Help-Spilled water on T-30 keybord

[longfellow6-6]

I won't go into the long story of how this happened, rather what I have done so far to try and rectify the situation.

I have removed the following
batteries- main and back up
hard drive and "rails"
keyboard and bezel
fan
ram
PCI rails

The T30 shut down immediately on its own when the water was spilled.

My intent is to let it dry for awhile ...24 hrs?

Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I am always grateful for the vast pool of experience and resource here.

This is my primary PC which is currently critical to my search for employment.
I am trying to avoid a external USB enclosure for the HD if the T30 isn't fried

Thanks in advance

[Neil]

You have already done about all you can do. Just patiently wait until it is completely dry and try to power it back up. If it works, and it might, there is probably no serious damage.

If it fails to boot when dry, then the water must have caused a short circuit that damage some components. Whatever damage was done, is already done when the water got inside. Once dry, there shouldn't be any further damage done by trying to power it on again.

[sjthinkpader]

Last time this happened, I took apart the computer completely and dried it out actually under the sun. It worked after assembling it back.

[vanaya]

Just as sjthinkpader mentioned, disassemble it completely. Check for any white spots or residue and clean with alcohol wipes (or similar). I have revived one from an apple juice spill (sticky mess) the same way. Good luck!!!

[longfellow6-6]

Thanks for all the great advice.
I was hoping I didn't have to pull the LCD and system board but ..
I am hearing that I should do just that to be sure

Thank you all again!!!!

[longfellow6-6]

Well the good news is that the T30 is back and running.
Thanks again for the excellent advice.

I still have a minor problem that I hope someone can help with.

It pertains to batteries.
Since the incident, the batteries discharge rather than charge while the AC adapter(s),
(I have two and have tried both) are connected.
This applies to the standard battery and the ultrabay one as well.
The T30 runs fine without a battery installed on AC power.
In fact with the T30 turned off and the AC adapter plugged in, the battery still discharges.
The battery LED is orange while a (either) battery is installed.

This is quite puzzling.
I don't want to damage the battery so I have removed it.
This is kind of a pain as this creates an uneven bottom surface.

Suggestions or comments?

Thanks

[vanaya]

Did you inspect the board for any residue or water spots? If there where any dark spots that the water could have caused damage to the charging circuitry. Glad to hear it is up, but unfortunately not running. Maybe some with more T30 experience could chime in?

[sjthinkpader]

Check all the fuses. Unfortunately I don't have a fuse map for T30.

[SMA]

You are not telling why you believe the battery is discharging, but if you have no specific reason for assuming so,
then I would say that the battery is disconnected by now and therefore it will be safe to have it in place
to make the bottom surface even.

Besides from checking fuses (in particular those located near the battery connectors) it will be a good idea to inspect the mosfet's (those located near the battery connector).

Also, if you rememeber about it, it would be interesting to know whether or not the UltraBay battery was installed when the water was spilled.
Even if it seemed like the T30 was shutting down immediately, I believe it was not. It just happened faster than an eye could blink.
Initially running from the main supply, then when the water was spilled, the AC Adapter would get shorted and turn it selves off. Then the ThinkPad would
switch to battery operation when the main goes away (ThinkPads are designed to do so).
But batteries does not shut off when overloaded (the short/water still present) - they continues until something gets burnt. Could be a fuse, a mosfet or something else.
Finally, when the battery gets brutualy disconnect, the ThinkPad would try to switch to the seconday battery and things will repeat. Another fuse or mosfet will blow.

[longfellow6-6]

First let me start by saying that I am a replacement mechanic when it come to thinkpads.
My only foray into board level repair failed. (T40 graphics chip, over cooked)

I surmise that when fuses and Mosfets are discussed they refer to board level components. I am unclear as to what I should be looking for regarding the fuses and Mosfets as to their condition. For that matter I don't really know what they look like. Further clarification would be appreciated.

Let me update the condition of my T30. Working but not completely functional.
The two batteries that were installed at the time of the accident are both fully discharged. (standard and UltraBay)
Neither would accept a charge from my Quick Charger. My other UltraBay battery can be used but can only be charged via the Quick Charger. I stated earlier that my other two batteries were discharging. That comment was based on viewing the XP Power Meter in my task bar. Both would show being charged in the Power Meter window but the percent charged value decreased although it stated that it was charging. For the record, neither would accept a charge from the Quick Charger. I am a bit confused about the following; I can boot using only battery power(using the only functioning UltraBay battery I have) but if you disconnect the AC adapter the T30 shuts down immediately. I have multiple AC Adapters including the one attached at the time of the accident and all function the same - good.

There are several other amonolies. I have had to disable the trackpoint and the touchpad. Otherwise I get a keyboard error for a stuck key (Error code 210 if I correctly recall). Also, I enabled the extended diagnostics at startup and then disabled it but it continues to boot in the extended mode.

I'd like to bring this T30 back to its prior fully functioning state but don't know what steps to take next.

Thank you all for all the support

[SMA]

Seems that you have lost 2 batteries by that accident. If they cannot be charged by the Quick Charger then they must be considered dead.
So, it seems that we actually have a 'lesson learned' here, that being - shorting a battery will cause that battery to die.
Seems reasonable enough. There must be some safety mechanisme inside.
If you still have the T23 mentioned in your signature line, then you can try the batteries in that one. Just for verification.

The third battery seems unaffected.

If you want the T30 to regain the capability to run on batteries, and you have to stay on the replacement level, then you will have to get a new motherboard.

The keyboard error is most likely a fault within the keyboard but it can be a motherboard issue.

The setting of the extended diagnostics, that cannot be set back, does not have to be related to the water spill. That problem may have been there
before the accident. If you shortly remove the cmos battery then all the bios settings should be reset to default, but you will have to set the date and time again.

[longfellow6-6]

Thanks for the advice.
I'll try the one battery in the T23.
I hadn't thought of that.
The cmos advice fixed that issue.
The keyboard error is probably a system board issue as it is only applicable to the track point and touch pad.
I haven't found any other keyboard issues as of yet.

What is still weird to me is that I can boot in battery mode and run under only battery power and I can plug in the AC adapter and the T30 switches to AC mode. The weird part is if/when I unplug the AC adapter, the T30 immediately shuts down. It doesn't revert back to battery. Again I am guessing that this is a system board issue.

Just food for thought.

Thanks for the input and advice.

[longfellow6-6]

SMA,
Thanks for the suggestion of putting the T30's batteries in the T23.
Both batteries accepted a FULL CHARGE!
I am back to having three batteries to work with.

I also learned that if the main battery does not an available charge and you remove the AC adapter, the T30 will immediately shutdown. However, if there is an available charge for the main battery and you disconnect the AC adapter, the T30 will remain on. Now that I can charge the main battery in the T23, this works!

Thanks again for all the help and advice.

[sjthinkpader]

...
I surmise that when fuses and Mosfets are discussed they refer to board level components. I am unclear as to what I should be looking for regarding the fuses and Mosfets as to their condition. For that matter I don't really know what they look like. Further clarification would be appreciated.
...

Fuses are normally marked with Fn (n=1-15..16 etc). MOSFET are small chips with 8 legs, 4 of them are wired common on the PCB.

...
I also learned that if the main battery does not an available charge and you remove the AC adapter, the T30 will immediately shutdown. However, if there is an available charge for the main battery and you disconnect the AC adapter, the T30 will remain on. Now that I can charge the main battery in the T23, this works!
...

How else would you expect it to work?

[longfellow6-6]

Sorry for the miscommunication.
I posted earlier that the Ultrabay battery was in place, with a charge but the T30 immediately shut down and did not switch to the Ultrabay battery.

[sjthinkpader]

There is a fuse for the Ultrabay battery, check that.