Dell inspiron 5520 won't stay on unless I hold a certain key (after water damage)

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BlastOff

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Apr 8, 2013
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My 2 year old spilled juice on my new laptop about 3 weeks ago, and now when I power it on it goes to the boot screen, the blue bar doesn't finish loading and it turns off. Ok, today I was just trying things. It's 3 buttons at the top right of the laptop, if I hold the middle one the computer will boot, stay on and I can do everything as normal. But if I let that button go, it turns right off. please help!
 
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Okay. So you've decided to take it upon yourself, good man. Here are my tips.

Have a clean, clear and 2 year old proof workstation ready.

Have a precision screwdriver kit ready.

Have something that you can keep every screw in, a great cheap item is a discarded egg carton. Put all identical screws in each egg slot and label each slot with a sharpie.

Look online for schematics of your laptop, walkthroughs, anything that can help you figure out where the screws are, where the parts are and whatnot. I recommend ifixit.com though they're the best resource for Apple products and game consoles, they sometimes have good resources for everything else. Their forums will help...

Retrowire

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Jan 27, 2013
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Honestly, I would suggest disassembling the laptop and giving it a careful but good cleaning. Let it dry for an hour or two and reassemble. Only do this if you have the experience to do this kind of thing!

The good news is that you CAN get it to function normally in a way, so you can back up your stuff! I suggest taping a marble or other round object to the appropriate key while you do the backing up process.

The other good news is that your laptop is new! Which to me means you have some sort of warranty, (I hope it covers "Act of Toddler" Hahaha) Call the retailer that sold you the laptop for more info.
 

Retrowire

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I'm sorry to hear that.

It seems your options are limited. You'll have to consider sending it into a repair center of sorts then.

I've gone through plenty of water damage in my day and unless the water literally shorted one of the circuits, then a nice air drying will work everything out. But since your computer DOES work when a button is held down, it just seems to me that a contact has been rendered dirty by the sugars in the juice. It just needs to be cleaned!
 

Retrowire

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Okay. So you've decided to take it upon yourself, good man. Here are my tips.

Have a clean, clear and 2 year old proof workstation ready.

Have a precision screwdriver kit ready.

Have something that you can keep every screw in, a great cheap item is a discarded egg carton. Put all identical screws in each egg slot and label each slot with a sharpie.

Look online for schematics of your laptop, walkthroughs, anything that can help you figure out where the screws are, where the parts are and whatnot. I recommend ifixit.com though they're the best resource for Apple products and game consoles, they sometimes have good resources for everything else. Their forums will help you greatly as well!

Seeing that your problem is solved when holding down a certain key, I'm thinking you should start by trying to get into the laptop from the top. I had a Dell Inspiron 1520 and in order to get under the keyboard I had to pry some plastic at the top of my keyboard to get in. Be watchful and look for anything that looks like something you're supposed to pry open.

And last of all, I will finally answer your question, (My apologies, I aim to be as helpful as possible.) I recommend cleaning sugary juices with a WARM slightly damp paper towel. SLIGHTLY DAMP, we don't wanna mop the thing. Wipe the dirtied areas clean in a soft, circular motion and then let dry. While you're in the computer, it doesn't hurt to blow it clean with canned air either.

I wish you luck! Water damage is far from the worst thing that can happen to an electronic device so no worries!
 
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