Wet laptop - is it a goner? [SOLVED] Also, external virus removal [UNSOLVED]

Ianator

Got a double-pack here.

#1: So my computer desk doubles as my painting desk. I had a cup of old brushwater sitting next to my laptop (bad idea I now realize, but *hindsight*). I accidentally tipped it right onto my lappy's keyboard while adjusting my mouse cord. The keys started not working properly, so I shutdown and aired it out a bit. When I tried to turn it on again, the graphics messed up a bit, then it crashed a minute after logging in. Next time I tried, it refused to POST.

So. Is there anything I can do to fix this thing and get it working again? Or must I consign myself to extracting the HDD and pulling the files right off of it when I get my new desktop?

EDIT: Laptop was fine after a few days to dry! Hope the hard water doesn't mess it up worse later on.

#2: In a previous thread I complained of a virus on my current desktop - AVG detected the baddies in a few sensitive files and refused to mess with them (system32.dll and such). Would it be practical (or possible) to remove the HDD, hook it up to another computer and zap the viruses from there? (If so, is there some sort of USB-to-IDE adapter I could use for that?

spool32

#1: yes, it's dead. Did you have paint thinner in the brush water? That stuff is corrosive. Even if it was just water though... Lack of POST tells me it's dead. Salvage the hdd with a hdd-USB external drive cage, it's probably fine.

#2: That is an excellent way to solve the problem, if you have the means to do so. They also make a hdd-USB drive converter for full size disks like that.

Before you do, though, have you tried using malwarebytes to clean it? It'll often remove things AVG is afraid to handle, in a multiple-reboot sequence.

Ianator

#1: Figures. No thinner, just water and old paint.

#2: I might have. I'll likely set it up again either Sunday or Monday.

Syrdon

For the laptop, does it power on? If it does, does it beep at all? You can also try opening it up and seeing if there's any obvious damage anywhere, that will involve a small screwdriver and a couple hours though, so if you go that route be prepared.

November Fifth

It's probably toast, but you could try the rice trick on a larger scale. Get a container large enough to hold the laptop and pour a sack of rice over it.

How long did you air it out?

Ianator

@Syrdon: It powers on but nothing after, not even a beep. Not sure I`d recognize damaged parts either, even with the water colored as it was.

@Fifth: Didn`t air long enough, most likely.

Also, I am writing this from my DSiXL and Wii.

mehmehmeh

You can try turning on the laptop WITHOUT the built in keyboard, like completely disconnect it from the motherboard and use an external keyboard and mouse.

I came across a sony laptop with water damage and that was the only way it worked, otherwise it would just give a blank screen and beep at me. The replacement keyboard was like $60 so I never replaced it.

edit: the keyboard was completely shot, even after 1 week of leaving it and the laptop in front of a fan to dry out the keyboard would still cause the post error when plugged in

Essee

In all fairness, I actually had something similar happen to my old VAIO, first with milk (after which it still worked just fine, somehow, except for sticking keys), then finally with tea. In both cases, I turned it off right away, cleaned off the keyboard area with plain water as best I could, and then left it upside-down to dry for a couple days. After the tea mishap, it wouldn't turn on, so I was pretty sure it was gone forever because I even tried opening it up using a tear-down guide I found online. After that attempt, I just gave up, but didn't throw it out because I planned to pull the hard drive from it. Well, about a year and a half later, my mom took it to a local computer shop on a whim, where they also expected to fail to resurrect it... but, lo and behold, they somehow managed to magically clean things out well enough that it is now working just as it used to.

Of course, that's REALLY a long shot, so I don't know if it's worth it to you to try bringing it back from the dead. Also, I'm not sure how long you left it to dry-- as I said, I let it sit for a couple of days both times, which seems to be the general advice in cases like this (along with the rice trick, which I didn't know about at the time). Vaios also seem to protect the internals of the machine VERY well from keyboard accidents, compared to other laptops I've seen. Depending on how much it costs to try, and how good your laptop is, you may just be better off getting a new laptop anyway. But I figured I would share my own story, since it shows that liquid isn't ALWAYS a death sentence.

Ianator

I admit I only let it dry for maybe an hour, if that. I may try again later today.

In the meantime, anyone know where I can order one of those external HDD bays from?

Esh

Ianator wrote:

I admit I only let it dry for maybe an hour, if that. I may try again later today.

In the meantime, anyone know where I can order one of those external HDD bays from?

Yeah, that's not enough time. Amazon. Newegg. Wherever.

Ianator

Newegg does *not* want to display properly. Anyone have a link to one?

Esh

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_9_24?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=external+hard+drive+case&x=0&y=0&sprefix=external+hard+drive+case#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_33?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=external+hard+drive+enclosure+2.5&sprefix=external+hard+drive+enclosure+2.5&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aexternal+hard+drive+enclosure+2.5

There's a bunch on Amazon.

Ianator

Thanks, managed to find a cable for my 3.5" IDE drive. Gonna order it tonight.

Related to virus scanning, it will be done via my mom's laptop. Which is extremely slow due to only having 512MB of RAM, and McAffee. Should I ditch her AV and replace it with AVG, or is its slowness entirely due to the memory shortage?

Essee

Ianator wrote:

Related to virus scanning, it will be done via my mom's laptop. Which is extremely slow due to only having 512MB of RAM, and McAffee. Should I ditch her AV and replace it with AVG, or is its slowness entirely due to the memory shortage?

Well, I would certainly personally recommend replacing it with Microsoft Security Essentials (includes free protection), and also using Malwarebytes (does not include free protection, but is insanely good at killing malware) to scan, if you can. In recent times, these two seem to nuke just about every virus/malware out there, most of the time. McAfee has... somewhat less of an illustrious reputation. I wouldn't recommend AVG to you (or much at all these days), because it is now sort of a huge, slow memory hog, last I checked. I used to swear by AVG, but it seems way too bloated now for me to recommend it to anyone who can use MSE (or another good anti-virus/anti-malware with background protection) instead. Regardless of what you do, keep in mind that virus scanning usually takes a relatively long time on a decent-sized hard drive. My laptop has a 2.2 GHz dual core and 4 gigs of RAM (64-bit Windows), and scanning my own 250 GB hard drive with a full scan takes probably 2-2.5 hours, so even with something stronger (I recognize that my laptop isn't AMAZING or anything, but it's better than the machine described) it's still going to take quite a while to make sure these scanners find everything. Virus and malware scanners have to check every single file on the machine to see if it's suspicious. Products like Spybot: Search & Destroy, which only look for specific, known products, take much less time because they DON'T have to scan every file, since they know pretty much exactly what they're looking for.

Ianator

Well, that explains why my *both* my computers have slowed down in recent times.

Once I get my transfer cable, I'll boot up my desktop once more to disable Avast! since it doesn't play nice with my AVG, then run another scan so I remember what files I'm looking for (there were three of them - I only remember system32.dll), then hook up my drive and run the scan. When it's all cleaned up, out goes AVG and in comes MSE.

...Maybe I should be using the third computer in question to be typing this? I can't copy-paste on the Wii...

Ianator

Good news: I am writing this from my miraculously-functional laptop! Let's pray it doesn't screw up later.

ADDENDUM: here's the thread regarding the desktop's symptoms. I already ordered a cable for an external scan (and it might be nice to have if something goes wrong again and I can't fix it like I did before), but that Rescue CD is looking like a mighty fine idea right now. I just need a kick in the pants to get the silly thing set up again.

Ianator

Well, that wasn't what I expected. Got my cord, ran it into my desktop's HDD and scanned the WINDOWS folder.

Nothing.

...Think its time in the corner taught it a lesson? Or will a rescue disc be needed?