Doing a powerpoint presentation this morning on my 3 month old Presario State of the art laptop.
While sipping my coffee I gestured expansively to my audience, banged my coofee on the podium and accidentally dumped 16 ounces of steaming java into the keyboard of my almost new laptop.
Quickly I pulled the power cord and removed the battery (coffee came out of the battery slot,) but the damage is done. The laptop is a total loss. I really don’t feel like shelling out $2,500 for a new one right now. My warranty does not cover stupidity.
I made a fool out of myself in front of the whole office (my friend Chris said it was probably the most compelling demonstration of technology he’d seen in a long time though.)
As a portfolio manager, I’m crippled without my laptop, so I guess I have to buy a new one.
I spilled a drop of a potent neurotoxin on my leg this morning and then spent the whole morning looking up the effects (drosiness, headaches, tingling in the extremities, hallucinations, etc…) so every time I, for instance, yawned, I thought I was knockin’on death’s door.
Then I had to do the experiment all over again because it didn’t work.
My solution: As my friend says, “The beginning to and end of all of life’s problems lies within the power of beer.”
Don’t hate yourself, Scylla. It was one of the gonzo accidents that happen to everyone. If 'twere a sin to drink coffee (or whatever) around computers, damned few of us would come off too well.
It was a major bummer, but just One Of Those Things. You weren’t hurt, no one died, and maybe the laptop could be revived. Even if it can’t, you didn’t do anything stupid. Shit happens; I know 'cause I read it on a bumpersticker.
Honestly, reflect on some of the stories Dopers have told on themselves about embarrassing moments. You’re in excellent, and humane, company. Someday you’ll relate this with glee.
Scylla, are you sure your warranty won’t fix it for you? I broke the modem cable and the slot it fits into in the modem card and Dell replaced them for me. Also, are you sure your computer is ruined? I did something similar a few years ago and after about a day of drying out the computer worked again.
Our friend Wanderer is probably on to something. You’ve stated that you unplugged the thing right away. Because of that act, it’s possible that no components were damaged. Of course, we’re talking about coffee here, so just drying it out isn’t going to help much. There is a possible solution, though. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I think you should rinse your laptop with distilled water. This will remove the coffee residue. If you then let it dry out in front of a fan for a few days, it just might work. If not, well, at least you’ll have the satisfaction of dumping liquids into an expensive piece of hardware on purpose. Tell that to your new laptop, and you can be sure it will never give you any trouble.
Hey, did you happen to buy it with one of those premium Visa cards? One of the Visa commercials had a guy dropping an expensive vase, and then they said, “No problem. I paid with my Premium/Platinum/Super Duper Visa card!”
It’s worth a shot.
P.S. A lightning bolt blew out my VCR last night. It wasn’t as expensive as your laptop, but it still sucked.
Hey Scylla, Wanderer & tymp are probably right. And even if they aren’t, five bux sez that mega-hard drive with all your shit on it, the SIMMs, the CD burner, etc will probably still work. Maybe even the level 2 cache might transfer. Buy a stripper and move the parts.
On a different front, Nissin Stainless from Japan makes a really cool industrial duty thermos mug with a screw on lid for about $30. I accidentally slammed the hood of my truck on mine and there’s just a little dent - in the hood. I even saved most of the coffee. And it’ll keep a cup of coffee hot on a cold night for almost an hour.
Oh, and we’ll all hate you too, if it helps any. I think.
I can see how a stripper might cheer Scylla up, but I don’t think strippers would terribly helpful in moving the parts. I can just see Scylla there fussing over his laptop while the stripper is trying frantically to get his attention.
And that would totally defeat the purpose of hiring a stripper. I mean, really. There’s absolutely nothing erotic about touching computer parts – even if you’re naked.
Tech support in my office said they recently took a call from a woman being very very vague about what she spilled on her keyboard. Didn’t want to say. Turns out she knocked over her container of freshly-pumped breastmilk (BTDT).
So, small comfort, but, er, at least it was coffee?
I’m not sure about laptop computers but we used to use WD40 on TV tuners. It displaces moisture and is will not conduct electricity.It will smell funny for a while though.
I believe before giving up on it completely I’d give it a try.
Was the coffee black?
The fact that it got into the battery compartment is probably better than a drive.
Now that I think of it I’ve cleaned cassette tape drives with it also. Had to go back and clean it again with alcohol to remove the lubricant though.
Anyone want to comment?
Thanks for the advice, but I am well and truly screwed. I spent a hundred bucks to have an authorized dealer try to get it working again, and he said it was dead.
I don’t want to try and use my homeowners insurance because that just make my rates go up (trust me, it often does.)
So, I’m pricing a nifty refurbished Dell laptop. P3 500, 64mb Ram, 12 gig hard drive, DVD, modem, 8mb video card, 14.1 in screen, $1900. Whaddaya think?
BTW, I got a big laugh out of the “stripper” line.
I can just see myself hunched over the laptop as it drips coffee, saying irritably “Will you PLEASE get your boobs out of my face and hand me that allen wrench?”
Unk. Still leading with my chin as usual. All I can say in defense is, if I had a stripper I would be thinking of moving different laptop parts if ya knowwaddimean.
