Trouble Shooting Laptop Spills

[brock029]

I have read through the forums and have not come up with a definite answer so I figure I'll ask. I haven't got too many laptops that have had things spilled on them, the ones I have had all just needed a keyboard replacement. Today a friend of mine brings me her Acer Aspire 7741z that her son spilled tea on last night (I am assuming sweet tea.) The computer will not boot and will not even post. There are no beep codes, no fans spin, nothing. Just the power light comes on and if you have the cable plugged in the charging light also comes on. She said "it made a beep sound and it was full of writing not sure what". Then she unplugged the power cable and it shut off instantly. The drive seems to be fine so getting data off should be no problem.

After reading through the forum it seems to be either A.) You clean the board and hope it works or B.) You offer to recover the data from it, and call it good. My question is what steps do you take to attempt to figure out the problem, do you go ahead and rip it apart and start cleaning? If cleaning doesn't work do you suggest to buy a new computer (offer data recovery, transfer, setup) because replacing the motherboard may or may not fix it and the price will just go up from there if its not the motherboard? What makes you decide if its worth the time, or when to call it quits on it?

This particular laptop the motherboard sells on ebay for $100+ while you can buy a used laptop for around $200-$500.

 

[stick1977]

Yeah that's a tough one. If you buy and replace the MB and the issue isn't resolved you're stuck for the time you put in, hard to charge someone for that when their situation hasn't improved. Most of the time I'd just recommend a replacement laptop and bill for backing up the data and setting up the new machine. Then when that's done you can attempt to fix the computer. Sounds a little bass-ackwards but you have to protect yourself in situations like this, IMO.

 

[NYJimbo]

Disconnect the keyboard from the motherboard (yes, a bad laptop keyboard can prevent a motherboard from booting). If it still doesn't boot then you can assume you have both a keyboard issue and a motherboard issue.

We did a thread like this recently so I am not going to go into any debates, rather I will just say if you try to revive the board how much do you think it will cost you in time and resources to clean, plus you got to at least replace the keyboard. If the customer will not pay for an attempted cleaning and new keyboard with no guarantee then don't waste time trying.

If you do the keyboard and motherboard replacement, are you confident with the remaining hardware being good ?

I would not get involved with this machine unless you know more about testing motherboards.

 

[brock029]

Yeah that's a tough one. If you buy and replace the MB and the issue isn't resolved you're stuck for the time you put in, hard to charge someone for that when their situation hasn't improved. Most of the time I'd just recommend a replacement laptop and bill for backing up the data and setting up the new machine. Then when that's done you can attempt to fix the computer. Sounds a little bass-ackwards but you have to protect yourself in situations like this, IMO.

I think that will probably be the best route to take, so do you tell them to basically give you the laptop and for them to buy a new one?

Disconnect the keyboard from the motherboard (yes, a bad laptop keyboard can prevent a motherboard from booting). If it still doesn't boot then you can assume you have both a keyboard issue and a motherboard issue.

We did a thread like this recently so I am not going to go into any debates, rather I will just say if you try to revive the board how much do you think it will cost you in time and resources to clean, plus you got to at least replace the keyboard. If the customer will not pay for an attempted cleaning and new keyboard with no guarantee then don't waste time trying.

If you do the keyboard and motherboard replacement, are you confident with the remaining hardware being good ?

I would not get involved with this machine unless you know more about testing motherboards.

Thanks Jimbo, and yeah I read through that other thread, which just raised more questions for me lol. I did take the keyboard off, this laptop has no screws holding it in so it literally took 10 seconds, and still nothing. Since this is for a friend I am not planning on charging for labor and taking it as a learning experience.

Also no I do not have much experience with testing or fixing motherboards , if its a motherboard issue I always replace.

 

[compnet]

Not worth it.

On the last 2 liquid damage laptops I've had -

1)Replaced motherboard, CPU, keyboard, LCD - this was a high end i7 hp envy, ended up being 800+ dollars in parts, but the customer insisted he wanted to fix it.

2)Replaced motherboard, LCD, LCD cable, keyboard, ram, wifi card..


Once you have liquid past the keyboard letting electricity flow wherever it wants, it doesn't end pretty. Both situations I told the customer, ok, the board is bad, we'll quote you on this, but there's a good chance half to all of the rest of your parts are bad, and we'll end up rebuilding your entire laptop. You'd be better off buying a new one and having us back up your data to a new laptop.

 

[katz]

Yeah that's a tough one. If you buy and replace the MB and the issue isn't resolved you're stuck for the time you put in, hard to charge someone for that when their situation hasn't improved. Most of the time I'd just recommend a replacement laptop and bill for backing up the data and setting up the new machine. Then when that's done you can attempt to fix the computer. Sounds a little bass-ackwards but you have to protect yourself in situations like this, IMO.

I agree with stick on this one too. I am usually a "fixer", and I may attempt a "motherboard bath", cleaning repair if they turn it in to me for parts, but otherwise you will lose money fast if you attempt repairs and it's still dead.

OTOH, if it is a higher end laptop and you replace the keyboard/motherboard, that should probably fix it in my way of thinking. I would consider that repair. After first ensuring that the HD is functioning properly, that is.

 

[16k_zx81]

Pull board, strip down, clean in warm water with a stiff brush. Locate the chipset area thats a problem (for example, last one I did was keyboard issue at board end) and really drill down on that area of the board with the brush. It only takes a tiny speck of detritis to cause issues.

Leave it out to dry in sun, or use hot air. Make sure the board is properly dry before testing - and this takes *time* - have to be sure its completely and properly dry.

Test.

If still no boot, test with known good CPU and RAM. Nothing else plugged in.

If still no boot, replace board.

^Just my process. Im sure others will have different approaches

 

[brock029]

Pull board, strip down, clean in warm water with a stiff brush. Locate the chipset area thats a problem (for example, last one I did was keyboard issue at board end) and really drill down on that area of the board with the brush. It only takes a tiny speck of detritis to cause issues.

Leave it out to dry in sun, or use hot air. Make sure the board is properly dry before testing - and this takes *time* - have to be sure its completely and properly dry.

Test.

If still no boot, test with known good CPU and RAM. Nothing else plugged in.

If still no boot, replace board.

^Just my process. Im sure others will have different approaches

Great post, another thing I needed was the process of fixing it. One question though, how do you determine the area that is the problem?

Also, for this one in particular as soon as the tea was spilt it beeped and im assuming BSODed. So would cleaning actually solve it? To me it sounds like something was physically damaged.

 

[altrenda]

sometimes a short will cause physical damage and other times things are OK when it is removed. Depends on the area and what is being shorted.

Until you tear it down and clean the spill area, you won't know.

 

[NYJimbo]

Until you tear it down and clean the spill area, you won't know.

Yes, but what will it take to clean it and will the customer pay for it if cleaning doesn't fix it ?

 

[kisk]

Since its for a friend, I assume you want to fix it and losing time (money) would be worth it to ya.

First, I would completely tear the machine down. 90% of liquid damage we get is from some kind of sugary or colored drink (the people drinking water are out exercising, not on the computer, jk). This makes finding the spill areas easier as you can usually see the residue with the right lighting. Look in those areas first, cleaning anything you find with alcohol. Those areas are most likely to be the places where you'll find shorts/burn damage, but honestly it could be anywhere on the board, including within the layers of the mobo that you can't even see. Check resistors/transistors/ribbon cable connector spots/etc. This is just a visual check. I like to get close to the board and smell all around it (picture that for a moment lol). Burned electronics has a pretty distinct smell that sticks around for awhile.

I'd go ahead and check resistance on your jack connection points. If everything looks good then attach "just what you need" to test for power-on. I usually go for the fan (if no onboard LEDs) + power button trim (if the button isn't literally on the board). If you have success you can slowly add more items to see if it still powers on (LCD, etc). If you don't have success then I wouldn't go any further. I'd be looking at ~30 minutes for all of this.

Good luck and let us know the what happens!

 

[ComputerPro]

spill

That's a tough call business wise. We get our share of laptops like that. Two came in yesterday lol. Problem is if you charge a diagnostic fee of even $39 or so, the time it takes to attempt to pull the board and clean/dry it, if it still doesn't work is it worth $39? At that point most clients would just recycle it with us so we would wind up with a HDD, RAM, screen etc....but what did the liquid damage? So all that would have to be tested also.

The one variable that you have to consider that no one usually mentions is how busy you are.

If you are just starting out or very small, then you can take time to do all of that. If your a very busy shop, then you would probably lean toward saving data and recommending a new laptop as you have more profitable repairs waiting. Sounds bad to say it like that, but business is business and that's why we are ultimately doing it in the first place.

 

[Blue]

One place hardly anyone looks, or can look, for moisture or deposits from liquid? Under SMDs (surface mount devices).

Those machines should pop apart fairly quickly, and IIWY, I'd give it a thorough cleaning after inspection (looking particularly for burn marks or popped-off components). While it'd be tempting to throw it in the dishwasher, I'd remove what I could, such as heat sinks, and then use distilled water to flush the motherboard surfaces. After that, I'd probably let it dry for a week in a warm, dry place. One good, last clean-off with dry compressed air, to be sure, and I'd put it together in steps.

Again, this shouldn't take too long, aside from the drying period, but IME, customers with cheap devices usually don't want to spend money on labor. They could be better served by having you back up their files, or have you transfer them to a new machine.

 

[brock029]

Thanks everybody, I think I have concluded that your better off recommending a new computer unless the customer insist or you are like me and have time to disassemble, inspect, and clean.

This one im going to try cleaning it and see what happens.

 

[16k_zx81]

Thanks everybody, I think I have concluded that your better off recommending a new computer unless the customer insist or you are like me and have time to disassemble, inspect, and clean.

This one im going to try cleaning it and see what happens.

Some spills need a lot of elbow grease. I have had good results using a small wire brush. Inspect the cleaned area using a magnifying lamp and look really closely to make sure its 100% clean. Bear in mind ANYthing left over can cause issues.

Best of luck. Let us know how you get on