(Vanity) Help with drenched Dell computer

none | 10/31/2009 | self

[Bob]

Last week, my Dell Inspiron laptop ingested a cup of coffee (with cream and sugar, of course) and I would appreciate any suggestions.

At this point, while it does shut down frequently and sporadically during the boot process, it has gotten as far as the Vista login screen. (Many of the keys aren't responding so I can't log in.)

Since so much of it is working, my thought is that a good internal cleaning to remove the coffee/cream/sugar gunk would be a good next step.

Can anyone offer any guidance on disassembling this computer and how to best clean it up? Might I be better off just finding a professional to work on it?

[Bob]

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Sounds as if you had a few sips from an $800 cup of coffee.

[DogBarkTree]

I ran a google on “computer restoration after coffee spill’. http://www.artsprague.com/a/articles/notebookspills.html

[KarlInOhio]

Get the hard disk out of the computer and copied as soon as possible. Everything else on the computer except for the data can be repaired or replaced with some cash. Saving the data on the disk is the priority.

(unless you are the one in one hundred people who actually makes good backups)

[AppyPappy]

Take it to a repair place. And buy a separate keyboard.
Coffee in the cooling fan of the cpu is a bad thing

[Rocco DiPippo]

Go online and find a parts or assembly manual for the machine. Popping off the keyboard should be a snap. Most keyboards have a plastic sheet/shield under them to keep crap out of the computer’s innards. If it boots up and loads the OS, you’ll probably be ok removing the keyboard, cleaning it and then reinstalling it. If the keyboard’s all made of plastic with the exception of the metal mounting tabs (if any)and no embedded electronic components like a button mouse, just hose it down, dry it and put it back in. I’ve been there — and this has worked fine for me 2+ years later.

[HawaiianGecko]

  

It's sounds like your hard drive hasn't been fried.  I personally would do one of the following: 
1. Take it to a pro that can make a duplicate of your hard drive before you continue with cleaning etc. 
2. Go on eBay and bid on a similar Inspiron. Then you can simply swap hard drives and you will have an identical machine.

There is quite likely some liquid still inside hiding in the nooks & crannies, so frankly I'd go into panic mode before some of it finds it's way to your hard drive.

[GeronL]

I would have poured it out as best I could. Remove the keys from the keyboard and turned it upside down using a pillow or something with a towel on top. I would not have tried to start it until later, when it was drier.

But it sounds like a real nightmare. Thank goodness I’m only drinking ice water with my lower-end Toshiba.

[waynesa98]

Go to the dell site and get the service manual (pdf)
While your there buy a replacement keyboard.
The service manual will help you take the laptop apart. Usually an easy thing to do if you have a set of jewelers screw drivers. When you get the unit apart check to see if the coffee got further then the keyboard. With the battery out, if it did, get some electronics cleaner from radio shack ($12) and clean any coffee you find. The keyboard it self is an easy thing to swap out, 1 small ribbon cable just remember to tilt up the connector on the mainboard.

[astyanax]

All good advice so far.
I’d also recommend lots and lots of isopropyl (you don’t want to leave coffee residue on any of the pcb’s, it will corrode the traces)and compressed air works great for drying the alcohol quickly.
Just make sure it’s unplugged and the battery is removed before squirting anything...

[Natural Law]

Before anything else try pouring a small bottle of Isopropyl alcohol (not the 85% kind, but the 97% or better yet 100% kind) on the same spot you spilled the coffee. It will flush some of the residue without adversely affecting the computer. Isopropyl alcohol is very hygroscopic and will extract the moisture from the PCB and the circuit areas not readily exposed to air. It will dry readily at room temperature. You might try repeating the process a couple of times and allow a 24 hour dry out before attempting to power up.

[Bob]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did power it down and then drained it as thoroughly as I could by standing it on its side. I also gave it about four days to dry out before I tried powering it back up. I think that I'll contact Dell directly to see what they'd charge me for cleaning it up.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

[stylin19a]

after u get it fixed, next time, use the coffee cup holder that’s on your box.
all you do is, press the button and out it pops.

[autumnraine]

I had cat vomit on mine (don’t ask). That was the most expensive cat I have ever owned.

[netmilsmom]

>>I had cat vomit on mine (don’t ask). That was the most expensive cat I have ever owned.<<

I had a great kitty for 20 years. Didn’t have a cat for a while and then a tiny orange kitten adopted my older daughter.

I forgot how many times cats vomit....

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Remove the hard drive from the computer and copy the data from it to another hard drive in a working computer. Buy a 2' x 3' board. Strap the laptop to the board. Take a 2x4 piece of wood about 3' long and beat the laptop as hard as you can repeatedly. The more keys that fly in different directions more than 10' feet from the location of the blows is a good sign.

Throw the laptop away and keep the 2' x 3' board as a memento of what happened and why you should never have a loaded coffee cup near the computer. Buy another laptop. Copy the data from the old hard drive to the hard drive in the new laptop. In 3-4 days you should feel somewhat better if not euphoric.

[Vendome]

Very carefully use rubbing alcohol. You will be taking your computer apart to completely clean and will be with out, while it is being cleaned. You need to have a lot confidence and dexterity to do it.

There could still be moisture inside and you can run a blow dryer through it to see if that helps.

I dropped my brand new Garmin/Palm into a cup of coffee 5 years ago. I took it apart and very carefully cleaned everything. Just a little ghost in the lower left hand corner of screen but that’s it.

I was going to buy another one, when a friend, who does recovery on hard disks told me what to and that is how they do it.

Google your very situation with keywords and you will find, probably on Meta Cafe, video of how to go about the process.

[Vendome]

this guy had the same problem but you have already done what he said to do.

follow the links on the story:
http://www.inklingmagazine.com/inkycircus/detail/laptop-911-how-to-save-your-computer-from-a-coffee-spill/

[BunnySlippers]

I completely killed the company provided laptop after getting a small amount of jamaica [hibiscus drink] on it.

It is dead. Good luck.

[Greysard]

If your laptop is old enough and you were thinking about an upgrade, this is the time. You can get a notebook that is faster than the old one, lighter, and it will run better.

One problem with spills is that there are plenty of places in a notebook which can hold water for weeks, if not months - parts and cables are packed very close to each other. It is not enough to "not power it up" for a day or two because the motherboard has a battery on it, and the voltage of that battery is enough to corrode the 4 mil traces that power some chips on the board (such as the real time clock, for one.) The green solder mask won't be enough, it's not a conformal coating. Also note that BGAs have non-isolated contacts under the chip, and tight spaces between pads (0.6 mm grid is not uncommon.) Water caught there won't ever dry naturally, and you can't remove the motherboard to dry it in a proper oven. During fabrication of notebooks manufacturers use deionized water to wash boards.

The fact that your coffee had cream & sugar in it doesn't help either. Cream may not dissolve well, it's a bunch of heavy organic stuff; sugar absorbs moisture from the air, may become conductive and may cause shorts - especially considering that most of modern electronics is CMOS, with high impedance of inputs, weak drivers, and as high speed as possible. An extra load caused by residue may well drop the signal below the switching threshold or cause coupling to neighboring traces. Resulting malfunctions are nearly impossible to find or fix.

So while in theory you can repair the notebook, in practice it may be laborious, and you may still have some substandard performance (like sticky keys.) If I were you I would try it, and I'd consider myself lucky if the cleanup works. But I'd be prepared to replace.