Water spilled on laptop. Laptop turns off after 10 seconds

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Gobbling_Monkey

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Jan 13, 2014
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Hello. I let my brother use my HP Envy 17t-J100 Quad edition laptop. He spilled iced tea on the keyboard. He says it was on when he spilled it, and then turned off after the spill. He also attempted to turn on the laptop multiple times and tried to charge it. He gave it to me after a few hours. I took off bottom cover and left to dry for around a week and a half now. It turns on for about 10 seconds to get to the HP loading screen, but suddenly turns off. Is there anything I can do to save the laptop? I read that replacing the keyboard on some water damaged laptops might help. But that involves spending money and a lot of work. Is that worth a try? Would it probably not get to the loading screen if something was short circuited or fried? What else can I do? Thank you.
 
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Sounds like you are in a position to give taking it apart yourself a try. A good Youtube video and some patience could get the job done.

Once you have it apart, start cleaning with water (distilled or at least bottled), and leave the alcohol for the stubborn spots. Combination of blotting and light work with the toothbrush should be enough. Hopefully the spill was light, but you'll know once you take the keyboard off.

After cleaning, let it dry for at least for a good few hours, depending how much liquid you used in the process of cleaning. Once you reassemble and boot up, you'll know where you stand. If it does bootup, but you have keyboard issues, plug in a usb keyboard. If it works, all you need is to replace the laptop's keyboard...
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christopher.john.sr

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Oct 15, 2017
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Your situation will absolutely require "a lot of work." You have to take the laptop apart so that you can eyeball it. An ice tea spill is actually worse than water because the iced tea leaves a sticky residue where water will just evaporate.

No guarantees, but if there is any chance of saving that laptop, it needs to be cleaned out as thoroughly as you possibly can. After that, you turn it on and take whatever the next step is.
 
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webworkings

webworkings

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I am with christopher.john.sr on this one. That will leave such a sticky mess in it. This is not something you should try cleaning out on your own unless you really know what you are doing with computers. I would suggest you take it to a local tech to thoroughly clean.

Also, cross your fingers that your brothers repeated attempts to turn it on while the liquid was in there didn't fry something.
 
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Gobbling_Monkey

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Jan 13, 2014
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Thank you for your reply. How would I clean it when and if I open it up? Do I use something like isopropyl alcohol and microfiber towel or compressed air? Could I test it by turning it on without keyboard connected and use external keyboard? Thank you again
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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It shouldn't be turned on *at all* until you've verified that everything is clean and it's dried for a few days. As noted earlier in the thread, the laptop should never have been allowed to turn off on its own 10 seconds after the spill nor should it have been turned on at any point before being taken apart and cleaned. All this turning it on to see if it works may very well have administered the coup de grâce.
 
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christopher.john.sr

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Oct 15, 2017
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Hopefully, you've read each reply to your post. To sum it all up, the grim reaper is standing over your machine now.

The first nail in the coffin was the spill.
Second nail was turning it on multiple times after the spill.
Third nail was giving it electricity (charging) after the spill, but before being sure it's dry.

You can also eject any ideas of a keyboard replacement being all you need. The fact that you can't boot up past the manufacturer's splash screen, and it's turning off on its own, usually means that the spill sunk down past the keyboard, and into the system itself.

Now you have a tough decision to make. If the laptop is really important to you, get your cash together, a lucky rabbit's foot, say a prayer, and don't step on any cracks on the way to a PC Tech. Then, while the tech is working on the laptop, cross your fingers and say one more prayer. In other words, the possibility does exist that it can't be saved. The only reason I hold a small teeny tiny piece of hope for you is because at least it is turning on. If you're SUPER lucky, the thorough cleaning saves it. If you're just having a lucky day, you may need to replace the hard drive (and probably the keyboard).

Your other choice is to find a disassembly video for your model laptop and try your best to really scrutinize the entire motherboard, and all of the connection points for hardware and wiring (especially where the hard drive is, where the RAM is, and where the processor socket is).
 
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Gobbling_Monkey

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Jan 13, 2014
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Thank you for your reply. My brother did not know any better. I would not have tried to turn it on right after. I did try to turn it on more than a week after it happened. But it now turns on on its own too. I can take out the battery and put back in, and the LED will flash as if it sleeping, which is not normal. I know the HDD works fine as I took it out to get some files. Considering it has been 2 weeks and a PC tech will probably charge close to the amount of a new laptop, is it worth it to take it apart or try to fix it? I don't care for the laptop much myself, but my brother needs a laptop. I have great experience with replacing on desktops, but the most I have done on a laptop is HDD, RAM, and network card. What should I clean it with? Should I just cut losses and get new laptop? Well my brother would have to as I have PC and another laptop already. He was using my backup after his Lenovo literally fell apart for no reason, and no way he is borrowing my PC or main laptop after destroying my backup.
 
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christopher.john.sr

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Oct 15, 2017
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Sounds like you are in a position to give taking it apart yourself a try. A good Youtube video and some patience could get the job done.

Once you have it apart, start cleaning with water (distilled or at least bottled), and leave the alcohol for the stubborn spots. Combination of blotting and light work with the toothbrush should be enough. Hopefully the spill was light, but you'll know once you take the keyboard off.

After cleaning, let it dry for at least for a good few hours, depending how much liquid you used in the process of cleaning. Once you reassemble and boot up, you'll know where you stand. If it does bootup, but you have keyboard issues, plug in a usb keyboard. If it works, all you need is to replace the laptop's keyboard.

Best of luck.
 
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