📎 AI Summary:
The thread discusses a user's accidental drop of their cracked, water-damaged laptop and seeks advice on whether drying it out might restore functionality. Respondents suggest removing components, drying thoroughly, and attempting data recovery, with some skepticism about the chances of success. Ultimately, the user gives up on repairing the laptop after further accidents, and the forum members share humorous and pragmatic comments about disposal and damage prevention.
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Druker

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Thread Author #1
After dropping my new laptop down into the stairwell, I watched it bounce off the railing, then into the wall and then slam onto the concrete floor. When I go to turn it on with a cracked case, it doesn't seem to want to boot up. I left it on the sideboard for a minute and don't you suppose it slipped over into the sink full of water and soap.
When I attempted to turn it on again, it smells funny.
My question to the forum members is, if I leave this to dry out, will this work again? What advice would you give please.
 

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BIGBEARJEDI

BIGBEARJEDI

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#2
Well, stranger things have happened.:insanity: I would suggest you find the driest spot in the house, not near water or stairwells, and leave it there for a few days and try it again. It would also be helpful if you placed on something absorbent such as paper towels to absorb any moisture leaking out from it's vents and such.

If you want to go a step further, you can remove the battery and hard drive covers, as well as RAM sticks and the hard drive itself. Leave those covers off and let the laptop dry out.

While it's drying out, you can take the hard drive and plug it into another computer's usb port using a SATA-TO-USB adapter which costs about $20 US and get your data off of it and copy onto a usb flash drive or external hard drive. Here's the link for it: Amazon.com: Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black): Electronics

Also, you can test your hard drive by accessing it on the other computer.

If the laptop boots with the tested hard drive, it may be ok or partially ok depending on whether you can see the display or not. If that fails, you see lights and such, you can try an external vga monitor or hdmi tv connection and see if the display shows up there.. If it doesn't, your video chip could be fried or the Mobo itself.

If all that fails, you're looking at a very expensive repair to replace multiple components, replacing the laptop would be best. If you happen to have a premium warranty on the laptop, they may have drop coverage. Might be worth checking your warranty policy.

Good luck,:encouragement:
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>
 

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Druker

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Thread Author #3
Let's give your advice a whirl. If all fails, I'll just cut my losses and stay away from sinks and stairs next time. Ha!
 

bochane

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#4
If it went down in contaminated water it should be rinsed thoroughly in clean water. Than open it up af far as possible and let it dry.
But your changes are small, very small...
 

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Druker

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Thread Author #5
Thanks for the instructions. Stay tuned for further updates.
 

BIGBEARJEDI

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#6
Yup. As Bochane says that's also risky but will keep algae and fungi sprouting inside the electronics on the actual circuit boards. Once you have that you get weird pH and electrolyte levels that change the conductance of semiconductors and integrated circuits. Then it's game over.

BBJ
 

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Druker

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Thread Author #7
I give up. It was sitting on one of those portable coffee tables to dry and grandchildren knocked it off into the floor. I'm so discouraged so off to the city garbage and recycling.
 

XAOS

XAOS

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#8
Surely this thread has to be a wind up.:D
 

bochane

bochane

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#9
Bringing it to the city garbage....
Ok, don't forget to make the harddisk totally unreadable. A hammer will be a useful tool for this job, and children will like this.... :)
 

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Druker

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Thread Author #10
Thank you for that info bochane. And the answer is "yes" to your query XAOS and finally & happily is winding down. :)
 

BIGBEARJEDI

BIGBEARJEDI

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#11
You might want to keep the hard drive and the RAM sticks out of it. The hard drive might serve as a spare or a clone backup for the replacement laptop you buy eventually. If the new laptop develops a problem such as windows corruption or a virus infection, you can pull it out of your drawer and put in your old hard drive and use factory Recovery Discs that can be made with the new laptop MEDIA CREATOR program and install W10 or whatever windows comes with the new laptop. This will allow you to determine whether it's a faulty Motherboard or not. If you can install W10 on the laptop onto the old drive, then your new laptop's Mobo is likely toast (assuming it's not BIOS settings). This would be a useful purpose.

On the other hand many people use them for doorstops or such (after wiping the data off of them). I use one of my old drives as a flapper-stop inside my toilet tank.o_O My toilet won't flush properly without that hard drive in there! :rofl:

Best of luck,
BBJ
 

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Druker

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Thread Author #12
Thank you for the advice. The way things have been going, I'm afraid to pick up what's left of it lest I should get electrocuted.
 

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