Spilt Pepsi near my laptop

OnlyAlex · 22 Aug 2023 at 22:58

Hi everyone, I'm feeling very stupid after knocking over a glass of Pepsi next to my laptop. Thankfully it was on a cooling pad so didn't get soaked, in fact the only bit of Pepsi I can see was a splash the size of my small finger nail on the encasing next to the air vent. I blotted it straight away and left it for 24 hours. You can't smell anything, can't see anything but I'm worried about what damage this could do.

I have accidental coverage protection for the laptop, but there's no fault with the laptop so ASUS most likely won't accept a claim, plus it seems silly to send off a laptop when all the tests come back fine. I could always claim if and when the laptop does fail.

Should I pay a local IT company to look at it?

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to these things and am not sure of the risks and what to do. Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

OnlyAlex · 22 Aug 2023 at 23:26

goldy6660 said:
So near the laptop but not on the laptop? Is it sticky?

Next to the laptop but not on the laptop, that’s correct. Just a very small splash onto the enclosure of the air vent on the side which I wiped off immediately. No stickiness anywhere.

OnlyAlex · 23 Aug 2023 at 13:42

goldy6660 said:
If I were you I'd be playing the long game, ignore it and wait to see if you notice a sticky bit.

Okay, thanks.

OnlyAlex · 23 Aug 2023 at 15:09

Delta3D said:
Wouldn't worry about it at all. If it's going to have issues, it'll have shown them straight away

Thank you for your help.

labbby said:
Everyone’s laptop should be a bit sticky.. if not they aren’t using the interweb as it was intended

Haha lol, thank you!

GaryTheSnail said:
Next to your laptop, not on your laptop therefore it will be fine.

The fan won't go sucking pepsi up for a drink so no need to worry.

Cheers, glad it won't go sucking it up for a drink, was a bit worried!

throwaway4372 said:
It'll be fine, forget about it.

Cheers, will do.

Quartz said:
First off, don't feel foolish for asking; it's better to be sure. Second, was the spill near where air comes out or where air gets sucked in? If the former you really don't need to worry as air pressure will have saved you; if the latter you should keep a careful eye on your laptop. If you feel comfortable then open it up and have a look

Hey, cheers - means a lot for your advice. The spill was on the desk and the laptop was on a cooling pad - the splash was quite far up the laptop on the encasing to the air vent, which is the highest point, so it was definitely a splash or the rest of the laptop lower down on the left hand-side would've been soaked. According to the manual it's both - there's one on either side of the laptop just below the display, it allows 'cool air to enter and warm air to exit'.

OnlyAlex · 24 Aug 2023 at 10:41

Bubo said:
Is no one going to think of the poor innocent Pepsi? I hope it was one of the *relatively* naff ones at least like bog standard diet Pepsi, and not Pepsi Max

Haha it was Pepsi Max, which actually I’ve read online doesn’t become sticky because it has no sugar in it.

OnlyAlex · 24 Aug 2023 at 10:42

OspreyO said:
Sounds like it missed.

Spilt 7up on a laptop in the past,on the keyboard. A few months later was having problems with it over heating. When I opened it up found it was sticky which meant all the dust stuck to it blocking the heatsinks and fans. Had to take it apart and do a deep clean. Replace the keyboard etc.

Thanks! Ahh no, that’s not good. I’m worried about something like that with the air vent, but it was literally just a splash and it was Pepsi Max which doesn’t go sticky.

OnlyAlex · 24 Aug 2023 at 16:53

Dang it, just got a BSOD 'non paged area' what does that mean? I can't believe a BSOD of that nature will be related to the splash on the vent that I blotted up immediately?

OnlyAlex · 24 Aug 2023 at 17:18

koolpc said:
Maybe the laptop like coca cola instead and is complaining!

Any advice on what to do?

OnlyAlex · 24 Aug 2023 at 18:09

Quartz said:
How comfortable do you feel about opening the case? At this point, I really think you should look for liquid damage. Look near the vent, obviously. To clean any corrosion found you will need isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush.

Look up the Adamant IT channel on YouTube for instructions and advice.

Thank you, I don't feel confident at all opening up the case. I find it odd how the past two days it's been absolutely fine, including gaming and then on a PDF document scrolling it was when the error occurred. I did install the latest Nvidia driver update yesterday, could it be related to that? If it happens again I will revert back that driver and then send it off to the manufacturer. Cheers.

OnlyAlex · 24 Aug 2023 at 18:48

Quartz said:
You should check that liquid damage is covered by the warranty.

I have paid extra for accidental damage protection which includes liquid damage & also have private insurance.

OnlyAlex · 24 Aug 2023 at 18:53

Can anyone kindly read my mini dump file and let me know what it says? Thanks so much in advance: https://www.mediafire.com/file/c8jd3vte4qchp5s/082423-15453-01.dmp/file

OnlyAlex · 25 Aug 2023 at 11:06

Hyburnate said:
Has it BSOD'd since? Did you do any recent windows or driver updates? I'd be looking to make sure all drivers are updated and then do a disk check, it's possible that it has somehow damaged your SSD or RAM but honestly it could just be a bad driver.

Checked the RAM and SSD and it came back fine. All drivers are updated and disk check was fine. I did reinstall Windows a few days back, so maybe Windows 11 was throwing a one off hissy fit.

OnlyAlex · 25 Aug 2023 at 11:07

GaryTheSnail said:
Something doesn’t add up. You either spilt stuff on it or you didn’t.

If you did then liquid damage. If you didn’t then not liquid damage and your BSOD is something else.

It didn’t magically just suck it into your laptop.

Note to everyone no drinks next to electronic devices.

There was splash the size of my small fingernail on the encasing of the air vent which I blotted immediately.

OnlyAlex · 25 Aug 2023 at 11:55

Hyburnate said:
Yeah I think this is just a random happening, if it was water damaged you'd know about it.

Cheers, it hasn't happened again but I will keep an eye on it. If it does happen again I will try re-installing Windows one more time and then if that fails send it off.

OnlyAlex · 25 Aug 2023 at 12:01

GaryTheSnail said:
That’s what I would do.

Thanks

OnlyAlex · 30 Aug 2023 at 18:34

OnlyAlex said:
Dang it, just got a BSOD 'non paged area' what does that mean? I can't believe a BSOD of that nature will be related to the splash on the vent that I blotted up immediately?

It's been five days now and I've not had a BSOD since. Do we think that the BSOD was unrelated? Touch wood I hopefully don't get another one anytime soon.