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Awww crap.
Arkan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
There was an accident just now and
uuhhhhh
My mouse ended up in the toilet. One that had already been... uh... used. Without flushing. And not for pee.
Thankfully it's wireless and the battery popped out before it... uh... landed, so hopefully it hasn't shorted out.
Is there any hope of cleaning out the inside of this thing of water/feces and getting it working again? I'm a bit short on cash atm and would really prefer not to have to buy a new mouse.
uuhhhhh
My mouse ended up in the toilet. One that had already been... uh... used. Without flushing. And not for pee.
Thankfully it's wireless and the battery popped out before it... uh... landed, so hopefully it hasn't shorted out.
Is there any hope of cleaning out the inside of this thing of water/feces and getting it working again? I'm a bit short on cash atm and would really prefer not to have to buy a new mouse.
Big, honkin' pile of WoW characters
Blackbeard7 wrote: »I think it's hard for someone not to rage at mario kart, while shouting "Fuck you Donkey Kong. Whose dick did you suck to get all those red shells?"
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The question remains: what was your mouse doing that close to an open, full toilet?
You know what? Don't answer that.
Yeah, buy a new mouse.
Because I usually don't think about this sort of thing happening until it already has, unfortunately.
'Playing with a wireless mouse', eh? Is that what the ladies call it these days?:winky:
But as for what to do: let it dry off. Clean the outside with a sponge/soap and let it dry again. Does it smell like poop? If so, trash it. If not, see if it works.
Most mice are rather difficult to take apart, but if you are sure you could dismantle it and put it back together, you could do so to make the initial drying step go faster, or let you thoroughly wash the non-electrical components.
However, I, personally would just buy a new mouse.
I'll try this and see if it works or not. If it doesn't, I'm buying a new mouse.
The problems come from corrosion and deposits left behind as the water dries. Rinsing it with water to get the worst of it out, then using isopropyl alcohol to rinse away the water, should get rid of the residue problem. Corrosion can be hit-and-miss, it's mostly a question of how long it stays wet.
1. I read stories on the internet about people who do really stupid things with electronics.
2. I get very smug. "Hah, those people are retards, I would never do something that stupid!"
3. I stop being cautious about some gadget.
4. I do something retarded to that gadget, probably less than 5 minutes after thinking "Well I should be careful, but only just in case! I'd never do something as retarded as (whatever)!"
5. I feel like a retard.
The worst part is that this is the second time I've gone through this process, so apparently I didn't learn my lesson the first time.
And to top it off, I just realized I'm wearing my 'To save time, just assume I know everything' shirt. The irony gods must be laughing at me.
Alternatively, you could dry the mouse as best as you can and then put it into a large zip top bag with dry rice. Let that sit in there for 24-48 hours. It should dry it up, but it'll probably still have it's unique odor.
Finally, you could just buy a new mouse. This is probably the best solution. Both suggestions above will not get your mouse sterile. So if you ever eat at your computer you should just buy a new mouse. Since you're using your mouse while on the toilet, I'm guessing you're not too concerned toilet/mouse/food contamination thing.
Are you sure about this? According to my memory and wikipedia, Isopropyl alcohol is a disinfectant.
edit: tech professor (same one as earlier) confirmed it and he says he's used it to clean electronics in similar situations, so... yeah.
Rubbing alcohol doesn't sterilize? Since when?
Guess I better run down to the hospital and tell them they're doing it wrong.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
I see. Yea. Make sure to use 99% and not 70% isopropyl. The 70% leaves a residue.
And don't drink it. Your liver turns it into acetone!
Lack of caution around a mouse might mean you knock it off the table, or spill a drink on it. Ending up in a full toilet with the battery out of it is not carelessness, it is a mystery.
It's like, "oh man, I forgot to lock my car and now it's on the moon."
Not to veer into offtopicville, but it really doesn't. Not that it matters unless he's going to use his mouse as a surgical tool.
Negative, that's why needles/knives are cleaned in an autoclave. Rubbing alcohol isn't that good.
So I guess it would be more accurate to call it a sanitizer than a sterilizer.
I have a little mini-desk-type-thing that I can put my laptop on so that if I have it on my lap it isn't sitting directly on my crotch and thus grilling my testicles. I was using that. The mouse was on it. There was no toilet paper, so I put the desk thing down on the sink to find some (after the mistake of bringing the thing in the bathroom to begin with, this was probably the biggest mistake; I should have put it down on the floor). It slid, the mouse hit the rim of the toilet causing the battery cover and battery to pop out; the battery landed about 10 feet away and was completely dry which is how I know it didn't end up in the bowl and teleport outside somehow. The mouse landed in the toilet. Yes, it was stupid, but now I know better.
It isn't as stupid as another story the tech teacher told me about a student's PSP that he cleaned in the same way after he dropped it in a pot of soup. Yes, that's soup, as in the stuff you eat. My story kinda makes sense, but how the fuck do you drop a PSP in a pot of soup? Was he juggling it near the soup?
(Plus, I think in the long term the soup would be less sanitary. Yeah in the immediate term the toilet has the "ewwww!" factor, but after a while all the crap in the soup starts to rot and go bad, plus there's oils and grease and stuff.)
You can get a laser mouse for a practically nothing nowadays, skip messing around and just buy something like a Logitech RX1000. It'll probably cost less than the cleaning cloth, alcohol etc anyway.
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
It's almost funny.
Making soup? Waiting for it to boil? Pretty damn boring. Lets play some PSP while we're at it. Oops, need to keep stirring. And I would be willing to bet that if one were to hold the PSP with one hand over the pot of soup and stir the soup with the other hand, steam would rise up, moisten your hand, loosen your grip and plop there goes your PSP.
But if the PSP was on while it was dropped in, it would probably break from an electrical short. So if it was intact and functional after it was cleaned, how did it get in while it was off.
They're both pretty stupid, I must admit.
But instead, you told the truth. The truth that you committed first degree bathroom laptop use. And not only that, you used the thing on the toilet with a wireless mouse AND a comfort tray. Didn't some kind of control program go off in your head when you started lugging a home office through the bathroom door? What if someone had seen you?
That's true. I didn't know it worked afterwards.
On the other hand, PSPs and other handheld gadgets are pretty well sealed. Not waterproof of course - there's gaps all over - but it's one of those kinds of electronic things that if you dropped in water or another liquid (say, soup, for instance), it would take a second or two before anything vital might be damaged. My impression, anyway.
In any case, I was just teasing, while I've never dropped anything electronic in a toilet, I know what it feels like.
If it's any consolation I flew a paper airplane into a pot of simmering chili when I was five at day care
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
ed: it gets like this, seriously
I took extra care to get all the little nooks, the underside of the circuitboard, and the entire scroll-wheel.
In two days I'll get back to you folks with the results. In the meantime, you may continue mocking me.
Valuable lesson.
You know you're an internet addict when you take your laptop with you into the bathroom when taking a shit.
I have an iphone and two laptops, I have never felt the need to take them with me into the bathroom to browse the internet during my visit to the poop deck.
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
He spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours playing tetris on the original game boy as I was growing up while he relaxed on the throne. I think part of it was that it was the only place in the house where he could go and not be disturbed more than he had prodigious amounts of crap to get rid of.
Never had a dropping-stuff-in-the-bowl incident though.