How to Save a Waterlogged Laptop

There is probably no worse thing that can happen to a laptop enthusiast than have his beloved machine fall victim to a freak accident such as falling off a table (happened to me once) or getting wet in big spills. Quimby at Gadzooki experienced such a spill, and fortunately he was able to act instinctively to save his precious hardware and the even more precious data inside.

I spilled an entire glass of water on this sucker. The bottom third of the screen got some. The entire keyboard got a lot. Spilling liquid on a notebook has been known to result in critical failure (motherboard and other circuitry).

Honestly I didn’t know what to do so I just did what seemed obvious. I flipped the notebook upside down with the hope that the water would drain out. I held it upside down for 10 minutes, several minutes after the last drop dripped. The keypad was still wet, but at least there were no puddles to drain down into the innards of the computer.

The next thing I did, still holding the laptop upside down, was to lay it keyboard down on my absorbent couch. The screen portion bent over the side of the couch like a pair of legs. Still on and functional, I wiggled the Gateway notebook around on the couch, hoping to get most of the moisture sopped up.

There are arguments that say you shouldn’t turn your laptop off if it gets wet. Well, I say you should immediately take off the battery and all sources of power (without even shutting down) while doing what Quimby did. A short circuit is your enemy. Corrosion is an even a bigger enemy in the long term.

Next thing you should do after successfully saving your laptop from a spill is back up all your data and keep it somewhere safe. And do get the laptop serviced by the manufacturer or a competent service center.

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