Thinkpads Forum

I was gathering my things in a hurry to get to school. While picking up the AC cord to my T41, the cord (of course) wrapped around a glass of water nearby and knocked it onto the left side of the keyboard. As fast as I could manage in a shocked, panicking, loudly-cursing state, I unplugged it and removed it from the pooling water. Can't really remember which I did next (it's all a blur)... I shut it down and tipped it up, left side down, to pour off the water. I didn't have time to disassemble it then and there, as I was already running late for a class I had to teach, so I just put it in my bag and took it with me with hopes of doing it there when I had a moment. Bad, bad...

SIX HOURS later, I got a chance to take the keyboard off and let it air out. I noticed no moisture inside except for some condensation on the screen. Two days later I tried to power it up from the battery. Nothing. Again in a panic, I plugged it in to see if the battery-charge LED would light up. It lit up green for a second, and then turned orange like it was charging. I waited for a while and then tried again, with AC plugged in. Nothing. I've got it disassembled now, hoping it just needs to dry more...

So, am i screwed or what? I'm not so much concerned about salvaging what's on the HD, as I had just recently reinstalled Windows and backed up my stuff. My main concern here is whether this thing will work again. As a student, I can't afford to shell out $800 for a fix, but I'm really afraid that the mobo or something is fried. Suggestions for diagnosing this thing would be greatly appreciated.

And please, no comments like "Hey idiot, don't keep drinks next to your computer."

A mainbord for T41 just takes about $200 in China

And, about just $300 for a T43p maiboard

I'm melting, melting. Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world.

Bummer. Sorry for my twisted humor at your expense.

Here is the Hardware Maintenance Manual (July 2005) - ThinkPad T40/p, T41/p, T42/p. It shows diagrams and information for disassembling the T41. Part numbers are listed here as well. My guess is that you need to replace the system board. But before you do that, disassemble the T41 and make sure it is completely dried out, then try to power it on again. Of course if you see any burnt components inside, do not try to power on again.

Even if it works again, it won't ever be reliable, not with liquid damage (from when the unit was on). Also the fact that you've powered it up prior to disassembling the unit to deal with any possible remaining liquid inside, not to mention the residue (drinking water, right. (mineral content = BAD)) left on the traces of the PCB. I hope you are not a math or sciences major. Just kidding!

At a minimum you are looking at needing a new system board and a keyboard. (and maybe a few other things like mini-pci wifi, RAM, and depending on whether anything got to the optical drive - one of those too). Yes this is about as bad as is gets.

I know you powered it up later with the hopes that it was "all better now." But (other than the act of spilling water on it in the first place while powered on) the single biggest act that has killed your chances of reviving this notebook computer. Sorry to say that. But I feel in these cases a dose of reality rather than false promises is in order.

The upside is perhaps you can talk Lenovo into selling you an open bay CTO T43 (or T42). You accessories (power supplies, batteries, optical drives, docking stations, hard disk, etc) should all transfer over to the unit. All except the RAM. A open bay CTO 2687-E8U costs $844 w/o student discount and comes with a 3 year warranty. Add 3-year thinkpad protection for another $169 (optional). You'd need to add battery, RAM, wifi, optical, etc. But you should already have those or be able to get them from another source. The upside is you can delay the purchase of the accessories until you get more $$$. This is just an idea that I throw out there. do what you will.

I had my laptop open, on, and under a driping water pipe for about 4 hours. When I got to it the keyboard was almost full of water, the screen was dead and the LEDs all off.
PANIC.
I unplugged the AC and removed the battery.
After several hours that included fixing the leaky pipe and removing all the water from my basement floor, I attacked the TP.

First, I took it completely apart. Pice by pice in some sort of order that I hoped would help me put it back together. Once apart I wiped it down with a cotton cloth, put a desktop fan on it, and went a purchase some of those pressurized cans of air. With the air I blew all over the boards parts and pieces and got what I thought was all the remaining water out.

When I reasembled the TP I had only one bracket piece left over, but ....
When I put the battery in nothing good happened. When I plugged in the AC I got some dancing LEDs. Nothing to lose, when I turnned it on, the screen gave a flicker and the LEDs paused and then came on normal, but nothing else happend. I tried the on switch many more times to no avail.

Once again I took the whole thing apart. This time I sprayed everything around and in all connectors with WD-40. The WD stands for water displacement. When spraying around the on/off switch I found another plastic piece that could be removed and found water! I sprayed canned air all over to get the excess WD-40 off, sprayed it all down a second time with the WD-40 and canned air.

I put the whole thing back together. All the parts found a place to live on this second rebuild. And the rest is history.

Battery in. battery LED. Power in power LED. On selected and it has booted up every time ever since. Almost a year later it works fine, and I never go to bed or leave my suite with the lid open.

Good Luck!!! I had some.

Aroc wrote:...the fact that you've powered it up prior to disassembling the unit to deal with any possible remaining liquid inside, not to mention the residue (drinking water, right. (mineral content = BAD)) left on the traces of the PCB. I hope you are not a math or sciences major. Just kidding!

OK. Granted, I did fail to mention some apparently key points in my post... The condensation on the LCD that I saw on the day of was from moisture on top of the keyboard. I completely disassembled the unit to inspect the system board for any signs of moisture/damage, and found none. I then blew it out with compressed air and left it out to dry to be sure before powering it back on 2 days later.

you powered it up later with the hopes that it was "all better now."

Perhaps the lack of said details would explain why you've taken me for an ignorant moron?

Understandable, I suppose, although I can't help but take some offense at your implied tone. In fact, I do happen to be a grad student with a double major in chemistry and biology, and as such, let's just assume that I know what electrolytes are--I'm not so naive (as you have suggested) to believe that even filtered "drinking water" should be harmless to the internals of a computer. Thanks for the "dose of reality" though.

At this point I was hoping for some info on how to assess what's good and what's bad--a kind of system "triage." I'm not yet looking for options in getting something new, and if I were to look into an open bay T42 (which is a good idea, btw) I would first need to know what can be salvaged from this one.

EDIT: Stories of TP survival like the one given above by Eroneus are also welcome

Well; the T41 does have a drainage port under the keyboard for that and I do think that the keyboard base plate has some sealing around it; but too much water and that's it. It might be the Mobo after all. The only thing I can think of would be the RAM, and the HDD and maybe the Optical Drive in the Ultrabay Slim.

Good luck and I hope everything turns out well for you and your Thinkpad.

PS: Take it from me, rushing around sensitive stuff like computers and various other things just because you are late to teach a class isn't worth it; after all, no problem in ending up starting class 10 minutes later is there?