Laptop PC - water spillage problem !!!

[paulm]

My 18 month old Sony Vaio laptop pc had an unfortunate accident last night. It was standing on edge on the floor beside the sofa, charging up, when a glass of water was knocked over and some spilled over it

Didn't seem to get very wet so I dried off the little there was and finished dinner. On trying to start it later from the sleep mode it had been in with the lid closed when it got wet, nothing would happen, completely dead, wouldn't power on again when on mains or battery, so put it into the airing cupboard overnight with the lid on the pc open to let it dry out.

This morning when I opened the cupboard there were two lights on the pc that hadn't been lit before, one being the green "on" led on the front and the second being the orange "battery charging" led also on the front. Youngest daughter had also noticed the screen lit during the night apparently, although it wasn't when I put it in there and wasn't when I took it out this morning.

So far I have managed to establish that those two lights stay on when the battery is left in or taken out as long as the mains is plugged in, the lights stay on when the battery is in without being on mains, they only go off when both the battery and main are unplugged.

The computer will not start up with the battery in place, whether or not the mains is plugged in, but will start up with the battery removed and only the mains plugged in, it then runs normally for 10 minutes before switching off suddenly as if the power had been switched off.

There are no power saving settings currently on as I switched them all off this morning to make sure it wasn't something like that (although they probably were on before which might explain why the screen turned itself off during the night, but not why it came on by itself!).

The battery power level looks okay, shows about 80% and was charging successfully.

I swapped the mains power block and lead for a spare with no change.

The pc wasn't getting particularly warm before it shuts off, and as far as I can tell the fan was working okay, although it's always been very quiet.

Have tried using a hairdryer on a cool setting on the various vents in case there was some residual moisture, but no real progress today

Will try leaving it in the airing cupboard again this afternoon and overnight, but any other ideas or thoughts most welcome, reluctant to give up on it too easily as it is relatively new and decent spec

Cheers, Paul

 

[carlb40]

Try putting it in some uncooked rice. That will absorb any moisture left in there. It might take a few days though. I wouldn't use a hair dryer again though due to localised heat damage.

 

[henton49er]

Rather than a hair dryer, why not use a tumble drier! :wink: :wink:

Seriously though, it can take a number of days to dry out inside. The uncooked rice idea is good, particularly if you can seal the machine and rice in an airtight bag or container. How humid is your airing cupboard? You might be better off on a south facing windowsill, or on a shelf above a radiator (but not too close to it).

 

[paulm]

Popped it back in the airing cupboard yesterday, with a couple of large dessicant bags for good measure, will give it another go later on today and see what happens.

Cheers, Paul

 

[ColeyS1]

I had similar thing happen with my mobile phone. Seems the important thing to do is 'do not try turning on' as its the electric and the water that fry the circuit boards. Might be a little late now but if any thing happens in future the first thing I'll do is remove the electric/battery and pop in the airing cupboard for a week before I try turning it on.
Best of luck and i hope it sorts itself out :wink: I've still got a spare bag of rice from my last accident :lol:

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I would leave it in the airing cupboard for a few days it should be o/k, unless you did some damage trying it before it was dry.
Always remove the battery if something gets wet.

Pete

 

[Waka]

Paul

Looks like a Mac Book Pro is on the cards :lol: :lol:

Not much help, I'll get me coat :evil:

 

[paulm]

Thanks guys. Think I may have caused a problem trying to start it originally, but we'll see how it goes next few days. The battery itself seems fine in that it was taking a charge and is now at 100pc, just the machine won't start with it in place, and when it is running just on mains it still cuts out after ten minutes of working okay. Fortunately I never got round to dumping the old dell desktop in the study so have pressed that back into action for the short term!

Cheers, Paul

 

[mind_the_goat]

I'd suggest starting to dismantle it, most laptops are modular and you you can strip out a surprising number of components relatively easily with risk of damage just by undoing a few screws. that should help free any trapped water from the crevices. Worth trying to earth yourself on something first to avoid the minimal risk of static damage, and don't store the bits in plastic containers.
...Actually reading your post again, don;t do any of that, it could be that the machine switched itself on overnight and just completely flattened the battery (not sure how you know it's 80% charged if it only starts with the battery unplugged ? ). Put the battery in and plug it in to the mains, leave the laptop off for a while, then try switching it on. This should help get an initial charge back into the battery.

 

[paulm]

...Actually reading your post again, don;t do any of that, it could be that the machine switched itself on overnight and just completely flattened the battery (not sure how you know it's 80% charged if it only starts with the battery unplugged ? ). Put the battery in and plug it in to the mains, leave the laptop off for a while, then try switching it on. This should help get an initial charge back into the battery.

Once I started the laptop without the battery I tried putting the battery in while leaving the laptop still switched on, nothing bad happened and the battery status indicator showed the battery was well charged and continuing to charge up, having done that a couple of times it's now at 100% charge. Also, without the mains lead in and with the laptop switched off (cause it won't work without the mains lead) the "on" and "battery" leds stay lit.

I think that means it's likely that the battery itself is okay, and the issue(s) are internal within the laptop?

Got home a bit earlier today and just checked it all again, exactly the same, think I'll have a look inside now as I'm getting bored with it :shock: (hammer)

Cheers, Paul

 

[Racers]

I'd suggest starting to dismantle it, most laptops are modular and you you can strip out a surprising number of components relatively easily with risk of damage just by undoing a few screws. that should help free any trapped water from the crevices. Worth trying to earth yourself on something first to avoid the minimal risk of static damage, and don't store the bits in plastic containers.
...Actually reading your post again, don;t do any of that, it could be that the machine switched itself on overnight and just completely flattened the battery (not sure how you know it's 80% charged if it only starts with the battery unplugged ? ). Put the battery in and plug it in to the mains, leave the laptop off for a while, then try switching it on. This should help get an initial charge back into the battery.

Well I had to resolder a wire on the power socket of a laptop and I only had to remove 40 screws to get to it.
They ain't easy to work on and all the screws are different lengths, have a look on youtube for a strip-down video for your laptop.
And leave it with out the battery in for a day in the airing cupboard.

Pete

 

[tekno.mage]

Bad idea to apply power (by batttery or mains) to a machine that has got wet before you are sure it is completely dried out. Moisture inside can cause short circuits between components and strange behaviour from the machine can result - in the worst case, it can die completely as the short circuits may fry internal components.

However, from your description of the fault, there *may* be hope. I would leave the machine switched off, not connected to any kind of power, and in an airing cupboard (or similar warm, dry place) for at least a week. If it is possible to remove any covers (like the little door that lets you install extra memory) on th ecase I would also do that. Do not leave the battery installed in the machine, but you might want to also leave the battery pack in the airing cupboard too. (This methodology worked for my Nikon digicam which my partner dropped into a stream :-( Luckily the camera was off and he pulled the batteries out as soon as he retrieved it from the water - after a week of drying out time, it worked again just fine.)

After a week, try the machine again on the mains only. If you have success with that, try installing the battery pack again and letting it charge. Your description of the machine running for 10mins on the mains and then shutting down seems rather strange - I would have thought that if there were any internal short circuits it would not run at all. It may be that the operating system on disk has become corrupt - can you run any O/S and disk check/repair software?

 

[paulm]

That's pretty much where things are Kym, never thought about the risks of turning it on when wet, d'oh, but now back in the airing cupboard with the hard drive removed (and also in the cupboard, with a couple of large dessicant bags, and the battery removed and in there also.

Took the drive out and backed it up on a hard drive docking station attached to my desktop which is something at least. Did manage to get through a disk check earlier in the weekend before it powered off, and it did fix a few index issues and the like, might be worth me doing that again due to the number of times since that it has crashed again....

I know what you are saying about the number of screws Pete, loads of the little wotsits, took the entire back of the casing off yesterday and had a good look, no signs of moisture or damage but I guess that doesn't mean there isn't any. I'll give it till the weekend probably and decide what to do from there.....

Cheers, Paul

 

[Racers]

Hi, Paul

Hopefully it will be o/k, it dosn't take much moisture in a connector to cause problems.

We had a laptop at work that wasn't working, the user admited to spilling a drink in it, when I opened it up the board was green and furry it had had water spiled in it several times enough to rust the board and components. But it must have been working between the spills so some hope for yours.
Sounds like the hard drive is o/k, might time to contact your insurance company it you can't get it working.

Pete

 

[paulm]

By way of update, tried the pc again last night after all week in the airing cupboard, no change unfortunately. Rang a couple of local repair places today, both mentioned it was likely the motherboard that was the problem, although I did explain that the machine would work perfectly for ten minutes or so before cutting out, but they thought it likely that it would need a new motherboard which for a Sony fairly recent machine would be circa £200 - £250 plus £100 - £150 labour.

House insurance has a £250 excess, and the renewal premium would increase by 10% if any claims made, plus they would need a report from a repair place etc etc so lots of hassle and borderline economics compared to biting the bullet and getting a replacement machine I think.

Might even just swap the old hard drive into a new machine and avoid the hassle of new installations and Windows 8 too !

Does the motherboard theory sound feasible to those with a bit of technical knowledge, or does the machine running okay for a while suggest anything simpler (fingers crossed but not entirely hopeful !)?

Thanks for all the advice and help to date.

Cheers, Paul

 

[tekno.mage]

I would normally expect a motherboard problem to either make the machine fail completely or potentially cause random "hangs" and crashes. Your description of the fault as the machine running ok for 10 minutes and then failing sounds like it has something to do with the machine failing after it has warmed up.

This *might* be a scenario... From cold, machine works ok, then it warms up in use and perhaps there is fan that should cut in to cool the processor(s) - but either the temperature sensor, the fan control or the fan itself is damaged so it doesn't cool the processor which then shuts down to protect itself from overheating? This is of course only relevant if modern laptops have cooling fans in them!

Alternatively, water has slightly corroded something on the motherboard (a track, a soldered joint, a surface mount component) - when cold there is still enough connection to make the computer work, but when it warms up, things expand and the corroded item goes open circuit and the computer fails. If this is the case then a new motherboard is probably required.

When it fails, does it just hang up or does it actually shut down with no power? If it's shutting down with no power it may be my first scenario above and it's shutting down to protect itsef from overheating - in which case it may not need an entire new motherboard - but would need taking apart further to investigate.

 

[carlb40]

Not sure on the mother board thing. But i can tell you if you intend to use the hard drive in another pc as the main OS drive. More than likely what will happen is on first boot up, you will get a message along the lines of components changed/ not recognised please re install windows.

 

[paulm]

Rang a third local (franchised) guy this afternoon, he's picking it up Monday and for fifty quid he will strip it and check for anything simple/obvious that can be cleaned, dried or replaced, particularly in the power circuits. If that doesn't sort it out he too thinks motherboard at which point I'll bite the bullet and get a new one, but at least for fifty quid we'll confirm it's nothing readily fixable first.....

Thanks for your detailed thoughts again Kym, I too thought about the fan but it does seem to work okay as far as I can tell. There's some cheaper versions of the Sony Vaio around now, might get one of them and swap over the blueray dvd drive as well as the hard drive, and have a spare battery and mains adaptor to use too assuming they are compatible which I think there is a good chance they will be, though a bit worried by what you mentioned Carl, but if that problem did arise presumably I could put the original drive back in and proceed as normal ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[paulm]

Success !

The pc guy stripped the machine down, cleaned (whatever that means) the motherboard and reseated various connections, and now working perfectly as before, fifty quid well spent

The other guys all jumped on the replacement motherboard solution straight away and prematurely it would seem.

I suspect it may have been the cooling fan as it is producing a notable amount of air just now, whereas I wasn't sure if it was working or not before as it wasn't as obvious as now, but could have been a number of things involved.

Big relief and the chaps phone number now on my mobile phone in case of future need :lol:

Thanks for everybodys input and ideas.

Cheers, Paul

 

[tekno.mage]

Glad you got it fixed at reasonable cost - looks like you found someone that actually understands how these things work, rather than a board-swap monkey keen to lighten your wallet by large amounts!