Beer + Laptop
Working late one night on my laptop doing web updates (yes geeky, but it pays) I decided that all work was done other than tinkering.

Cracked open a beer.

Noticed something badly wrong with a site, knocked over beer.

1600 quid laptop drinks the beer.

It didn't reboot.

Felt very stupid for two entire days until the insurance payment delivered me a brand new top of the range replacement.

Dumb but with a good outcome.
(Opanoid Look sweats dripping off them, Fri 21 Dec 2007, 1:55, 4 replies)

How to save your stuff.
And they did this on the gadget show too - it worked with a few bits, phone, Ipod and things.

Should Beer, coffee, tea, wine or all of them get into your laptop don't let it dry.

Chances are its fucked now so you've got nothing to lose.
Take the thing apart as much as you can.

Wash the bastard with water to slosh the sugar gunk from your above beverage out. this is what causes the most damage.

Cold / tepid boiled water would be good – Distilled water is best; but who has that to hand? Don't drown the item.

Shake as much water out as you can – use a hair dryer held at least 30cm away from the item or a fan to dry it out 100%. It will take a while to dry. Has to be done so it doesn't rust. Has to be 100% so it doesn't short out.

Hope, pray and hope some more that it will turn back on.
(waxdart hello., Fri 21 Dec 2007, 10:48, closed)

I spilled coffee on my laptop once (luckily it was black and sugarless).
I immediately pulled the plug and then flipped it over to let as much coffee as possible drain out. I started pulling off keys and mopping up as much coffee as possible. I left it to dry until the next day, and then it worked fine.

I also spilled cocoa on my mp3 player and it stopped working. Let it dry and it was fine. Still got the thing.
( Bob Todd whee, Fri 21 Dec 2007, 12:56, closed)

Money
To be honest I had enough time to back up the work I'd just done, then put the claim in and sold the parts of the laptop (including the laptop shell) off for 900 quid in total.

The more I think about this, the less dumb I feel. New Laptop and extra cash, yay.
(Opanoid Look sweats dripping off them, Fri 21 Dec 2007, 13:20, closed)

Reminds me...
...of one of the users who called the helpdesk I worked on once. She'd got the keyboard of her laptop wet and a few keys had stopped working. So she got a hairdryer...

...and called us, sounding ever so embarassed, to order a replacement laptop as she'd warped the keyboard into complete uselessness.
(Musuko, Sat 22 Dec 2007, 23:03, closed)