Thinkpads Forum

I accidentally spilled a cup of water over my X200s near the right side of the keyboard, which caused the system to shutdown immediately. I thought Thinkpads would be spill-proof, guess not. Anyways, I disconnected the battery and let it sit for an hour, then I carefully wiped the exterior and removed the keyboard. There was no sign of water underneath, so I put it back together and plugged it into the AC. The machine turned on and worked fine for 5 minutes, until I got a shutdown dialog from my OS (which happens when the power button is pressed) followed by an abrupt shutdown.

Then I tried to rule out the keyboard by disconnecting the keyboard, resetting the CMOS, and then plugging in the power. The system lights work, as well as the battery indicator. Then, with the laptop plugged in, I connect the keyboard and the system turns on for about 3 seconds before it shuts down. Is it just the keyboard or is there system damage (or both?)

Seems to be the keyboard. If the water got deep inside it, it won't dry out in an hour. Let it sit for couple of days and try again.

If you have an UltraBase, try disconnecting the keyboard and starting the laptop using the power button on the UltraBase. If it works and doesn't turn off, the keyboard is at fault.

It seems that the system works fine, and I'm typing this message from it. However, the strange thing is whenever I plug in the power, it starts up by itself. Weird.

i would advise that you remove the battery and ac power. remove the keyboard and let everything sit to dry out completely for at least 24hrs, if not longer. based on the 'shutdown' symptoms you described, i'm surprised that something wasn't shorted irreparably.

good luck.

One hour was nowhere near enough time to ensure that all the water had evaporated. Sarbin's advice is good: I'd recommend letting it sit in a bucket of rice for 24 hours. If you're more adventurous (and handy with a screwdriver and the HMM) do a full tear down and dry the components individually.

Also, there aren't really any general-purpose machines that are spill-proof. ThinkPads are spill-resistant -- they have better odds of surviving a spill -- but they're not impervious to liquid ingress.

I second ThinkRob's suggestion of putting it in a bucket of rice for a day or 2. Then try to start it up again. The purpose is to dry your thinkpad completely before starting up again to avoid further damage.

If it still doesn't work, try to hold down Fn button and press power button.

Good luck.

if you spilled liquid on the right side of the keyboard here is what i will do.

-Take off the right card reader/usb subcard under the right side of the palmrest

-Take out the wireless card and wwan card if you have it.

-Take out the hdd.

-Take off the cmos battery

Now use a hair dryer and on low heat or cold setting start to gently blow on these separated components and also the main laptop motherboard, do this for about 10 mins.

Then now use medium heat setting and repeat the step for another 10 mins.

Finally reassemble these components (but don't put the cmos battery back till when you are ready to start the laptop), but don't start the laptop yet, let sit there for a day or two.

You can then start the laptop.

Thanks for all the helpful responses!

@lead_org: it spilled on the right side of the keyboard, so that may be why my laptop isn't toast.

So far, it's back to normal. I think it was just the keyboard, after all.