Did you spill a drink on your laptop in carelessness or haste? All is not lost and after a few minutes of more than legitimate despair and a bit of understandable nervousness. It’s time to grab a couple of tools and try to repair the damage as thoroughly as possible, and this short guide could come to your aid.
How to fix a wet laptop
We have drawn up a small compendium that takes up point by point all the main steps to be carried out necessarily to avoid having to trash your notebook, so let’s go and see it briefly. Small disclaimer: the following guide requires a good dose of dexterity as well as some work tools. If you do not feel like it or are not equipped with it, the main advice is to follow the manufacturer’s direct instructions (or of a repair center if you are is an out of warranty device).
Don’t use rice
The first thing that comes naturally to do is to listen to numerous urban legends from social networks, such as immersing the device in rice. The truth? It does not work, indeed you risk doing worse, to introduce small unwanted fragments inside the components.
Disconnect the power and if still on turn off the device
If you notice swelling near the battery, smoke, noise of bubbles, or excessive overheating, immediately disconnect the device from any power source, turn it off (in notebooks, hold down the power button for several seconds) and be ready (if equipped) with countermeasures to deal with a possible flame.
Drain the liquid
At this point, we have created the conditions to put our hands on the device. In an equally prepared work area (therefore dry and complete with towels or absorbent sheets) try to drain the liquid from the device as much as possible.
If you can remove the body and use a hairdryer
This step may not be immediate, as many laptops require special tools (and a certain amount of manual skill) to be disassembled; however, those have these requirements. The next step is to remove the notebook’s rear panel and start drying the device with a jet of warm air.
Inspect the battery and other components
Before reassembling everything, it is necessary to carefully check that the device’s most susceptible parts (battery and electrical contacts) are not damaged. Many contacts could be affected by corrosion or other phenomena following the pouring of acidic liquids (coca-cola, lemonade) or basic (soapy water). If everything seems normal, wait at least 24 hours, taking care to leave the device disassembled in a well-ventilated place.
Put everything back together
The real litmus test. Here an eye and a good dose of patience are required, as it is necessary to check that the system and its parts are functioning exactly as before.
Tips to fix a wet laptop
- Disconnect the laptop from all power sources immediately. Wipe off visible water on the laptop’s surface as quickly as possible with an absorbent cloth.
- Turn the laptop upside down and shake it gently to remove as much water as possible from the keyboard area. While the laptop is upside down and leaking, remove the battery.
- Use the blow dryer on a low setting to try and dry pieces of your laptop that are visibly wet.
- Place the laptop with the keyboard face down and the battery pack in a dry heat source (hot air outlet) and let it sit for a week. Do not try to turn on the laptop again until all components are completely dry
- Reassemble the laptop and try turning it on if it appears to be completely dry. Electronic devices often work again even after getting wet, as long as they are completely dry before being turned on again.
