Aagh! Coffee in my laptop

by Voyager64

Posted: 14 years ago 12 replies

OFF TOPIC

Hi there all,

The other day I spilt half a cup of coffee over the keyboard of my laptop and now several keys do not work! I know - no s**t Sherlock!!

Does anyone have any technical expertise that could shed any light on whether it is likely that a new keyboard will put right the situation or is it likely that an overhaul is needed?

Look forward to your thoughts

Cheers

Jonathan

#coffee #laptop

Michael Motley 14 years ago

It is possible that a new keyboard will fix it, but when you spill something on your kb, what happens is of course all that liquid starts bridging electrical connections that arent supposed to bridged. The connections that got bridged could just be for the keyboard, shorting it out, but the coffee could have got all the way down to the motherboard and the mb AND kb could be toast.

what model/manufacturer is this?
will the computer start all?
any lights/activity when you start it?
do you hear the fans?

if you dont see lights, dont hear fans, see nothing on the screenh, its probably a safe bet that you've smoked the sys board.
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Sumit Menon 14 years ago

Ohhh.. that sounds an awful lot worse than tooth paste on keyboard!
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- ThomM 14 years ago
  
  Coffe isn't bad, now orange soda that's a bitch.
  I was always spilling cofee on my laptop and it would just make the keys stick.
  3 drops of orange soda on the other hand fried it.
  After about six months of it just sitting around I slowly was able to get it to turn on.
  I hooked up my old desk top keyboard and mouse and used it for 3 more years before it finally died for good.
  
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seasoned 14 years ago

The keyboard is a matrix, so if any keys along the x and y axis work, things are likely OK. There are three types of keyboards. The older mechanical ones can probably be easily cleaned up. Since this is a laptop, and newer, it is likely one of the others, and may not even be fixable. I don't know about getting it replaced but, until then, you MIGHT be able to get a USB keyboard.

Of course, it might be a good time to backup.

Steve
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Dave Patterson 14 years ago

My laptop EXPECTS coffee....every morning.
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- chanchalseo 14 years ago
  
  hi Jonathan,
  
  it sounds really bad! you need to fix a new keyboard in your lappy. You can also contact a computer engineer for the help, i hope they will help you in many way.
  
  Good luck.
  
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DotComBum 14 years ago

Lesson learned, don't drink coffee near your laptop

DCB
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- lcombs 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by DotComBum
  
  Lesson learned, don't drink coffee near your laptop
  
  DCB
  
  I've done carpentry.
  Same rule applies.
  
  "Keep your free hand away from the nail."
  
  "Keep your coffee away from your keyboard."
  
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  DotComBum 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by lcombs
  
  I've done carpentry.
  Same rule applies.
  
  "Keep your free hand away from the nail."
  
  "Keep your coffee away from your keyboard."
  
  But if you are using a PC, not laptop, then by all means go ahead as you can just change your keyboard :p
  
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Laura B 14 years ago

I've heard that after you've done your best to dry things off, just give it several days, maybe even longer, to thoroughly, thoroughly dry everywhere. I've heard of lots of people who discovered after some time has passed that the laptop worked like normal.

Here are a couple of links on how to clean it:How to Save a Laptop from Liquid Damage - wikiHow
Laptop 911: how to save your computer from a coffee spill: Inky Circus
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Sue McDonald 14 years ago

I think at some time or other with the amount of time we spend on computers we are likely to have an accident like this. I accidentally spilt some water on the mouse - result one dead mouse!! Mouth to mouth was not an option. New mouse and back in business.
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Laura B 14 years ago

But what about mouth-to-mouse? Wouldn't that have worked?
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