Water damage

emperor76

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Hi everyone, has anyone had to deal with water damage before? just had someone ring me in a panic after spilling tea on her laptop.

They said it was only a small amount and it hit just to the left of the mouse pad, it wouldn't power on.

So I told them to immediately remove any power cables and the battery, anyway, it's now here.

I decided to start stripping the laptop to see if I could find any water, pretty much stripped everything, got to the motherboard, and on the left hand side, I found a very slight amount of residue, not much at all, but it must have made it's way in.

I'm currently leaving it stripped overnight and hoping it drys out, is there any chance it could work, or is it to late?

Are there any visible signs I can look for that it's been damaged?

Thanks in advance
 
UPDATE: last night/this morning, I put it back together, it powered on and booted windows, I then noticed it wasn't back together properly, there was something put in wrong so part of the case wasn't closing as it should at the back, so I stripped and started again.

This time, I got power, but no display, by this time I was knackered and decided to hit the sack and finish the job the next day.

Today, I tried to power on and absolutely nothing, back to square one it seems, if by the fact it did power on, does that mean there could be a chance of saving it?
 
Water damage is a bitch. If it's all dry and it still wont boot, there is a good change you will have to change the component that is busted.
Funny story: I have had a vodka damage before (yeah i spilled vodka down my PC. What a waste of good vodka)
It killed my motherboard. It did work after i took the hole computer apart and dried the motherboard, but then after a restart it stooped working again. I haven't been able to boot my motherboard again after. It's now hanging on my wall as decoration.
 
Water damage is a bitch. If it's all dry and it still wont boot, there is a good change you will have to change the component that is busted.
Funny story: I have had a vodka damage before (yeah i spilled vodka down my PC. What a waste of good vodka)
It killed my motherboard. It did work after i took the hole computer apart and dried the motherboard, but then after a restart it stooped working again. I haven't been able to boot my motherboard again after. It's now hanging on my wall as decoration.

Thanks, damn, I was hoping that wouldn't happen, replacement motherboards seem so expensive for laptops and I'm not fully sure I would be able to replace the psu on a laptop, I will try once more tonight, then I may be forced to eat the laptop out of pure despair!

What gets me was the amount of liquid, I couldn't even call it drop, yet it can cause all this damage, they did say they tried powering on multiple times with and without the charger connected which concerns me a little more.

I'm liking the decoration idea's, I might go for one on the top of the tree this year by the looks of things!

Is there a way without trying it with a new part to find out for certain which component it is?
 
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What gets me was the amount of liquid, I couldn't even call it drop, yet it can cause all this damage, they did say they tried powering on multiple times with and without the charger connected which concerns me a little more.
Well, it only need one drop the right place. But yeah. That's some bad luck right there.

Is there a way without trying it with a new part to find out for certain which component it is?
I am not sure, but since it's a laptop and it wound't even start, i am pretty sure it's the motherboard.
I can't be the RAM. It's below the motherboard so that water wound't reach. It can't be the battery.
Laptops doesn't have a PSU. (if you don't count the charger). Can't be the CPU since it's also below the motherboard... It has to be the motherboard.
 
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Well, it only need one drop the right place. But yeah. That's some bad luck right there.


I am not sure, but since it's a laptop and it wound't even start, i am pretty sure it's the motherboard.
I can't be the RAM. It's below the motherboard so that water wound't reach. It can't be the battery.
Laptops doesn't have a PSU. (if you don't count the charger). Can't be the CPU since it's also below the motherboard... It has to be the motherboard.

Thanks, I'm very new to working on laptops, I guess I meant the bit that goes from the part the charger plugs into and connects to the motherboard, I see what you mean though, I can't exactly call that a psu, after I've made one more attempt tonight, I thought it would be about £80 for a replacement board, and low and behold Genuine ASUS K55VD K55A 60-N89MB Laptop Motherboard - 100% working USB 3.0 5711045273988 | eBay Just rang a repair shop, they said it could be a fuse, they do free diagnosis, so might be worth a try
 
In my experience with water damage I've had someone spill water over a laptop and was able the salvage the ram and hard drive and reuse it but I think it only got the to keyboard.
 
In my experience with water damage I've had someone spill water over a laptop and was able the salvage the ram and hard drive and reuse it but I think it only got the to keyboard.

Going off what was just said /\

I've noticed lately that the keyboard platform on laptops have now basically been made into trays so when you spill something on the keyboard, the liquid stays in the tray and doesn't reach the motherboard. My $0.02
 
Well, I'll know for sure pretty soon, called them about an hour ago and he said he was currently stripping it, I will come back on and post the outcome, generally I haven't had much of a problem with water damage, firstly I almost always use the desktop, and it's harder to hit the base unit with a drink, and if I am using a laptop, I'm careful with drinks, that said, my three year old daughter spilled a drink near the t.v, managed to get it all over the surround system, luckily it only hit the top where there are no gaps, it's safe to say I've banned drinks that close to the t.v though
 
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