So this afternoon a friend of mine put my laptop on the floor after using it, then accidentally kicked a glass of coke onto the keyboard when she stood up.

After I talked myself out of committing murder, I unplugged it, wiped it off, and turned it over to drain. The Toshiba support people (it's a Toshiba M40 Satellite) told me I was probably fucked. Apparently it's super hard to access/clean beneath the keyboard on their computers, and the acids and sugars in soft drinks may as well be a nuclear bomb.

Does anybody have experience with cleaning up a spill? Any advice would be welcome, including how to dispose of bodies that have been beaten to death with laptops.

 

I'm pretty sure the Toshiba keyboard is removable; I have one lying around somewhere, or at least had, but if I do, its probably in one of my long Term Storage containers, so I'll never find it. But yeah, carbonated drinks like coke are murder on electronics.

 

Thanks, LR and Schrodinger. I'm going to try and remove the keyboard without disassembling the whole computer. There are contradictory instructions online, and none for my model.

The tech guy I spoke to told me that the Coke likely fried the circuitry and seeped into other components. "Coke or wine = game over" was his opinion. I'm hoping he's wrong.

 

Well, As long as it didn't get far past the keyboard, you should be fine, as replacement keyboards are usually cheaper than a replacement computer. Good luck, man.

 

Mike, all this can be avoided in the future by drinking Dr. Pepper instead of Coke.

 

It doesn't matter what type of liquid it is...If it got past the keyboard, chances are it hit the motherboard and then it's game over. You might be able to pull a "cell phone down the toilet" and use a blow dryer with the heat option off. :awesome

If it didn't get past the keyboard, and you can't get it all out, you'll have sticky keys. Boy are those fun.

You should be able to pry up the keys themselves. I can on my Dell, at least. They're a pain in the ass to get back on though.

Good luck man.

 

Update: looks like I dodged a major bullet. The computer will turn on, and I can get online with no trouble. The keyboard, however, is completely shot. The keys either do nothing, spit out gibberish, or randomly refresh the browser page. If I can get my hands on a new keyboard, I think I'll be okay. Anybody have suggestions for where to buy cheap replacement parts?

@Andro: Duly noted. The switch to Dr. Pepper is underway

 

I once spilled 0.5l of beer on my Dell, almost instant battery removal and unplugging saved me from buying a new laptop. It was very easy to take keyboard out, though. From what I saw on my old Toshiba laptop, you'll probably have to unscrew a few hundreds of screws.

As for new keyboard, look on ebay. You can also try to wash your current keyboard and then wait few days till it dries off (do not use hairdryer to make it faster, it doesn't work that way).

 

Contact you local service master or other disaster recovery type company.
About one in ten have the ultra sonic cleaner that can be used for electronics.
If you go to a computer repair shop the service may be more but the job may be done better.

 

This, not the type of soft drink, was where your laptop's fate was sealed.

If you manage to recover from this (scour eBay for that keyboard, like others said), see if you can't find a silicone keyboard protector of some sort. It took me thre instances of my mum spilling her tea on the desktop's keyboard before I wised up; even if you don't think anything will happen again - get it anyway.

 

Ya learn something new every day.

 

SCIENCE!

Also, how is it at dissipating heat?

 

I had a Toshiba laptop, after you remove the key's from the keyboard they are almost impossible to put back again. If you have a pincer it will take you like 30 mins per key or something.

VERY annoying!

 

If you're willing to commit fraud, take out insurance including accidental damage, wait a couple of weeks so it doesn't look overly suspicious, then "accidentally" drop the dead laptop down the stairs.

Alternatively, if you have insurance already (which you should) check your policy to see if it includes accidental damage (which is a really good idea, btw).

 

For me this is pushing it. If you already have insurance for accidental damage it's one thing, taking out insurance after the fact is too fraudulent. As strange as that sounds.

Also, I don't know how much your laptop is worth, but with laptop prices nowadays it's not that big a deal to buy a new one in most cases. And insurance fraud is taken rather seriously, afaik.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I know, that's where the "too" came in. The point is that there's a difference between telling a small relatively white lie in a sort of spur of the moment/desperate situation way and making a more elaborate plan to commit fraud by taking out an insurance plan specifically for such a purpose. With the first you can always claim it was a mistake and that you weren't really thinking clearly when you lied, with the other...

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear.