Solved! A bit of water spilled on side of laptop.

[binaryplant]

Hello!

2 days ago, I accidentally spilt a small amount of tap water on the side of my HP Pavilion dv7-3111ea Entertainment Notebook PC that was charging. The water went into some of the USB vents, some on the keys on the right hand side and a little near the AC adapter that was charging the laptop. The laptop suddenly shut down in about 10 secs. I immediately tipped it over but did not unplug the AC adapter until shortly after.

After that, I started wiping the laptop, especially near the keyboard and AC adapter area. I took the battery out at this point. I then left it in a bag of rice to dry for 24 hours and took it out yesterday to check on it. The charging light comes on when I plug it in but when I press the power on button, it doesn’t turn on. I’m planning to leave for a week or so to dry more. Is my laptop dead or is there any way to save it?

Thanks!

 

[webworkings]

To be honest, it sounds like it may have damage.

When you get any liquid on a device you should immediately turn it off, then remove any and all power sources. And also remove anything connected to the device. All it takes is a small amount to cause major damage.

The rice thing really doesn't work the way people think it does. It is better to just open up a device and leave it somewhere safe and dry to air out and dry up the liquid. For days if need be. And if it is anything other than clear water then other steps would need to be taken.

I would do as mentioned above and see if that resolves it. You may get lucky and things will be fine. I would also include leaving the charger disconnected (at both ends) and the battery somewhere to also to dry for days.

Should it still not work after that, then you need to determine if it is the power supply (charger), the connections to the power within the laptop or the motherboard that are damaged and needing replacement.

 

[binaryplant]

Thank you, @webworkings for the advice. I’m following what you said and if the laptop doesn’t show any signs of life soon, I’m planning to take it to a computer repair shop to get a diagnosis.

 

[hang-the-9]

Thank you, @webworkings for the advice. I’m following what you said and if the laptop doesn’t show any signs of life soon, I’m planning to take it to a computer repair shop to get a diagnosis.

This may not be worth it to pay for someone to check it. That is a fairly old model, you can outright buy used working models of the same type for not much over $100, which may be close to what you would pay for someone to tell you that you need a new motherboard. Or just replace it with a newer model and use a USB enclosure to copy your files out of the old drive. Paying to fix or have a tech check on a dead system that is more than 3-4 years old is usually not a good place to put money to, unless you have some very high end system that would cost a lot to replace.

 

[binaryplant]

Thank you for your reply and advice @hang-the-9. I found a computer monitor at my house and I’m hoping to set it up as a replacement for my laptop for now. I didn’t actually know what a USB enclosure was until you mentioned it. Is it possible to copy files out of a potentially dead laptop through this method? And is it possible to copy out my files from my laptop to a computer?

 

[hang-the-9]

Thank you for your reply and advice @hang-the-9. I found a computer monitor at my house and I’m hoping to set it up as a replacement for my laptop for now. I didn’t actually know what a USB enclosure was until you mentioned it. Is it possible to copy files out of a potentially dead laptop through this method? And is it possible to copy out my files from my laptop to a computer?

Just a monitor won't do you much good, you need an actual computer to use with it. Yes you can copy files out from the laptop, remove the drive, put it in the enclosure then use another computer to copy files from your user directory. Desktop, Documents, Favorites, Downloads are the ones that should contain all you need.

 

[binaryplant]

Thank you again for your reply, @hang-the-9. Fortunately, I managed to turn it on and it is functioning as normal. All the keys are working but some not as much as others since there’s rice stuck underneath that I still need to clean out. Also, thank you @webworkings for your responses as well.

 

[joesemos]

Not to worry just put a soft cotton cloth over there and take it off. it will sink water.

 

[webworkings]

You can't dry out the interior of a device with just a soft cloth.