won't boot

[Walter Goldschmidt]

My son has a Dell Inspiron Laptop with XP on it. He accidentally spilled
some of his beverage on it. A very small quantity. Now it won't boot and
after running Dell's diagnostics for his hardware Bootable) the top option
was test memory. It ran fine and checked out ok. The next test was test
system. It tried to load but after getting so far it locked up. I'm thinking
possibly he fried his motherboard or hard drive. Anyone got any suggestions
on what I can do to fix this problem. I'm thinking he'd be better off buying
a new one. I found a Dell for $399 that looked interesting.

Walt

 

[Gerry]

Walter

Is it covered for accidental damage under a household contents insurance
policy?


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Himanshu Dogra]

Hi..

Chances are the liquid may have entered the laptop and damaged the
motherboard due to short circuiting. If you are going for a new one, Dell is
better than any other brand as they provide you wih Dell reinstallation disks
and other drivers needed which you may not find in sony or HP brands. I
usually recomendd to people as in HP and sony you have to make recovery cds
....so to avoid all those issues..go for Dell......!!
--
Regards

Himanshu Dogra
B.Engg, GCB, DBA, MISM (Australia)
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer 2003
Ex-Microsoft Server Engineer(Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 &
Microsoft Exchange Server)

 

[HeyBub]

My son has a Dell Inspiron Laptop with XP on it. He accidentally
spilled some of his beverage on it. A very small quantity. Now it
won't boot and after running Dell's diagnostics for his hardware
Bootable) the top option was test memory. It ran fine and checked out
ok. The next test was test system. It tried to load but after getting
so far it locked up. I'm thinking possibly he fried his motherboard
or hard drive. Anyone got any suggestions on what I can do to fix
this problem. I'm thinking he'd be better off buying a new one. I
found a Dell for $399 that looked interesting.

Open it up. Remove hard drive (which is sealed anyway).Rinse it with
distilled water. Wipe dry. Blow with hair dryer. Put in VERY low temperature
oven for a long time.

If it's broke, what's to lose?

If it still doesn't work, at least you have the hard drive you can install
in another computer to retrieve the precious contents.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My son has a Dell Inspiron Laptop with XP on it. He accidentally spilled
some of his beverage on it. A very small quantity. Now it won't boot and
after running Dell's diagnostics for his hardware Bootable) the top option
was test memory. It ran fine and checked out ok. The next test was test
system. It tried to load but after getting so far it locked up. I'm thinking
possibly he fried his motherboard or hard drive. Anyone got any suggestions
on what I can do to fix this problem. I'm thinking he'd be better off buying
a new one. I found a Dell for $399 that looked interesting.

This is very clearly a hardware problem, not a Windows one. If it were
me, I would either take the computer to a local service company that
works on laptops or send it back to Dell for repairs.

After you find out what's wrong and how much it will cost to fix it,
you can decide whether it makes more sense to buy the new one.

 

[Eric]

My son has a Dell Inspiron Laptop with XP on it. He accidentally spilled
some of his beverage on it. A very small quantity. Now it won't boot and
after running Dell's diagnostics for his hardware Bootable) the top option
was test memory. It ran fine and checked out ok. The next test was test
system. It tried to load but after getting so far it locked up. I'm thinking
possibly he fried his motherboard or hard drive. Anyone got any suggestions
on what I can do to fix this problem. I'm thinking he'd be better off buying
a new one. I found a Dell for $399 that looked interesting.

Walt

Dell provide good service manuals for its laptops on its website, so,
I would find out how to remove the keyboard, which is usually very
easy, to see if any liquid could get through to the other components.
If not then probably only the keyboard needs cleaning or replacing.

There is usualy no way for liquid to enter into the main body unless a
lot of liquid is spilled and some goes down the opening for the
keyboard cable.

Eric,
PC Buyer Beware!
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

 

[Eric]

Dell provide good service manuals for its laptops on its website, so,
I would find out how to remove the keyboard, which is usually very
easy, to see if any liquid could get through to the other components.
If not then probably only the keyboard needs cleaning or replacing.

There is usualy no way for liquid to enter into the main body unless a
lot of liquid is spilled and some goes down the opening for the
keyboard cable.

Eric,
PC Buyer Beware!http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

P.S. You can wash the keyboard of a desktop PC, and, as long as it is
dried out properly, you can safely use it, so I don't see why it
should be any different with laptop keyboards.

If the liquid was sugary, it could still be shorting the keyboard even
though it has dried out.

 

[Gerry]

Eric

If it was just the keyboard would it stop the boot? Some Dell's have a PS/2
connector so you can use an alternative keyboard.

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Walter Goldschmidt]

It's certainly not the keyboard. It's either the motherboard or hard drive.
I'm leaning on motherboard and I think he will be better off buying a new
one(computer).

Walt

 

[David]

One of my older dell machines, my dog (when he was a puppy) would stick his
head through the gap between my legs when I crossed them. On this occassion,
I had my laptop and a cup of coffee and it went all over it. The dog has
never forgot that occassion and has never tried sticking his head between
the gap again.

Anyhow, I quickly responded by turning the laptop off and taking it apart to
see where the wetness had gone. Then, I got a little steamer thing (can't
remember what it is called, it is dark red and has a spout like a teapot
(looks a little like this), and is a HIGH pressure vessel). I steamed where
the wetness went with it then let it dry out. (I steamed quite hard with it,
you could see the coffee being pushed out from behind components etc.)

That laptop lasted me another 3 years after that. I may have been lucky, but
what have you got to lose?

--
Best regards,
Dave Colliver.
http://www.AshfieldFOCUS.com
~~
http://www.FOCUSPortals.com - Local franchises available