Several ways to save a laptop from spilled liquid: advice from an experienced administrator. What to do if water was spilled on the keyboard

How often do you sit down at your laptop with a cup of hot tea with cookies or water, or maybe wine or beer next to you?

And then a wrong hand movement, and the device turns out to be flooded. What to do in such cases - urgently run to the service center or you can still eliminate the consequences yourself.

What to do if water spills on your laptop

Users whose laptops have been damaged by water often contact service centers.

This is important! Whatever liquid you spill on your laptop, first disconnect it from the power supply and remove the battery. Disconnect all peripheral devices if they are connected.

We'll fix everything here. If the amount of liquid spilled is small, just turn the keyboard over and wipe the case thoroughly. In case of serious flooding, try to turn the unit upside down so that the water flows out through the vents.

Water is still an electrolyte, although not a very strong one. So don't try to turn on your laptop right away. Let it dry. This process may take up to 3 days. During this time, it is better to show the laptop to the technician.

Tea or coffee

Sweet tea and coffee will leave their mark for a long time

Such drinks not only contain sugar, which will cause your keyboard to stick for a long time. But also various acids that will promote the oxidation of compounds. The motherboard may especially suffer from this.

This is important! If such drinks get into the device, it should be rinsed immediately to prevent oxidation.

Clean water is suitable for this. Rinse the board thoroughly and dry. But still, diagnostics at a service center will not hurt.

Carbonated drinks

If you spilled half a glass of cola on your laptop, then rest assured, the minutes count

The case is most alarming. Such liquids, especially cola or Fanta, are rich not only in sugar, but also in active chemicals. In particular, they contain phosphoric acid, which is used in soldering to soften the solder. Imagine what she can do inside a laptop.

You need to act immediately:

• If you can, try to disassemble the device;
• rinse with water and wipe the parts affected by the “flood” with a cloth;
• Pay special attention to the motherboard; if there are a lot of oxidized areas on it, remove it and thoroughly clean them, say, with a toothbrush.

This is important! Disconnect the CMOS battery from the board to prevent a short circuit.

It's easy to remove the battery

Also carefully check and clean all exposed areas if you notice any foreign marks on them. Don’t even be lazy to look at everything with a magnifying glass.

Rinse everything, including the board, with warm water, preferably distilled. There are many impurities in tap water that can also interfere with the operation of the device.

The keyboard is a separate question. You may have to literally take it apart piece by piece and dry each one.

When drying disassembled parts, some recommend using a hairdryer, but it is better to carry out the process naturally. Just not in direct sunlight. To speed up the action, place an open container with rice next to it; it actively absorbs moisture.

Beer

The consequences of beer can be much worse than you expect

If the above measures do not help, take your laptop for repair. And be prepared for the fact that it can be expensive. Some even believe that it is better to buy a new device.

But to avoid wasting money, be careful and sit with a glass of water or a cup of coffee away from the computer. And finally give your eyes a rest.

The most common cause of laptop failure is liquid getting into it. Fortunately, in many cases, a flooded laptop can be repaired, and this directly depends on the subsequent actions of its owner. In this article, we will briefly talk about what damage liquid can cause to a laptop and what needs to be done after it gets inside the laptop.

How can there be liquid in a laptop? Sometimes the reason for this is the rain in which the laptop was caught, or the user’s reluctance to part with it while taking a bath. The most common cause of liquid getting into a laptop is spilling various drinks onto its keyboard during a meal, so we will dwell on this case in more detail.

If you spill any liquid on a working laptop, you must immediately turn off the power - the sooner the better. Do not waste precious seconds on the standard procedure for shutting down the operating system, even if this threatens the loss of important documents - if necessary, the data can be restored, but as a result of delay, the laptop can be lost forever. After the laptop is turned off, you need to remove the battery from it. Now the affected laptop needs to be turned upside down and placed on a flat surface (it is advisable to open it slightly so that it does not fall on the matrix). If moisture is visible on the outside of the laptop, it should be carefully wiped with a soft cloth or sponge - but only after the laptop is turned over, otherwise some of the liquid can be driven inside.

A flooded laptop must be urgently disassembled and dried (it is advisable to entrust this to professionals)

The next step is perhaps the most important, since failure to do so is the most common cause of death in liquid-filled laptops. This step is to immediately seek help from service center specialists. Unfortunately, many users do not do this, which usually results in the loss of laptops.

A fairly common misconception is that if the laptop turns on after the liquid has dried, it means the problem is over. Alas, this is not true. If a laptop is flooded with water, juice, coffee or other liquid, it gets inside its case and begins its destructive work. Usually, tea or coffee is spilled on the keyboard, under which the motherboard is located - the main (and most expensive) part of the laptop.

Even if immediately after the laptop has been flooded, you remove the liquid from the case and turn the laptop upside down to dry, some of the liquid still penetrates its motherboard. The liquid quickly evaporates from the laptop body, but the corrosion process begins inside the laptop. That is why it is very important to return the flooded device as soon as possible, since with each passing hour corrosion covers more and more of the surface of the motherboard. The chips on the motherboard are like sponges that absorb moisture, and if you don’t take action quickly, repairing the laptop will become impossible.

Repairing a flooded laptop should not be delayed

Often, owners of laptops during vacation or relaxation drop it into the pool or pour some kind of drink on it, while postponing a trip to specialists for several days, or even weeks - after all, a laptop is not required for work yet, so why waste time on computer service ? And then it usually turns out that the entire motherboard is corroded, and sometimes other parts are destroyed, which means that restoring the laptop is out of the question. Perhaps, such an outcome cannot be considered a successful end to the vacation - therefore, you need to contact a specialist immediately after the laptop has been flooded.

If it is not possible to contact a service center immediately after tea is spilled on the laptop - for example, if the problem happened at night outside the city, you need to leave the laptop upside down to dry and try to find a way to contact a specialist within the next few hours.

The main thing is not to try to turn on the laptop under any circumstances, no matter how much you might want to. Turning it on may cause a short circuit, which will require a more expensive one. By the way, it is not uncommon for a laptop to work normally for several days after being exposed to liquid, which makes you think that the problem has been solved. However, after two or three weeks the computer refuses to turn on. After contacting the service center, its owner learns that the insides of the laptop are corroded and cannot be restored.

Not all liquids are equally “healthy”

The rate of erosion of the motherboard depends on the type of liquid in the laptop. The most harmless of all is water: if you do not machine wash your laptop, but simply accidentally spill a little water on it, then your laptop repair will most likely be successful.

Tea or coffee, especially with sugar, pose a great danger, but the consequences of getting them into a laptop can usually be prevented. But Coca-Cola, Fanta, Spry and mineral water can cause great damage in a matter of hours: a large number of various chemicals quickly provokes an oxidation reaction, leading to the destruction of the motherboard. You'll be lucky if the soda stays in the keyboard and doesn't spill inside - then the keyboard can be replaced, and the laptop is back in service.

Results

So, we hope that this information will be useful to all those who spilled tea on a laptop or took a dip in the pool - no one is immune from this accident. But if such a situation cannot be predicted (you can avoid eating near your laptop, do not take it with you to the bathroom and to the beach, but suddenly find yourself a victim of flooding from your neighbors above), then everyone can increase their chances of success - for this you need to strictly follow the above rules and run to take your laptop to the service center, and surely in a day or two you will be able to work on your laptop again, as if nothing had happened!

In our country they drink a lot of tea, and where there is a lot of tea, spots sometimes appear. Removing tea stains is not as difficult as it seems; there are many ways to get rid of stains. We will discuss just a few of them.

If you stain linen or cotton with tea

It’s not surprising that a tea stain can be removed without washing. If your stain is on a linen or cotton tablecloth, you need to take ammonia and moisten a sponge with it, place a soft cloth and paper under the stain, treat the stain with the sponge, then moisten the area with a 10% solution of citric acid and water. After 10-15 minutes, rinse the stain with water.

If you spilled tea on colored fabric

If a tea stain appears on colored fabric, then we need to do the same as with the stain on the tablecloth, but replacing ammonia with a 10% aqueous solution of borax, and citric acid in a lighter 5% solution with the addition of table salt. After processing the fabric, it should be rinsed with cold water.

Getting rid of “tea stains” on silk and wool

You can remove a stain from silk or wool fabric by treating the stain with a swab dipped in warm glycerin. After 10-15 minutes, rinse the stain with warm water and dry with a towel.

You can get rid of the stain by soaking the fabric in water to which oxalic acid and citric acid have been added at the rate of one teaspoon of oxalic acid per glass of water and 2 teaspoons of citric acid.

How to remove "difficult" tea stains

When the stain does not respond to your actions, then take half a teaspoon of ammonia and 2 teaspoons of glycerin, mix together, moisten the stain with the resulting solution and leave for 30-40 minutes. Then wash your clothes either by machine or by hand.

What to do if you spilled tea on documents?

Tea stains can be removed even from paper, to do this we need to soak the stained sheet in water with half diluted hydrogen peroxide. After we put the sheet or sheets of paper in the water, let them soak in the solution. After this, we rinse the paper in distilled water with calcium hydroxide. After these steps, we dry the paper with dry towels. Stains won't go away? Wipe them with a solution of chlorine bleach and water (1/3 chlorine bleach and 2/3 water). Iron dry through wax paper.

A few simple steps to save your device if liquid has gotten into it.

Accidentally spilled liquid often causes damage to your favorite device. What to do if you suddenly spill water, beer, cola, tea or coffee on your laptop? Spilled liquid is dangerous due to several complications at once: from a short circuit, if you do not turn off the power and turn off the computer, to sluggish, long-term corrosion of the inside of the laptop. We offer step-by-step instructions for saving a flooded laptop.

Spilled water on a laptop: 3 urgent steps

1. Turn off the power to the laptop and remove the battery

From the moment you spilled the liquid, seconds counted. Forget about conventions and the correct shutdown of Windows, the data can be recovered, but the laptop risks going to the landfill forever. Feel free to unplug the cord and remove the battery from it. This will stop the destruction associated with the process of electrochemical reactions.

Simply unplugging will not be enough, so be sure to remove the battery. This is necessary in order to protect the motherboard, on which the power circuits operate even after the laptop is turned off.

2. Disconnect peripherals

Everything is simple here, if a printer, hard drive, flash drive is connected to the laptop, or there is a disk lying around in the drive, then they need to be pulled out.

3. Wipe the liquid from the laptop case

In this case, it all depends on the volume of liquid spilled. If the volume of the “spill” is small, no more than 20-30 milliliters (about 1/7 cup):

• turn the laptop over so that the liquid does not penetrate further into the case
• quickly wipe the body with available materials (any handkerchief or paper towel will do).

If the volume of the “tragedy” turned out to be more significant: turn the laptop on its edge so that the ventilation holes are at the bottom, and gently shake it to drain as much water as possible.

What to do next?

Now you have some time to think. No need to try to turn on the device and check if it works! Most likely, it will work, but it is also likely that your computer will die at the most unexpected moment, taking valuable information with it.

Firstly, you should immediately accept that you will not use a flooded laptop for at least 1-3 days. Secondly, you need to assess the scale of the tragedy - the severity of the damage depends on what kind of liquid you spilled on your keyboard or laptop. Consider the destructive effect of popular liquids.

Water

If you flood your laptop with water, it can reach any elements inside the device, including the motherboard, which can lead to the loss of the device. Water, although a weak electrolyte, can lead not only to a short circuit, but also cause slow but sure electrochemical corrosion. However, this is a relatively harmless liquid, so the chances of saving the device are quite high.

Tea, coffee, beer, drinks with sugar or milk

If you spill tea, coffee, beer, a drink with sugar or milk on your laptop, then things are worse, since they all contain various acids. For example, tea is a combination of a huge number of substances, some of which, for example, tannin, are acidic. If you spill a sweet drink on your keyboard, after it dries, a sticky sugar residue will remain and the keys will stick.

By the way, beer, beloved by many, also contains a number of, albeit weak, acids. As a rule, devices that have been dipped in beer function normally for several months, which is why device owners mistakenly think that the problem has passed. Over time, the motherboard or hard drive is destroyed by the chemical elements present in beer.

You should also be wary of juices: they are quite aggressive, as they also contain acids, for example, citric or fruit.

Cola and other carbonated drinks

The biggest danger is carbonated drinks. These are aggressive liquids, rich in chemicals that can oxidize and destroy, for example, the same motherboard. In particular, soda often contains a medium-strength acid - phosphoric acid, which is used for soldering.

If you spill half a glass of cola, then count the clock. It is not always possible to immediately take the laptop to a service center. Keep in mind that not every service center will take on the problem, and if they do, they may not get to your device right away.

Thus, if cola, tea, coffee, beer or wine gets inside your laptop, you need to rinse the device under water, regardless of whether you plan to take it to a service center or not. Do not forget to first turn off the power to the device and remove the power supplies from it. This will wash away most of the dangerous chemicals that have gotten inside the device.

Pour water liberally into the area where you spilled the drink to wash it away. The motherboard is almost not afraid of water; to a greater extent, you only risk flooding the films under the keyboard. Remember, the main thing is not to turn on the laptop until you complete the following steps.

Should I take it to a service center or save it myself?

Next, you have to make a choice: run with your laptop to a service center or save the device yourself. We recommend the first option to increase your chances and get at least some guarantees. However, not everyone is looking for the easy way out. If you are technically savvy or don’t trust service centers, or, finally, don’t want to spend extra money, then you can try to bring the laptop back to life with your own efforts.

How to save a laptop yourself?

— Disassemble the laptop and keyboard

Please note that this may not be easy. It is not always easy to unscrew all the screws on the bottom; often some of them can be hidden under peel-off legs and panels that are held on by the same latches, attached under the keyboard, display hinges, and so on. However, as a rule, all common laptop models have disassembly guides and videos. Go to the manufacturer's website for information, Google or YouTube. In order to reduce search time, enter “disassemble *laptop model name*”, or better yet “*laptop model* disassembly”.

Disassemble the laptop into the smallest possible components and check where the liquid managed to reach. The main thing is to remove the CMOS battery on the motherboard, as it constantly powers the board, which in the long run is enough to cause a short circuit. It is easy to find, it is quite large, round and difficult to confuse with something.

As for the keyboard itself, it will have to be disassembled and sorted separately, having previously photographed or recorded the location of the keys on the keyboard. Next, simply remove the keys with a thin screwdriver or any thin handy tool; as a rule, they can be pryed off from the bottom. Then “pull out” the pushers and spring elements. In this case, three films will remain on the keyboard substrate: two conductive, with tracks, and a dielectric separating film between them. On older keyboards, the films are either not glued together, or they are glued only at a few points and are quite easy to separate. However, on new ones they are often glued more securely and it will be more difficult to unstick them - here you can’t do without a hairdryer. We warn you that the gluing process requires certain skills, so it would be better to stop at this stage and hope that no water got between the films; after all, they are glued quite tightly.

- Clean and rinse

Pay special attention to the keyboard and motherboard, you can even check it with a magnifying glass.

If there is any buildup or discoloration on the motherboard, use a lint-free cloth or soft toothbrush to wipe away any dry residue from the spill.

Then carefully, sparing no effort and attention, clean off all foreign matter using an alcohol solution, followed by distilled water. If distilled water is not available, you can use plain water. However, the problem is that ordinary water contains impurities of metal salts and can leave them on the board after washing, which can subsequently cause a short circuit. Therefore, we recommend buying distilled water at a pharmacy or auto store.

If the affected area is large, then remove the board, disconnect everything possible from it, rinse it with warm water and leave it to dry for at least 1-2 days. In the same way, you need to check and wash all the other insides of the laptop and parts of the disassembled keyboard, getting rid of stains and sticky areas wherever you find them.

— Dry the laptop

Now all that's left to do is dry everything you washed. There is an opinion that you need to use a hairdryer, but we do not recommend that you do this. First, a hair dryer can blow hot dust onto various areas and make them dirty. Secondly, there is a risk of overheating and melting various elements. Thirdly, if there is moisture left somewhere, then a stream of air will send it even deeper into the case.

Dry for 24-48 hours in a warm, dry room, out of direct sunlight. Place the case, board, films, keyboard on supports or a grill over some surface so that air can circulate around the parts. You can even put the ingredients in a container with rice, since dry rice draws out moisture well.

— Assemble and test the device

After a day or two, reassemble the keyboard and laptop, turn it on and check its overall performance. You can check the keyboard in any text file, but it will be easier to go to Keyboardtester.com and check all the keys there.

If everything is functioning normally, then consider yourself lucky. If only the keyboard does not work, then you will have to replace it with a new one or simply buy an external one.

— If the laptop does not turn on, you will have to contact a service center or buy a new one.

To summarize, let's say that it is possible to protect yourself from such incidents. If you are using a laptop as a replacement for a desktop computer, you can put it on a stand, move it away from you and use an external keyboard and mouse. However, as a rule, a laptop implies mobility, and this option is not suitable for everyone; in this case, you should not take risks and drink drinks dangerously close to the laptop.

Let us remind you that on our website you can view the laptop test results. Our experts tested the quality of popular models in the laboratory and, based on the test results, compiled a rating of laptops.

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