Question laptop doused with water, and...RIP?

[808dude]

It's been a few weeks since this episode happened while I was gone, but our three-year-old spilled a glass of water on wife's aging Dell Inspiron keyboard. She did what little she could to dry it out, but it's not booting. It's about 7 years old, so not a major heartbreak if it's just done - but here are some details:

1. there's a brief flash of backlight from screen on attempting to start, then black
2. fan runs only if I press-and-hold power switch (and then, briefly)
3. at charging port, power (white? shouldn't it be blue?) LED comes on at first, supplanted by yellow flashing light, then I think nothing after a bit
4. I get no sense of any vibration from 1TB HD (with my fingers on it to check)
5. no SSD was ever installed
6. new battery a few months ago...not directly relevant, but maybe a reason to work on this a little more

Would a new SSD or HD (or external?) at least get me to some kind of "no boot device" screen, thereby giving some assurance that it's salvageable - or alternatively, tell me that it's time for a decent burial?

If worth trying, what's the best drive type to try for this, considering it might be good money after bad?

 

[punkncat]

Put in a bag of rice? (I kid)

If the laptop was on at the time, it is probably done. Given its age it would be a great opportunity and excuse to get something newer.

 

[CelicaGT]

It's been a few weeks since this episode happened while I was gone, but our three-year-old spilled a glass of water on wife's aging Dell Inspiron keyboard. She did what little she could to dry it out, but it's not booting. It's about 7 years old, so not a major heartbreak if it's just done - but here are some details:

1. there's a brief flash of backlight from screen on attempting to start, then black
2. fan runs only if I press-and-hold power switch (and then, briefly)
3. at charging port, power (white? shouldn't it be blue?) LED comes on at first, supplanted by yellow flashing light, then I think nothing after a bit
4. I get no sense of any vibration from 1TB HD (with my fingers on it to check)
5. no SSD was ever installed
6. new battery a few months ago...not directly relevant, but maybe a reason to work on this a little more

Would a new SSD or HD (or external?) at least get me to some kind of "no boot device" screen, thereby giving some assurance that it's salvageable - or alternatively, tell me that it's time for a decent burial?

If worth trying, what's the best drive type to try for this, considering it might be good money after bad?

The only true way to dry it out was to disassemble it, or at least pull the top or bottom case. It's also important to remove or at least disconnect the battery immediately. At this point, pull everything out that can be pulled (Battery, HDD, RAM, WiFi card etc) and then let it dry properly. Then apply power and see if you get anything.

*I would not spend any money at this point and consider all the parts removed damaged/failed even if the machine boots. So tread carefully there if trying to reuse them.

 

[808dude]

Thanks guys, but paraphrasing, my summary technical question was:

would a new SSD or HD (or external?) get me to some kind of "no boot device" screen...(or nothing, in which case yes, it's time for the coroner?) If I get a "no boot device" response, then I will feel like it's worth installing a new system, etc.?

 

[USAFRet]

would a new SSD or HD (or external?) get me to some kind of "no boot device" screen

Completely unknown.

See if it will boot with a freshly created Win 10/11 install USB, or LinuxLive USB.

Unless you have a spare SSD laying around to try.

 

[808dude]

Completely unknown.

See if it will boot with a freshly created Win 10/11 install USB, or LinuxLive USB.

Unless you have a spare SSD laying around to try.

Thanks - I should have wondered about that...is creating an install USB a well-trodden path that I can follow?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks - I should have wondered about that...is creating an install USB a well-trodden path that I can follow?

The beginning parts of this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[808dude]

Thanks! I'm on it...

 

[Moonstick2]

If the laptop can't reach the boot screen in the first place, how would an alternative boot device get it there?

Unless it's the boot device that's at fault, changing the boot device by changing the drive or using an external USB won't tell you if it's salvageable or not.

I had almost this exact experience years ago (also with an Inspiron funnily enough) with juice instead of water. Saved the laptop, but as described above you have to disassemble the laptop fully to make sure everything's dried out and there's no moisture still trapped anywhere. You have to inspect every nook and cranny. Poke bits of absorbent paper towel into narrow gaps.

 

[808dude]

Yeah, I realized after I wrote my original post that on the few occasions when I'd had "no boot device" issues with tower PCs, I'd still at least have a blue screen. Fortunately, I don't go through this often enough to be good at it!

Whether significant or not, the "two yellow flashes/ three white flashes" from the PS LED are supposed to be associated with "RAM not installed." Could easily be that the RAM was sitting in a puddle for a few minutes, eg long enough to get par-boiled.

I think I may have some matching RAM set aside from an upgrade years ago that I could swap in for it, but IF I can find it, it's on another island so I will have to both find it AND get it back here. I don't think it's worth paying for new RAM just to see if it works, ya know?