Tea in my laptop

[cirianz]

My 7yo boy has spilled tea over my G4 ibook. Aparrently it went over the keyboard, they wiped the keyboard off & tipped it upside down & some fluid ran out but likely some also ran down the inside into the area under the touchpad as well. I'm afraid I know nothing whatsoever about the insides of the computer but I'm worried about what effect the acid in the tea will have on the circuitry and also about the organic matter in the milk which will could possibly decompose in the warm environment of the laptop.

I've turned it off & have it open to dry at the moment with all my fingers crossed that everything will just evaporate & be fine. But if anyone could help me here I'd really appreciate it. She's my baby & I'm really worried.

 

[Becky]

One of my mates once spilt beer down the back of my old CRT monitor and it was fine - I guess it's just down to luck!

I hope it all works out ok

 

[muckshifter]

Does he take sugar?

Hopfully at worse, there will be some 'stickie' keys and may need cleaning ... don't atempt taking the keyboard apart yourself unles you know what your doing.

we have all done it ...

 

[Quadophile]

My advise to you would be to have it serviced and than use it, it basically just needs cleaning inside. I just hope that nothing has gone bad. It is not a good idea to switch it on in the condition it is in. It may aggravate the problem and you may end up with costly repair bills.

Sorry for this information but I thought I better be honest about it.

 

[cirianz]

Does he take sugar?

Hopfully at worse, there will be some 'stickie' keys and may need cleaning ... don't atempt taking the keyboard apart yourself unles you know what your doing.

we have all done it ...

Thank you both, especially the last comment mucks. No sugar luckily. It was my tea sitting on the desk beside my computer. He was playing on my chair apparently & got up quite a spin going.... My own stupidity. I have a tendency to get so involved in what I'm doing that I forget to drink my tea.
I've fixed regular keyboards before, but they don't have the harddrive under the key pad, the laptop is something else altogether & I'll leave that one up to the experts if it needs doing.
So far I'm still crossing my fingers & hoping for the best. It should be dry by morning & I expect it'll be fine/useable by then. It's more the 'longer-term' effect of the tannic acid on the circuitry? I'm afraid I know nothing at all about the circuitry & if the acid is likely to be a problem. Also the risk of mould or some fungal growth as a result of the warm-moist-enclosed environment in the laptop with the milk.
Fingers still crossed and hopping for the best. I'm hoping that I'm worrying about nothing

 

[cirianz]

My advise to you would be to have it serviced and than use it, it basically just needs cleaning inside. I just hope that nothing has gone bad. It is not a good idea to switch it on in the condition it is in. It may aggravate the problem and you may end up with costly repair bills.

Sorry for this information but I thought I better be honest about it.

Thanks quad. I always appreciate honesty, especially if the news is bad. I will talk to the staff at Magnum Mac on monday (it's friday evening... saturday morning now... down here) & clean the spider webs out of my wallet.
Sorry about the overlap, missing you with my last post. I must've spent more time typing/thinking than I thought.

 

[Quadophile]

cirianz,

I have my fingers crossed for you, hopefully nothing is going to be an issue but just a bit of cleaning. Good Luck

 

[cirianz]

Thanks quad, thanks to all of you, both for your help & your good wishes. Thank you

 

[CITech]

One of my mates once spilt beer down the back of my old CRT monitor and it was fine - I guess it's just down to luck!

I hope it all works out ok

Bex, how could that be OK, that was a shameful waste of beer!

Oh, you meant the screen was fine, oops, sorry ....

Glad it still worked anyway

 

[Becky]

Bex, how could that be OK, that was a shameful waste of beer!

Oh, you meant the screen was fine, oops, sorry ....

Glad it still worked anyway

Ha ha! Luckily it wasn't me that did it - my mother would have had my guts for garters

 

[Reefsmoka]

don't atempt taking the keyboard apart yourself unless you know what your doing.

we have all done it ...

2 dodgey space bars taught me >..> .

 

[floppybootstomp]

I knocked a full glass of red wine onto my keyboard once

Took it apart and put all parts except PCB in a bath full of warm water and scrubbed with a nail brush.

Let it dry a few days and it worked fine. It also looked brand new

I know you can't do that with a laptop though

Why is it each time I see this thread title I start humming that song 'Tears On My Pillow'?

 

[cirianz]

Yeah, after the third time that I'd had to take a (regular) keyboard apart to remove bits of taco chips (deadly to keyboards) etc I began SERIOUSLY enforcing the "No Food at the Computer" Rule for my children. They're easy enough to take apart & clean (although I never thought of a scrub & a swim I must admit) It was putting the b*st**ds back together again, that was the... pain in the posterior. Needs 3 hands minimum I reckon. But as you said flops, they did look spiff afterwards.
Is monday here now, will phone Magnum Mac (only Machintosh shop & service place in town) when they open this morning for an opinion & a quote. If he also sez bring it in, which seems likely after what you guys have told me here, then I am in the s**t as I'm living on bottom line/no luxuries/xmas cancelled type budget already at the moment.
Keep on singing me "tears on my pillow" flops, I think I'm gunna need it. I'll just keep on chewing my fingernails down, should be hitting knuckle bone soon .

 

[cirianz]

Update & Thankyou

Just spoke to the guy at magnum mac & my baby is comming home tomorrow Apparently there is "visible sign of liquid in the optical drive & the keyboard" But that everything is running fine for now. When I asked for clarification he said that basically, it's running fine now, but that they can't gaurantee that things won't go wrong later on & that I should back-up everything. In otherwords, pretty much what I already knew, except for the optical drive bit??? can anyone enlighten me a little on what on earth that is & if I should be worried? Thank you.

Also & especially, Thank you very much to all of you who gave me support & information . It is greatly appreciated & will be remembered Thank you.

 

[Quadophile]

You mean optical drive? It is one and the same thing as CD drive in your laptop. If it is replaceable you need not worry but if it is captive one, meaning not modular than the replacement cost may be on the higher side. I hope you need not replace it but in worst case scenario if you do have to, you can also think of an external drive (USB) which not only will work on this computer, but will come in handy to be hooked up to others as well.

For the time being just use it and don't worry too much, keep your fingers crossed.

If I misunderstood your query, I apologise.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Aye, an optical drive is as Quad said, a CD or DVD writer or reader/player.

So called beacuse all actions within it are carried out by laser, which is an optical device.

 

[cirianz]

Thank you very much quads & flops Thanks to your info I was able to know what to ask the staff guy at the shop & he was able to tell me that the optical drive in the laptop is modular & if it needs replacing then they would have to take the laptop apart, obviously, but once open it is a pretty simple job just to take the old one out & put a new one in. I am very happy & now I have my baby back and I am dancing

 

[floppybootstomp]

Dancing? Watch out, we got an Isadora Duncan clone here.....

 

[muckshifter]

settle down settle down, go and have a cup of tea ...


and sit over there with it -------------->>>

 

[cirianz]

ROFL.... Thanks for the tea mucks... I needed a cuppa after all that dancing