full mug of coffee all over my laptop.. Have I killed it?

GIRLPOWER_2

Can anyone please help me.

I have a packard Bell easynote lap top.

3 mornings ago as I have it on the coffee table minding my own business, waking myself up a bit with a large coffee and then...

like something slow motion out of a cartoon my border collie manages to get in and comes bounding over to say hello knocking the full mug all over the lap top key board.

I turned it upside down and let the coffee drain out of it. I have then left it to dry out and tonight have switched it on..

All I am getting is a grey screen when a blue box in the middle saying boot device and then the options to tick are

floppy
harddisc
CD ROM
PXE

Can anyone please help me. If so please talk to me like I have just landed on planet earth. (Not very Technical)

Many thanks for any suggestions. (Killing the dog is not one)

Nikki.

planemad

I would suggest that you get it looked at to be honest.

You need to boot from the hard disk (if it will).

Laptops do not normally come out on top with a cup of coffee over them.

Have you got home insurance to cover it?

GIRLPOWER_2

No accidental damage cover.

It's under 12 months old but quite sure the warranty will not cover.

Is the hard disc the one with the first aid cross on.. shall I put it in and see?

Keldin

Do you have pet insurance? It would be covered under most of them.
My M&S dog insurance covers me for £750 for dog induced damage to my own property. I'm busy claiming for a similar incident (dog knocked coffee over the GF's Blackberry).

I think the laptop may well be toast. If it were me I would dismantle it and clean and dry it before switching it on but not sure if you are comfortable strippiing a laptop apart or if the damage may already be done.


K

GIRLPOWER_2

I never would have thought pet insurance would cover it.. but sadly have none anyway.

Haas noone a success story or any suggestions of hope???

ormus

do you take sugar in your coffee?
it makes a big difference!

Wombat

The heart of your laptop is the hard drive, and, as it seems to be struggling to boot from it, it doesn't sound too good. But that's where all your precious programs and data are.

So what I would do, assuming you're comfortable taking your lappy apart, is remove the hard drive, get one of these cables:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?tabs=n&ModuleNo=28724&ma=IDE%20to%202.5%20Laptop%20IDE%20Convertor

and connect it to another PC as a secondary drive. Then try and access it from the PC. If you can see it, copy everything important to some other media.

If you can't see it then the only option is to take it to a specialist to be cleaned of any residue of coffee and sugar. But that's likely to be expensive and is only worth it if what's on the hard drive is vital.

You must face the fact that the laptop could have been damaged in several ways: if it was turned on when the coffee was spilled, there could be electrical damage through shorting, there is likely to be corrosion as a result of the liquid, and residues could be left after the coffee dried out on any of the internal components causing them to fail.

So the best you could hope for is recovering your data and replacing the laptop. Anything more would be a real bonus unless you were capable of stripping it down completely and cleaning every part of it. Even then it isn't guaranteed to work.

Sorry not to sound more hopeful. Good luck.

GIRLPOWER_2

Thanks for the advice.

I take my coffee with milk but no sugar. It was on when it happened. Nothing of any value that I store on it which is the biggest bonus.

I would not know what a hard drive looked like, I have telephoned a local repair company who have said that they will strip it down, clean it up and see if it works after a week , so will take it later.

I'll update when I know more.

Thanks

Nikki.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

can't help with your problem re laptop, but had a look at my house insurance, and although I don't have separate accidental damage cover, in my contents section it states that, accidental damage to television sets (and their aerials), radios, audio equipment, video recording equipment and personal computers is covered.

So have a look at your insurance, you may well be covered.

Reggie_Rebel

I spilt a glass of pop on my laptop.

It whacked the motherboard and ended up with an insurance claim

GIRLPOWER_2

Thanks for the tip.

We are with direct line so i'll give them a call... worth a try!