Laptops don't like red wine. Advice appreciated.

mymonkeylife

Last week I managed to knock a glass of red wine over my brand new laptop.
After swearing, I turned it upside down, turned off the power and removed the battery.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work properly. It powers up.....but that's about it. No screen, no sound.....just a shameful look on my behalf.

I'd saved up £700 and paid in cash.

Is it worth getting an independent engineer round?

Advice would be hugely welcomed.
x.

p.s. (And yes, I did think about pouring some white wine on it....but they seem to work in a different way to carpets)

Marty_J

I'm sorry to hear about that; I was going to suggest club soda and salt, but maybe not.

I'm not really sure what an independent engineer could do for you, aside from tell you that your computer doesn't work because it's full of wine. Maybe if you're lucky, the motherboard might just need replaced. If you're unlucky, it could be the motherboard, the power supply, the hard drive, the RAM, the keyboard, the screen...you get the idea.

Wouldn't your household insurance cover it?

isofa

You could first remove the keyboard and rinse it in cold water and allow to dry naturally.

Other parts may benefit from a cold water rinse, but not many, certainly not the drives, battery nor screen. But they must be dried thoroughly, naturally by a radiator or other gentle heat source for several days before you reconnect.

You could open it all up and see if there is damage to the motherboard, carefully cleaning as you go, but unless you are technically competent, I'd reserve this for an expert.

It is probably covered on your house insurance, so ring up your insurers and ask, as it's accidental damage and a brand new laptop, you may get the full price to buy another.

mymonkeylife

Ready?

.........drum roll......................I don't have insurance.

Foolish, I know.

Thanks for your help though.

PaulusDev

What's the laptop? Some companies (like Dell) give you hardware support (usually for a year at the minimum). You can use email support with Dell and they will send out a technician (all free of charge).

mymonkeylife

It's an HP Pavillon. Bought it at PC World (although a number of stores based in the UK hardly constitutes as a world in my opinion).

isofa

mymonkeylife wrote: »

Ready?
.........drum roll......................I don't have insurance.
Foolish, I know.
Thanks for your help though.

No contents insurance at all? What if a water tank bursts and floods your home, what if you are burgled? I know these are what if's but if you have at least a few thousand pounds with of possessions ten it's worth it. I assume if you own the house you at least have buildings insurance? If not, get it now before you do anything else!

This sort of problem will not be covered under the normal warranty, unless you specifically took out accidental cover when you purchased the laptop. It's not a technical issue, so if say you had on-site warranty, and they dispatched an engineer to check it out, they'd charge you if they found out it had been damaged by a liquid.

Sorry can't be of more help

aliEnRIK

mymonkeylife wrote: »

Last week I managed to knock a glass of red wine over my brand new laptop.
After swearing, I turned it upside down, turned off the power and removed the battery.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work properly. It powers up.....but that's about it. No screen, no sound.....just a shameful look on my behalf.

I'd saved up £700 and paid in cash.

Is it worth getting an independent engineer round?

Advice would be hugely welcomed.
x.

p.s. (And yes, I did think about pouring some white wine on it....but they seem to work in a different way to carpets)

Aside from what you actually did, the BIG mistake you made was switching it on as its more than likely fried it inside. In this case I would have dried it out for at LEAST a week, then opened it up and used some 'electrical contact cleaner' on it throughout the circuit boards and connectors etc, making sure it was completely devoid of wine. Then left to evaporate for a day or 2. Not even saying THAT would have worked, but you'd have had a fighting chance. Id guess its (possibly) beyond repair (For the money) ~ Depending on how much wine actually managed to enter the internals and the damage its done by being powered up.
sorry

PaulusDev

isofa wrote: »

...they'd charge you if they found out it had been damaged by a liquid....

This is the downside :P

robpw2

do you have accidental damage insurance on your home insurance

tinkerbell84

robpw2 wrote: »

do you have accidental damage insurance on your home insurance

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