The Computer Corner
By Charles Miller, Feb 16, 2007

Getting out of a sticky situation

I received an emergency phone call from my good friend Steve the other day. He had just been a victim of one of the worst and unfortunately common disasters that can befall a laptop computer owner. Somebody—I won’t say who—had spilled a cup of coffee on his computer.

Users of desktop computers do not need to worry about recovering from this disaster because a replacement keyboard can be had for a couple hundred pesos. The owner of a wet laptop, though, needs to know some more drastic recovery measures.

The first and most important rule is to immediately turn off the computer. At all costs, you must resist the temptation to turn the laptop on to “see if it still works.” If there is still any moisture in the laptop when you do this test, you are probably going to fry the circuits. Better to unplug the computer from the wall, remove the battery, and wait at least 24 hours before turning it on again.

Immediately after unplugging the computer and removing the battery, turn the computer upside-down and use a towel to soak up as much of the liquid as possible. Most laptops have a plastic insulation layer under the keyboard. Although it is not intended as moisture proofing, it does a good job of protecting the circuitry underneath.

Liquid spilling into a laptop is not as big a problem as what ingredients are in it. If the spill is water, black coffee or unsweetened tea, you might want to stop reading right here. Let it dry out for a day and hope for the best.

If the liquid is something more harmful, such as coffee with cream and sugar, a soft drink or a milkshake; then you should consider taking a chance on cleaning up the mess. If you have suffered such a disastrous spill, you might as well proceed on the assumption the damage is already done and you probably will not make it worse by trying to clean it up. Your goal is to get the ingredients in your Coke or latte out of the computer before it dries into a sticky, gooey mess.

Using distilled or bottled water to wash out the sugar is probably a safe approach, but you next have to get the water out, too, or you have not accomplished much. Denatured alcohol is not as effective at removing sugars but is still a good choice.

A good product for evacuating moisture is WD-40. WD allegedly stands for “Water Displacement.” It leaves an oily residue but does not attack plastics or damage electrical circuits.

A still better choice if you can find it on short notice is a can of Ronsonol lighter fluid. This stuff is wonderful, but also highly flammable, so work outdoors and stay away from open flames. Do not use gasoline, benzene, naphtha or xylene, which are dangerous and would probably dissolve plastic parts.

If there is an electronics store close by, see if you can get a can of “potentiometer cleaner.” It evaporates cleanly and has no effect on the plastics used in circuits or electronic components.

Finally, on a lighter note, Steve told me right after the spill that his computer popped up a message in a dialog box titled “StickyKeys.” He wondered how in the world the computer knew that spill was going to turn into a sticky mess when it dried.

StickyKeys is a feature of Microsoft Windows intended to make it easer for physically impaired typists to use the keyboard. When the spilled liquid shorted out the Shift, Control or Alternate key, the accident initialized the StickyKeys feature.

Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 044-415-101-8528 or email FAQ@SMAguru.com .