mousepad not working after spill

chickaroonee

I've spilt a small amount of peppermint tea on my work laptop this morning (on the bottom bit). Cleaned it up and it is working fine, apart from the mousepad does not recognise touch, plugging in a mouse works fine.

Any tips on what I can do to fix this? I'm in trouble at work if I've broken it.

totalsolutions

Let it dry, you are better with a mouse.

chickaroonee

Thanks, it seems dry already but do you mean underneath?

I prefer to use a mouse but I may have to hand this laptop back soon and they'll definitely notice if the mousepad isn't working. Unfortunately my employers aren't that nice and understanding about this sort of thing

vyseyboy

Was there sugar (or milk... eww) in the drink? If so it might not come back without a thorough wash and dry.

If neither, it should dry by itself and come to life again. If you can disassemble a little, the mousepad usually detaches seperately, so you could hang it in an airing cupboard surrounded by rice or silica gel to help it along.

What's the make and model of the lappy?

chickaroonee

thanks - no just a peppermint tea bag, no milk or sugar.

It's a toshiba tecra m5, can't work out how to detach the mousepad though...

Antispam

It will probably take a few days to dry out normally ie not near any radiators

vyseyboy

Maybe best to just leave it and see if it dries out first.

Ususally to access the mouspad, you take the keyboard off first (most keyboards are held by a piece of plastic running the length of the top edge of the keyboard.)

Like I said, maybe best to leave it and see if it works of it's own accord, especially since it's a work laptop.

chickaroonee

thanks I will leave it and see what happens. Grr I'm such a clumsy idiot sometimes!