what is the scope of the effect of laptop water damage?

[TheRedFox]

My laptop got a bunch of water spilled on it, and I didn't notice for a while. As soon as I had a chance, I took the thing apart to dry it out, then put it back together. When I plugged it in, the battery-shaped LED went on, but when I pressed power, it went off, and the laptop did not seem to power on. The status light has not illuminated, since. Does anyone have any idea if this is fixable?

[killer]

Dry it more. Put it in an airing cupboard. Turn it upside down, turn it on its sides, then dry it again. Keep electricity away from it until it has been thoroughly dried.

Once it has had about 8 days turning and repeating it may well run perfectly.

Water and electricity do not mix.

Good luck.

[vanaya]

Take it completely apart and let it dry as mentioned. I recently (about a month) revived victim of apple juice while powered on. Family friend stated it would not power on at all. Once I got, I didn't want to take a chance of powering it on. I thoroughly disassembled it, cleaned residue with alcohol swabs (sugar is a devil) and let it airdry. I took the keycaps and swivel hinges off the keyboard and cleaned residue with more alcohol swabs. I even threw the base in the dishwasher. Powered right up without a hiccup! Good Luck!!

[TheRedFox]

well, these stories certainly give me hope, thanks guys. I will take apart again.

[TheRedFox]

It seems completely dry, but I will let it air dry and turn it regularly for several days. I really hope this works

[Tõnis]

I spilled a pretty big glass of water all over the keyboard of a running Lenovo 3000N100. Had no idea what I was doing and quickly disconnected the power and pulled the battery. I started to try to shake the water out. Then, I opened the covers on the underside and used a hair dryer to blow warm (not hot) air at the various components for awhile until the unit looked dry. I then started the unit , and the screen came on but not normal -- it was green. I shut it off and dried it some more. I guess a total of an hour and a half or two hours passed, and I tried starting it again. The unit worked! I used it for many hours that night, and it worked perfectly for two weeks. Then I started to notice that my Bluetooth headphones would lose connection intermittently. I decided to reload the operating system. Now, the Bluetooth works for data transfer, but I never did figure out how to make the generic Bluetooth work again rather than the non-headphone-supporting Microsoft Bluetooth stack.

To make a long story short, I don't know if the water ultimately hurt the Bluetooth card, but don't lose hope. I did everything wrong, and the unit still works otherwise perfectly. The spill was a year ago.

[TheRedFox]

same exact thing happened!!!! I put it back together, plugged in the AC, the battery status light turned green, but when I pressed the power button, the light turned off, and the laptop did not turn on. ARRRRGGG!!!! is there any chance it's the keyboard? the power button connects through it, after all...

[vanaya]

Sorry to hear it didn't fire right up!! You could try a docking station? It has a power button so you could rule out the keyboard. Or like you mentioned, new/other keyboard. I not sure if you know somebody could test yours? Is this your X31 in signature?

[TheRedFox]

oh yeah, I'll try starting it from the docking station, good plan. I wish I had another X31 keyboard to test with. how easy would the keyboard be to take apart (the power button doesn't pop out like the keys)

[vanaya]

If it is the same as the T2x series, the plate where the model number is comes off. I tried to look at some pics from the forum and couldn't tell how much they are alike. Maybe someone can chime in. All the T2x plates come off and the buttons can be removed and cleaned.