Saving Your Laptop after a Spill
Some laptops are more vulnerable
to damage from a spill on the keyboard than others, and it
doesn't always have anything to do with the price tag. Some
keyboards have a thin rubber membrane beneath the keys with
electrical contacts molded right into little domes under
each letter; that design may feel squishy and cheap to some
users, but it stands up better to a splash or a flood than a
more traditional design with springs and exposed contacts.
How do you know which type of design you have? Take a look
for yourself by prying off a keytop; if you're shopping, you
may be able to get the information from the manufacturer or
a dealer.
The best way to prevent damage from a mix of liquid and
electronics is to keep them as far apart as possible. Keep
your laptop far away from cups of coffee, glasses of water,
and cans of soda.
But in the real world, stuff happens. If you have a choice
of poisons, take the water spill. A hot cup of coffee, a
cold glass of soda, or a glass of wine are each bad news;
all of them are slightly acidic. Acidic liquids are nastier
than nearly neutral water because the acid can corrode metal
contacts. And both coffee and soda can become gummy and
sticky as they dry.
Here's the drill for an emergency recovery from a spill:
1. If you have your machine plugged into wall current, turn
off the power at the circuit breaker in your home or office.
You don't want to touch a wet wire carrying 110 volts or so.
If you're running the machine on battery power, it's still
operating, and you don't see sparks, hear odd noises, or
smell burnt electrical components, shut your laptop down
through the normal Windows process.
If something is obviously wrong with the machine, turn it
off immediately by depressing the Off switch or by removing
the battery.
2. Ground yourself by touching the center screw on the
faceplate of a dry electrical outlet or by touching some
other metal object that reaches to ground.
3. If you haven't done so in emergency mode, remove the AC
adapter and the battery, and set them aside.
4. Disconnect any external devices (such as a mouse)
attached to the USB, FireWire, serial, or other ports.
5. If you find any liquid on the battery or AC adapter, wipe
them carefully and set them aside.
If your spill has thoroughly soaked the AC adapter or the
battery, you probably need to consider it a loss. You can
get replacement AC adapters and batteries from various
sources, including the original equipment manufacturer,
laptop accessory companies, and the used market.
6. Remove any cards installed in the PC Card slot.
If they're wet, carefully dry them off. If any water has
gotten into the narrow slot, dry out the area with a cotton
swab, taking care not to leave any threads of cotton in the
internal connector.
7. Wipe off any liquid on the display.
Use a clean cloth dampened with water to remove any sticky
residue.
8. Remove the hard drive and the CD/DVD drives if you have
them installed in plug-in bays.
Dry them off if they're wet. Set them aside.
9. Open the memory module container; remove and dry the
memory modules.
Make notes on the placement of the modules. Set them aside.
10. Hand-dry the keyboard surface with a lint-free cloth.
If you spill soda or coffee, consult the instruction manual
for your computer and learn how to carefully remove each of
the keycaps for the affected area. If the instruction manual
includes a picture of the keyboard, make sure that you can
see the names of all the keys and their locations;
otherwise, make a drawing of the board, paying special
attention to the location of some of the specialized keys,
including cursor keys, Page Up, Page Down, Scroll Lock, and
the like. Or you can use a digital camera to take a picture
of the keyboard.
11. Clean the exposed membrane or switch cover and the keys
themselves.
Leave the keys to dry before replacing them.
12. Leaving the display open, place the computer on a sturdy
surface supported by two books or small boxes.
This setup lets air circulate all around the computer. Leave
the computer and all of its separate parts to air dry for at
least 24 hours. Don't use a fan or (horrors) a hair dryer to
attempt to fast-forward the drying process.
13. Reassemble the pieces that you removed.
Do this step a day or more after doing Step 1 through Step
12, and make sure that everything is dry and that you don't
have any dried puddles of sticky acid left anywhere on the
machine. Remember to ground yourself before touching any
circuitry or modules, and begin the power-up process with
the battery first and the AC adapter second.
If in doubt about the safety of any part, you should go
ahead and replace it instead of using it. Replacing a
battery, an AC adapter, or even a hard disk drive always
costs a lot less than replacing a motherboard.
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