Laptop 1 : Water 0

Compatibility of Laptop and H20:

Not good!!!

I've worked on several laptops that have sustained water infiltration. Laptops tend to be fairly resistant to water even if they get wet while powered on. I have replaced system boards that have had milk spilled on them, but have never needed to replace components due to water. Sunday night was fairly scary.

Angie tipped a glass of water over while I was working on my laptop. Water landed on the keyboard (not a problem as that is sealed off from the rest of the system) but water also came in the side through a couple of USB ports and cooling grilles.

The laptop immediately powered off and I began to dry her off. I set it out in the garage to dry out some more. Several hours later I attempted powering it on and got a little life, and then it died again. I did not sleep much that night (which I guess is okay because Roger was up at 3:30am).

The next day I dismantled everything to have a look at the affected corner. See the pictures below. I discovered some corrosion or deposits that could have been left. I went ahead and cleaned those and made sure that there was nothing that might be causing a short. Did alot of praying and put her back together.

Held my breath and she started up just fine. Phhheewww....

This is what the bottom of my system board looks like. The rectangular area is where I found majority of the problem. We are both relieved that she is working now as the system board runs about $500 (unfortunately the process ($310) is soldered to the board so when you replace the board you replace the processor).