Spilt Lucozade on laptop

[psd99]

Hi all,

my mate has accidentally spilt lucozade into the keyboard of his laptop. The lad is very distraught right now. It's a Sony FE31H laptop and when he got it it was the top of the range. So he came over well upset and I was hoping to help him out with my limited expertise.

Obviously he didn't spill this on purpose. He said the laptop was turned on when it got spilt but then eventually it powered off on it's own accord.

It does not turn on now, neither does the battery charge light come on. Totally DEAD.

He brang it over and I had a look. I had never opened a laptop before and was a bit hesitant but because he is out of his warranty I decided to open it. Bit different aint it to a desktop?

Well I had to take out the 2.5 inch hard drive, then I took off all the panels on the back and FINALLY it came off. I was presented with the smallest motherboard I had ever seen. It took a good 30 minutes to open her up.

I had a good look on the motherboard. It looked good to me. Both CPUS look fine, there is a little bit of lucozade on the memory but NOT on the METAL parts.

The hard drive has some lucozade on it except it's ONLY from what I could see the outside casing.


The keyboard is very stiff, it's a lot of Lucozade.

I didn't want to take off the motherboard, because I knew that was a bit of a long job and was worried about putting it back together.

I took a few pictures and was wondering if anyone can confirm that this orange type liquid is on this chip that comes off on the board.

I'm adament it's NOT lucozade I think it's a type of liquid that I have seen in electrical appliances in the past.


I told him that I think his motherboard needs changing, although I told him we could somehow run some power into the board just to make sure it isn't the power supply coming in.

Thing is I can't see the other side of the board unless I take the board out but I am thinking it's covered with lucozade and damaged the board. I think the lucozade has gone through the keyboard right into the motherboard. His keys stick down like glue right now.

I was thinking of somehow getting a motherboard replacement for the laptop but is it really worth it?

Does anyone have any thoughts about this situation?


p.s here are the pictures:

After spending 30 minutes I got to this stage I didn't realise that I had to take out the HDD to open the case properly.







can you see that part on the bottom right hand side? What the heck is it? Tell me that ISN'T lucozade?





Here's another close up picture but as you can see my camera skills are still mediocre at best. I think I should stick to gardening.. Here is the part that mesmerised me. It did come off of the board via two screws... Just what is it?





Here is the Toshiba HDD with a stain of lucozade on it. Does not seem to have got into the HDD..






It's a type of metal right? Bet it helps the laptop somehow...

mmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Ian]

Unless you are sure it's just the motherboard that is broken (through swapping bits over with another laptop) then I don't think it would be worth getting a replacement. That orange stuff is just film that you see on loads of electrical stuff, I presume it's some sort of insulator but I don't really know.

There are lots of things that could fix it, but the time and money spend on this would be more than the laptop is worth now.

Does the battery charge light come on when you plug it in, or does it appear totally dead?

 

[psd99]

Nope no charge light I tried that as well.

It is totally DEAD.

Testing the parts would mean opening another laptop right?

 

[Anon_F]

A friend had a similar problem recently & used a hair dryer to dry all the parts out with.
A new keyboard may help, but sounds more like this good be terminal!
If fluid has got into the working parts it could have shorted something out.
It may be a case of playing around to see if anything works?

It's one reason i never drink near my pc or laptop in case of accidents like this!!

 

[crazylegs]

Unlucky mate..

When liquid has entered a notebook through the Keyboard its usually terminal..

I used to fix these things, was the keyboard dried out and was it all crispy when you pressed on it..

If it dries out and still powers up it will only be a matter of time before the electronics on the mainboard will rust and imminent failure will occur anyway..

Any chance of claiming on the house insurance as a liquid spill will mean a new laptop..

 

[floppybootstomp]

My learned opinion is that it's kaput. Dead. Finished.

I'd guess the liquid shorted the motherboard, effectively killing the machine.

And Lucozade is possibly the worst liquid ever to spill on it, it's more or less liquid sugar and the residue will act like glue on the keys.

 

[itsme]

Sorry I agree with FBS Kaput

And they say Lucozade is good for you

 

[psd99]

OH DEAR the lad is going to be heartbroken.

Don't know if he can claim it on the house insurance either.


cheers for replies everyone so do we know what that part on the board actually is?!

 

[itsme]

OH DEAR the lad is going to be heartbroken.

Don't know if he can claim it on the house insurance either.


cheers for replies everyone so do we know what that part on the board actually is?!

All he has to do is ask the insurance company. If he has full cover I can`t see a problem.

 

[floppybootstomp]

OH DEAR the lad is going to be heartbroken.

Don't know if he can claim it on the house insurance either.

I don't think he'll be letting any drinks near any future computers.

I once spilled a full glass of red wine into a keyboard. Took it apart, soaked it in a bath full of warm water and scrubbed all parts clean, including pcb. Let it dry for a couple of days and it's still working several years later.

cheers for replies everyone so do we know what that part on the board actually is?!

If I could see a better picture I may have some idea.

It could be a modem, obviously something that's not included on the main motherboard at manufacture, anyway.

 

[psd99]

haha yes the pictures are a bit poor. I'm still not very good with my Sony camera. Also hope he can look into the insurance thing as well. Will be worth a shot thanks for mentioning it.


I'll give him the link to this page and let him read through it for himself.