really saved my laptop. Thanks once again for a given article, keep posting.