Cleaning a Laptop That Had Liquid Spilled on It

If you have spilled any kind of liquid, such as coffee or soda, on your laptop computer you need to take action immediately. Do not wait for the next day. Waiting may allow liquid to get into the very delicate motherboard circuits. If that happens, it could short out the Mother board or even blow a circuit breaker if you have the power supply cord plugged in. Water and electricity do not mix. You could even get an electric shock in some cases. Before you give up hope, here are some steps to take to salvage your laptop from the perils of a liquid spill.

1. If you have never taken a laptop apart do not even try the following step. Laptop parts are very small and a lot of them are plastic. If you break something it could be very expensive to replace. You also need special tools to take it apart. It also requires a lot of patience. Take it to a professional as soon as possible.

2. Unplug the power cord as soon as possible and remove the battery. DO NOT WAIT! It could short out and destroy the motherboard or other components.

3. Gently incline one side of the laptop and try to get out as much liquid as you can.

4. Clean up as much of the liquid on the outer case as you can. If you are uneasy about taking apart your laptop, get it to a repair shop nearby as soon as possible.

If you can do the cleaning yourself, follow these steps. DO NOT attempt this if you have never done it.

1. Remove PC cards USB devices or anything attached to the computer.

2. Remove the battery and disconnect the power supply cord. This will also keep you from accidentally bending and maybe breaking the connection.

3. Carefully take apart as much of the outer casing as you can.

4. Remove the keyboard, swab as much of the affected areas with rubbing alcohol, and spray it with compressed area. You can use a static free towel to soak up large quantities of liquid but never rub any surfaces with a towel of any kind. A swab will allow you to get smaller areas also.

5. Let it air dry for a day and then reassemble your laptop. If you think your hard drive or other circuitry was affected by your spill, you should get some electronics circuit cleaner to clean contacts if necessary.

6. Power it up and see if your handy work has helped.

If the laptop does not start, your hard drive may still be able to be saved. It could be transferred to another laptop. You may want a professional to look at it before you make a drastic decision. It is an unfortunate accident to knock a cup of liquid onto your computer. The best tip for a laptop spill fix is prevention. If you are going to drink while working on your computer, keep liquids away from the work zone. It is better to have them on a different table or just wait until you are done with working on the laptop. I normally just take a break and go to a different area of the office or home.

Accumulation of Dust Could Damage Your Computer's Hardware

What happens when you have a computer that is so dusty and dirty inside the computer case? Well most of the time you are looking at some point to damage the hardware inside the computer. Too much dust in the computer case can cause the computer to run much hotter then if it was clean. Heat and dust can damage computer hardware. In some cases it may damage your motherboard, fans, network cards, dial up cards etc.

It is very important to clean out your computer case at least 3 or 4 times a year. If you computer tower is on the floor or in an area that regularly collects dust you may want to clean it out more frequently. Remember that cleaning your computer is one of the most important things you can do to extend the life of your computers hardware.

Having a computer that is extremely dirty can cause hardware failure. For example if your computer stops working and you take it to a computer repair facility. They look over the computer and tell you that your motherboard is bad. The motherboard is the big chip board inside your computer that controls all the other hardware connected to it. Now lets say that you have for some people your whole life on this computer. You can imagine for must customers loosing their data is at times worse then having to buy a new computer.

When you lose data its something that you just can't replace. Pictures of your wedding, kids, graduation, vacations etc. That is why it is so important to make sure that you are cleaning out your computer cases at least a few times a year..