Whats the chances of laptop working again after getting wet??

joki · 24 Jun 2008 at 22:35

Hi

Ive got a Lenovo 3000 N200 laptop, which has had a really small amount of water spilt over the keyboard. The laptop instead of being left off and dried was turned on (girlfriend did and and didnt mention it to me!) and was running although some of the keys pressed would produce 2 different letters to be displayed.

Later when the keyboard was booted again there was a sound when booting screen went blank and then came back up and booted. Once into windows i found that letters were randomly being displayed and the tochpad press for left mouse press was not working.

What do u recon is the chance of getting it running again propery? Im drying now and haven't turned it on at all day.

Thanks a lot

dokko · 24 Jun 2008 at 22:41

Reckon you might new to replace the keyboard, but hopefully the internals are ok.

IAmATeaf · 24 Jun 2008 at 22:45

How easy is the keyboard to remove? If it can easily be removed then take it out and give it a clean.

Crashgate3 · 24 Jun 2008 at 23:54

If it was only water it shouldn't even need a clean, just a thorough drying - open the lid and put it in a warm place like an airing cupboard for a few days, then try again.

pingwing · 25 Jun 2008 at 00:10

not a lot (sorry) my mates mum spilt a lot on her laptop and lost the wireless card amounst other stuff

Zefan · 25 Jun 2008 at 00:13

The fact that it was turned on again before drying completely basically means it won't fix itself now.

You can try drying it further but I'd suggest that it's not going to work

joki · 25 Jun 2008 at 08:13

I'll try and run it again tomorrow i think. I dont really want to take it apart as its only 6 months old and I dont want to loose the warranty.

ih8modem · 25 Jun 2008 at 09:56

joki said:
I'll try and run it again tomorrow i think. I dont really want to take it apart as its only 6 months old and I dont want to loose the warranty.

If Warranty covers accidental damage then get it repaired. If not, check your house contents insurance, you may have accidental damage cover there.

If it is a keyboard problem only, then it is easy to replace (dont have experience on that specific model, but have replaced many IBM keyboards over the years.) Usually involves finding a few screws, levering the keyboard out carefully, and disconnecting some very thin ribbon cables. The process is then reversed for replacement.

Some modern keyboards also have the trackpad unit built into it. You would need to search for that model type to see what you need.

joki · 25 Jun 2008 at 18:12

Gave it a drying with a hair dryer today for about an hour, turned it on and worked fine!! Been fine so far so I hope its sorted, have to see for a few days yet though!