What to Do When You Spill Your Drink on Your Computer

December 30, 2008

Many of us eat and drink at our computers knowing we shouldn’t and sometimes we have an accidental spill. In most cases, it can be fixed with a quick cleanup. I’ve repaired a lot of laptops with liquid spills. This is a fixable condition most of the time. It’s really important to start the liquid spill clean-up ASAP (before corrosion or internal damage happens)! Liquid spills can cause these types of laptop damage:

• A short circuit from the liquid (problem can be resolved when the liquid dries)
• A short circuit due to dried liquid residue
• Corrosion (especially with acidic soft drinks like Coca Cola)
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• Electronic components damaged by above mentioned short circuits


How to Fix the Problem: After the liquid spill occurs, immediately turn off your laptop, flip the laptop upside down and leave it that way (to drain the liquid) for at least 20 to 30 minutes. After that time you need to remove any attached leads such as the power unit and battery and let the laptop dry overnight.

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How to Remove Any Remaining Liquid: Remove the keyboard assembly (or have someone do it for you if you can’t) and do some additional cleaning. It helps to use cotton swabs and distilled water to remove any remaining contamination. If you find any corrosive residue (due to your spilled Coke) gently wipe those areas with a cotton swab dampened with WD-40. Dry the area so only a light film of WD-40 remains. While you have the keyboard removed, use a bright light and magnifying lens to further check out the areas where you spilled the liquid.

In the past, it seemed a computer was destroyed after spilling a drink on it but now we know it can be repaired with a little quick action. You are better off though just not drinking anything while working on your computer that way you can avoid the mess and cleanup.

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Written by Adrian Edwards · Filed Under Computer Repair 

  • Jacobmaggard2000
    Is it terrible if a mouth full of coke comes out on your computer, I Had some in my mouth and sneezed and it came out on my key board and i cut it off with the buton and it turned off then came back on then i did it the right way and it was working fine.. is that bad?
  • Sneezy_1973
    How about when the the spill happened underneath the laptop ? What can I do then....?
  • Dudley
    My 2 year old grandson fell and spilled some coke on the keyboard of our laptop. I was not there at the time so I really don't know where or how the coke landed on it or how much. As soon as it happened, my daughter wiped it off and turned it upside down to try to get some of it to drain out. When I came in and was told what had happened, I removed the battery. I let it dry for about 24 hours. I replaced the battery and tried it to see if it still worked. When I pushed the on button, it made a constant high pitched sound so I cut it off ond removed the battery. It is a Toshiba brand. I found a website titled "What to do when you spill coke on your computer". It mentions removing the keyboard and cleaning it with distilled water and the apply a light film of WD40. Would this be hard or tedious to do myself. I think this should be done by someone that knows what they are doing. Can anyone helpme.
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