Laptop -v- Beer!

Manxman_in_exile

Aaaaarrghhhh!

Spilt a glass of beer over the keyboard of my laptop last night.  Immediately mopped it up as best I could and left it close to a radiator to help drying out.  Tried it this morning (> 12 hrs after the spillage) and it powered up OK, but the keyboard has obviously suffered damage as it would only recognise some keystrokes when trying to input password - couldn't login as a user at all.

Also tried all the Fn keys but no response except I've managed to get to a screen (DOS?) headed "Boot Menu" giving five numbered options "1. HDD/SSD  2. CD/DVD  3. FDD  4. LAN  5. USB" and "<Enter Setup>".

I assume this is asking for a recovery disk/USB etc which of course I don't have     And even if I did, I can't get the arrow cursors or return key to work...

Any suggestions as to what - if anything - I can do to try to recover it?

The machine itself is not a great loss - it's an eleven year old Tosh Satellite with broken lid hinges that I was planning on replacing this year.  It's more accessing the data.  I usually backup anything I need to backup (not very much) on a fortnightly basis, but because of Xmas and New Year it's been a month since I last did it.  There's not much I need to backup so I just do it manually onto a couple of USBs.  The backups are OK as I've checked them on the (even older!!!) notebook I'm using now.  But it's so slow it's unbelieveable.

So at a minimum I'd like to be able to get the laptop working enough to update the backups.  If I can fully restore it that would be ideal, but as I say, I was probably going to replace it this year anyway, so I can just about cope with writing it off - if I've no choice...

Chino

Manxman_in_exile said:

but the keyboard has obviously suffered damage as it would only recognise some keystrokes when trying to input password - couldn't login as a user at all.

Buy a cheap USB keyboard from a supermarket?

fifeken

Use the On-Screen Keyboard.  There should be a button for it at the bottom of the login screen.  On mine (also a Toshiba Satellite) it's in between the power off button and the network indicator.  On mine it disappears after logging in, but you can get it back via "search".

A new keyboard is only a few quid off ebay, and one screw and some fiddling to replace it without taking anything else apart.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

here's a wee video showing how to replace keyboard.

jsmith9

If absolutely worst come to worst, remove the HDD and connect it to your new laptop via a usb cradle (dirt cheap from ebay). With any luck you might be able to access the data.

For that you will have to open up the laptop and look in cider...

Glad you are being positive and not wine-ing about it

Manxman_in_exile

I happen to have a spare USB keyboard and hadn't thought of that!

I've tried it and can get away from the "Boot Menu" screen and get Windows to start, but when I get to the login screen the password "box" just seems to automatically popualate itself with dots (hidden password characters) and I can't delete them or backspace them with the USB keyboard to input the real password.  (So the laptop recognises the USB keyboard in respect of the return key and cursor arrow keys, but I can't delete or backspace the spurious "characters" in the login password box.)

I have to go off to do something else now but will continue trying later this evening.

Thanks so far!

John_Gray

Probably your sticky beer is holding down one or more keys on your laptop keyboard, and causing the repeat function to operate.

You will have to make sure that all your laptop keyboard keys are in the "up" position before the USB keyboard will work properly...

fifeken

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

here's a wee video showing how to replace keyboard.

Here's another one for a different design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN6cItRy5q8

OP:  Put your model number into youtube to find your specific one if you go this route.

The_Fat_Controller

It sounds as if your hard drive is fine, so as advised above just buy one of these or similar, take out your hard drive and you'll have a ready-made USB backup drive.
https://www.mymemory.co.uk/2-5-inch-sata-hard-drive-enclosure-usb-3-0-black.html

A_Lert

Another option, if you can find the service manual for the laptop it might tell you how to remove and replace the keyboard. Removing it will stop it sending spontaneous keypresses, then you can do your recovery with the USB keyboard.

Carrot007

Not that I have done it to laptops so far. But should beer/wine/gin/whatever and keyboard mix. The best option it to immediately get in the shower with the item (yes a laptop keyboard removal is likely far more pain!) and give is a nice hot hosedown and they prop up to a radiator and let it dry properly before reusing.

Saved me a lot of repalcement keyboards that has since I am clumsy!

Should work with any tech. Removing power asap and letting dry properly are the hard parts. I guess around here eventual deposits from the hard water may cause other issues but it's not conductive so a couple of accidents over the life does no harm.

So remove the keyboard and take it in the shower (just water no soap) and leave it to properly dry. It should work. (some of the keyboards I have done this to are essentially laptop keyboards in a usb case. Drying fully is the important factor.