[SOLVED] Need help de-bugging a laptop

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Haole Boy

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Aloha everyone. This is not a joke...

Customer asked me to de-bug her laptop. As in it's infested. With ants. Lots of ants. Lots of biting ants. As she's telling me this, I'm thinking I'm losing interest in taking on this job.... :-)

I've read about this happening before somewhere (maybe on this forum) and I'm hoping that someone who has been there, done that, has a few words of advice.

The customer said that she put out some ant bait next to the laptop and it no longer disgorges hordes of ants when she taps on it. I'm hoping that they will all be gone by the time I can get over there to look at it.. If not, I'm assuming that spraying insecticide into the guts of the laptop is not a good idea. If someone knows of a laptop-friendly way to kill ants living in a laptop, I'd appreciate it if you would share your knowledge.

I'm assuming I will find some residue from the former inhabitants of the laptop. What do you use to clean it up?

Other than the unwelcome guests, the other complaint is that the "e" key is not working. I'm guessing that this is a byproduct of the ants. Not sure if I can just clean it up, or if I will need to replace the keyboard. This is a relatively new Dell laptop (don't have the model number).

Mahalo,

Harry Z
 
The "e" key not working could be due to what attracted the ants in the first place.
To get rid of the ants lay out some paper towel wetted in vinegar and carefully sit the laptop on it. Leave it for a couple hours. Ants hate vinegar so the smell will drive them out. Try not to let the bottom of the laptop touch the wet paper (maybe use some small blocks like lego to raise it up a little). As for cleaning the unhatched eggs (if they exist) I have no suggestion.
 
Walk away.

At Geek Squad if creatures came out of units they were black bagged and refused.

Don't need an infestation and then pay $$$ to have an exterminator pay a visit.
 
what about sealing it in one of those giant ziploc bags and then leaving it in the car on a sunny day. i'm sure the ants would love that nice hot lack of oxygen and water.
 
Walk Away.

What's to say there isn't more stuff inside there? I am sure you will find something stick inside the laptop or even some crumbs. Something that had to attract the ants in the first place. You also stated they are biting ants. No Thanks. Maybe tell the client to do the vinegar trick like @Barcelona said and give a couple days if anything.
 
nuke-it-from-orbit.jpg
 
What kind of laptop is this? If it is too of the line, I could see spending the money to correct the situation. I would quote at least 4 hours. You are looking at breaking down the laptop to component level, cleaning every centimeter by hand. (or more realistically by paintbrush) otherwise, you never know what fluids they have deposited in components. Once cleaned, you still do not know what they damaged while they were in there. It could be 3 months before the effect is known. I would offer backup service and help with bringing a new laptop up. Beyond that, I wouldn't touch it. Otherwise, the customer may think you take responsibility for what happens down the road. We all know that if a customer thinks you screwed up, you screwed up. There is no correcting the bad press they will give their friends about you.
 
We tried fixing one of these recently as it was one of our techs personal machines. Basically the ants fried the motherboard as they short circuited it when it was on with them inside. After doing some micro soldering which took ages we had it going for a couple of months but it gave up the ghost again.
Treat it like a machine that has water damage, it might be fixable now - but the rust will set in and it won't last for long.
 
If I were to work on such a system, it would be with gloves, inside a plastic tub, would be a full teardown, would bathe the plastic casings in a Isopropyl /water mix with scrub brush clean. The board and daughter boards would go in an ultrasonic cleaner, and the keyboard would be replaced outright.
 
As @cypress said, there's something that's causing the ants to be in there as well so the problem isn't just bugs, it's whatever damage was caused by the (probably) sugary liquid spilled onto/into it. She might be able to just shut it down and leave it in an out-of-the-way place until those ants have finished their own "cleaning" of it, but if you're going to do anything it means both de-infesting it and possibly washing components.

If the customer is prone to spills, consider recommending laptops like many of the ThinkPads designed with liquid pass-through areas. (Are those still on the newest ones?)
 
Check the specs. Most laptops can be put into the freezer. Freezing temp is 32F, most freezers run at around 0F and allowable storage temps for laptops run around -15 to -20F. But you have to let it warm up to room temp naturally.

But, as mentioned above, there is a reason they got in there to begin with. Soda spills, food debris, etc. must be cleaned out.
 
Thank you all for your responses - both humorous and serious!

I did a little research on the machine, and found that it is still under warranty from Dell, with the in-home repair option. So I advised the customer to call Dell. Someone is coming out to her house with a replacement keyboard next Tuesday.

Good point about what caused the ants to go in there in the first place. The customer and I were thinking that it might have just been they were looking for a warm place to build a nest, but the liquids or crumbs are something I will discuss with her, along with creating a disk image just in case it bites the dust someplace down the road. (I've discussed back up with her before, but it's always "I dont have much on the machine...." Arrgh!

Again, Mahalo for all the suggestions!

Harry Z
 
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I'd personally not take in a machine that I knew had anything in it like that.

If the customer offered up the info on the infestation. Seal that thing in a ziplock
bag for a week and forget about it. Bonus points for putting it in a hot car on a
sunny day. Temps which should more more than hot enough to kill off the ants
and low enough that they shouldn't damage anything.

Yuck... lol
 
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