Laptop Tea Spill Accident.

[kensplace]

Today, I accidently knocked the laptop table, which had two large cups of tea on the side...

They both went flying, with a large amount of the tea landing right on top of my thinkpad... (and the sofa, and the floor)

Instant panic........

Looking at the laptop with its keyboard flooded with tea, I knew I had to act fast, I pulled out the power lead from the dock, then quickly unlocked the security cable from the dock, and removed the laptop from the dock. I Flipped the laptop over, and got the battery out straight away.

All this made more difficult by the other half telling me to ignore the laptop and wipe the carpet dry! Ahhhh, women sometimes they just dont understand

Anyways, there was liquid in the battery compartment, so I mopped that up, there was liquid in the vents at the front, that I wiped off.

I removed the hard drive, dvd drive and memory /battery covers, all nice and dry.

I removed the keyboard, and let it dry near the fire (underneath the keyboard was dry) and inside looked totally dry, but I took the opportunity to blow of the small amount of dust inside.

To be on the safe side I left the laptop upside down, and then on its sides for while in front of the fire, to make sure it really was dry.

A couple of hours later (turning the laptop every now and again to distribute the heat) I put it back together, and power up rather nervously.

.........


Im typing on it now, its working perfectly, no sign of any damage whatsover, got to love the design of these thinkpads, the amount of tea that was spilt on it I was sure it was going to be dead as a dodo, but the spill guides seem to have done their magic, and not a drop seems to have touched anything important.

The ony thing that did play up, was the IBM mouse which also got soaked, which I had to take the cover off, wipe dry and leave in front of the fire to get working again (it is now fine).

A lucky escape, that had me seriously worried for a while, but it sure makes me glad I went for a thinkpad!

[gator]

Good to hear that there is no damage. What model is this? The R32 in your sig?

[kensplace]

Yes, its the R32 in my sig.

Really suprised it didnt die, not a drop of water seemed to get on the mainboard, so it must be a well designed drainage system!

[joester]

(singing)
R32 roasting...by the open fire....
Tea drops slipping...through the holes.....

OK...Enough...

Great to hear your priorities were where they should be.
Carpeting, Sofa, they can be replaced. Data... another story!

I must remember to evenly bake my laptop like a perfect marshmallow should that happen to me.

Joe

[Merc]

LOL at the other half yelling about the carpet. They just don't understand these things.

[ajkula66]

But given your location, it would be absolutely amazing if you would've spilled anything but tea....OK, maybe a pale ale or a scotch...

Does your R32 now have that unbelievably pleasant smell of Earl Gray...?

OMG do I miss living in the UK....as well as being twenty years younger, but that's a whole another topic...

All jokes aside, this is one great story. And you, sir, are one very lucky ThinkPad owner. Most of the machines that I've seen with similar horror stories attached to them have been buried a long time ago...

You've given me the best read of the day, possibly week. Thanks a million.

All the best.

[syedj]

Nice story, I am glad kensplace's laptop is working fine even after the tea accident.

I also once spilled a whole glass of icy cold (not that temperature matters) water on a Dell D600. Of course, it immediately shut down with a groan from the hard drive and a slight sound of zap from somewhere under the keyboard as I stared at it in disbelief. First thing I did was to immediately remove the power cord and the battery as soon as I could- as if I was quicker than the electric current that had already done all the damage that it could at the speed of light. I cleaned up and shook out the water as much as I could without dismantling the whole laptop. As it sat there lifeless, I spent the next four days utterly gutted from the trauma. I didn't try powering it on again till about two days. My first try without the battery plugged in worked like nothing had happened. After my astonishment was over I plugged in the battery as well and to my surprise it was showing healthy status. Phew!