Bob La Quey wrote:
It is that kind of story.
First the bad news. I spilled a glass of wine on my
laptop ... the damn thing's lights went out :(
Oh clumsy me!
The good news. While not completely backed up
nonetheless I had sent quite a few key files as attachments
to email messages for people I am working with. All of
this using Goggle's GMail. So ... The attachments, hence
the documents are stored on GMail's servers.
Now I may (or may not) be able to recover the laptop.
But most of the critical stuff is on GMail.
I see this as a story that becomes apocryphal. Storing on
GMail certainly has it's problems (why trust Google?). But
given the fact that I am often stretched to thin and do not
do proper backups Google may be the lesser of evils.
I would BTW like advice on the best way to recover my
laptop. I did immediate since it with water and did my best
to blow away any excess. I shall let it dry overnight then
see what happens. Suggestions please.
Stumbling onward,
BobLQ
To recover a laptop that has had something spilled in it will be tricky
but not impossible. You will need to disassemble the thing as much as
possible. Then wipe off the parts with a lint free rag dampened with
water. At this point alcohol won't do you any good yet. It might be best
to see if you can clean up the hard drive first and recover the data
from it, perhaps by using a USB converter. If you want to borrow one, I
have one I can loan you.
The keyboard can probably be disassembled and the plastic parts washed
in water, while the elastomeric sheet can be rinsed with water, dried
then wiped down with isopropyl alcohol. Use the anhydrous type, not the
70% drugstore type.
Cleaning the rest will be tricky. You will probably need to remove the
motherboard from the case. That sometimes take special tools such as
star bits and jewelers screwdrivers. Again I have these if you need to
borrow them. Check carefully around the CPU. If it is in a socket and
the wine got into the socket area things aren't looking good. I've found
that a high density sponge that is wet but not dripping can be used to
clean a motherboard by gently blotting, NOT wiping. When done cleaning
with water, clean again with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol using a lint
free cloth.
Repeat for all the other parts. An old toothbrush and Q-Tips also help
in the cleaning. Try to avoid paper towels around the electronic parts
because they tend to leave lint on everything.
I'm not sure how the power supply is connected, but it might be
worthwhile to try and run it into a dummy load if you can build one.
Of course, depending on your homeowners/renters insurance maybe you can
claim this as a loss and just get a new laptop.
Gus
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