How do you save a laptop that got rained on?

[Shell Beau]

[MadMaddie]

1. Whoooo...take it to a specialist and see if they can save your

hard drive.

[Shell Beau]

2. I am freaking out here!

[City of Mills]

3. Did the laptop short out?

Was it off when it got wet? Best thing to do is stand it up on edge so any water will drain off...also, you may want to hit it lightly with a hair dryer...best to leave it off for a little while (few days), residual water will eventually evaporate and the laptop should be fine :)

If the laptop was on, there's a chance the motherboard shorted out...I've seen plenty of laptops survive spills though, hopefully it will be OK.

[Shell Beau]

4. It was on. It worked for half a second then it went into the system error

thing. I wiped it down and turned it off. I did put the blow drier on it (on cool) for a little bit. It went off. Then it would come on but the screen wouldn't light up. But now, it is back on and I am typing from it. Please oh please let it be ok. It is new-ish. Less than a year old and it was a birthday gift.

[City of Mills]

5. It's fine then :)

It may act wonky until it's completely dry, but if it's already on, everything's fine :) I had a laptop that had orange juice spilled in it, after it dried it would run for five minutes and shut down, I figured it may be a goner so I stuck it in a drawer. A month later, I pulled it out for the heck of it and turned it on, it stayed on and worked fine for several years. :)

[Shell Beau]

6. Whew! I hope so!! I freaked out for a second there.

My aunt would want to kill me if I only got half a year's use out of this laptop she sooo splurged on for my 30th birthday, but most importantly, it has all of Bella's pictures on it. Until I finally get them all on CDs, I am screwed out of her first 6 months of life! Tomorrow! I swear tomorrow I am doing all of her pics! I have them month by month. Those are priceless.

[City of Mills]

7. Oh yes, back those pictures up

Definitely, definitely definitely definitely back those pictures up. Whatever you do, back the pictures up...they're irreplaceable! In some absolute worst case scenario, if the laptop did suddenly decide to die due to the water spill, you can probably get it repaired for free if it's less than a year old (under manufacturer warranty - don't mention a spill to the support techs!). They can't do anything about your lost data though! If the drive were to putz out, you can have it shipped out to a data recovery company, it will probably run you about $1000 for a full drive recovery. Whatever you do, back up the pictures and anything important on CD. I don't do this enough, myself...it burned me once already, don't learn the hard way!!!

Sounds like a close call but i'd bet money your laptop is fine...just back up those pics ASAP!!! :)

[Shell Beau]

10. I am almost glad it happened because now I HAVE to back the pics up!

No more excuses!! :) Thanks!

[Duer 157099]

14. BTW, even if the laptop itself fried, likely the hard drive would still be fine

You just pull it out and can even attach it to a regular desktop PC (just need a little connector, few bucks from ebay)

[Shell Beau]

15. That is good to know! Thanks!

[HopeHoops]

18. WHOA! - Less than a year old? You're golden!

If it acts weird after a couple of days, just call it in under warranty and don't MENTION the rain thing!

Seriously, if it is working now it will probably be fine, but I would STRONGLY suggest turning it off immediately and letting it REALLY dry out - there could still be some drops here and about that might migrate from the vibration of typing and if they get somewhere naughty while it is on you are fried!

[Xipe Totec]

8. Flood it with propane and oxygen, then spark it

It totally destroys the laptop, but in a humane way...





























obscure reference to...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5450541

[Shell Beau]

12. Oh wow! Um, yeah.

:crazy:

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. Well, *I* do it by urinating on it, running around in circles, and taping it to a elder pedant.

But, on the other hand, my success rate is nil.

[Shell Beau]

11. You know I did try that, and voila the computer is back to good!

Too bad it doesn't work for you though!

:P

[Duer 157099]

13. I was surprised when I read about washing computer components

As in, with water. So the more I read about it, the more convinced I became that the water, per se, is not really a problem. It just can become a problem if there's electricity flowing between the components when they get wet.

If it were mine, I'd open it up and blow it with a can of air - that will make sure that any minor condensation that may still be present will be evaporated. Or, put it in the sun for a few hours (opened)

More than likely it will be fine.

[petronius]

16. For cell phones, I've been told to leave them off, battery out and unplugged,

and open, for a couple of days to make sure they're completely dry. If it was just being rained on for a bit I doubt much water got inside, but I wouldn't use it for a while. (Well actually, I'd use it immediately because I can't live without my computer, but I'd be convinced that it was a bad idea...)

[jobycom]

17. Jesus.

Whatever the question... Oh you know.

[DS1]

19. The first thing you do is NOT get on the Internet and ask that question with the laptop

for future reference, of course.

[Shell Beau]

20. I was posting from my husband's iPod touch!

:P

[Taverner]

21. If it hasn't shorted out

Use a blow dryer on medium Do not power on until you are sure all the water is gone.

Take it apart and dry each piece separately. I saved a laptop from a coffee spill this way once...

[Shell Beau]

22. I think it is ok! I posted from it last night!

Whew!

[Midlodemocrat]

23. No idea. I've only left cake out in the rain.

Plus, the Midlets fried my laptop with a cup of coffee.

[Liberal Veteran]

24. That's too bad. Will you ever have that recipe again?

[Midlodemocrat]

26. I hope so. It took so long to bake it, I don't think that I can take it.

[tigereye]

27. ooh, what a nasty earworm!

:spank: :D

[Deep13]

25. Try letting it dry.

One it, maybe keyboard down, in dry place for a few days.

[Deja Q]

28. I'll spare the umbrella and raincoat jokes... (serious response below, please read)

Remove the battery and AC power cord, as soon as possible.

Let it dry for 3 days.

If it won't turn on after that, it's toast -- you'll need to buy a new one or have it serviced.

I don't know of any waterproof coating that can be put on notebooks; except buying higher end notebooks with rugged casing -- but those are pricey.

[laconicsax]

29. Witness to it?

:shrug:

[quakerboy]

30. Unrain on it?

Back in the day, I managed to douse my 3 month old $2k customized laptop with a Nalgene bottle full of Ginger Ale while sitting on the couch. As I realized what happened, I went into immediate action, pulling all power sources and tilted it on its side to let as much as possible run of rather than into the computer. And promptly overbalanced and came down knee first on the screen.

[MrPerson]

31. I know rice works on wet cellphones.