Laptop spill..

[KalebG]

I don't have much experience with laptops and am helping someone with their laptop on Tuesday and figure I'd go in with some advice. I've searched the web, talked to people, but would like some final clarification. The individual spilled a drink onto the keyboard of a laptop. Now when they press a key, another key is typed instead of the one desired. For instance, A pressed would give you w, b would enter p, etc. To me, it sounds as if the keyboard is toasted, but I hope its just the remaining liquid that is causing the problem. I intend to open the laptop and clean underneath. I would just like DaniWeb's input on the situation. Is the keyboard ( or even laptop) ruined? or can cleaning underneath fix the problem? If the later is true, should I clean just underneath the laptop or continue to completely dismantle and clean the system? Thank you for any input, grim or not.

Note:

I thought I should also note that I have no knowledge of what they did immediately after the incident. Meaning I don't know if they shut down the laptop, and drained it without shaking or panicked, shaking it like mad, etc.

[richie513]

Hi KalebG,

hmm I am not sure about this one, whenever something like that happens to me, I just usually dissmantle it and sit it out in the sun to let all the liquid dry, 8 out of 10 times this works for me. Maybe you can just give that a try. If this deosn't work, then I would reccommend taking it to a computer technician and get his advice before tossing it out the window. Hopefully someone else here at Daniweb may have a better solution, but if not, I wish you well, Best of luck:)

[KalebG]

Hi KalebG,

hmm I am not sure about this one, whenever something like that happens to me, I just usually dissmantle it and sit it out in the sun to let all the liquid dry, 8 out of 10 times this works for me. Maybe you can just give that a try. If this deosn't work, then I would reccommend taking it to a computer technician and get his advice before tossing it out the window. Hopefully someone else here at Daniweb may have a better solution, but if not, I wish you well, Best of luck:)

Well my plan at the moment before I do anything rash like that is to remove the keyboard, clean, blast with canned air, and let air dry for like an hour before placing back. If that still doesn't solve it, I'll have my older brother give a go (A+ certified, big tech guy.) If he confirm it's fried, I'll replace the keyboard. If that doesn't work, I guess they'll have to resort to using an external keyboard

[richie513]

That sounds the best way to go, I wish you the best of luck:)

[KalebG]

Thanks.

[richie513]

Your welcome:)