<p>Ok, so i was pulling out a book while i was at a table about to type a paper, and as i was swinging around, i knocked a cup of water all over my laptop keyboard! Geez, I've only had it since July!</p>
<p>So.. water damage isn't covered under Acer warranties, so what am I supposed to do? some buttons work, some don't... what can i do? what should i do??</p>
<p>I'm willing to pay for a new keyboard if there is such a thing.. the system boots up ok (slower than before, but I can take it), and the DVD still works.. but i'd rather just have them fix it if they can so i can just get my laptop back to working. </p>
<p>I would try to not use it, disconnect the battery and AC adapter, and let it dry out. After a few days, hopefully the water will be completely evaporated and your hardware won't be ruined. Running the computer or having any electricity running through it while you have water on the hardware is just asking for a short or the like. If, after you've given the water a chance to evaporate and you put all the hardware/accessories back in, it still doesn't work (the keyboard I mean) you can definitely get an external one for relatively cheap (depending on brand and how fancy you want it) that can be used through a USB port. Good luck.</p>
<p>I'm persuming that you used some paper towels to mop up the spill. Gently shaking the laptop keyboard down should help somewhat. Get a can of compressed air and spray it around the keyboard, but from a distance. Stay a foot or so away while spraying to see if any additional water is underneath the keyboard. </p>
<p>A hairdryer on low might help as well. Just keep it a foot or so away from the keyboard.</p>
<p>Certainly remove the battery and check to see if water made it's way into the battery compartment. Dry if necessary. Most laptops have an access panel for the memory and the hardrive. If there looks to be access panels held in place with phillips screw heads and you feel confident enough to remove those panels, you can check to see if water reached those locations. Use compressed air and some paper towels to dry it off.</p>
<p>You can always take it to a repair shop. I hope it's just water and not pop/soda/coffee/tea etc. Sugar and acid from pop/soda is deadly!</p>
<p>Just hope the water didn't damage any circuits, or its toast. Since its been awhile already, you should check the laptops performance over a few days span. If it doesn't get better, or if it deteriorates considerably, then get it replaced.</p>
<p>Future reference: when that happens, immediately turn it off and pull out the battery. That will stop damage from shorts. Then, turn it upside down, let it dry, and take a hair dryer to it. Compressed air might work as well. When you are sure that it is completely dry (as in desert-like parched), replace the battery and turn it back on. All advice here has been good. </p>
<p>Replacing a keyboard is a pain - I had to do that (can you guess?). If you can get an external, just use that - and advice to not use the comp until you are sure that it's dried is good. Also, back everything up NOW while it's still working.</p>
<p>That really sucks man. I had a Toshiba Satellite that I really liked for about a year. Just last month there was a an absolutely torrential downpour (horizontal rain) and I managed to leave my window wide open with the fan on all night (directly next to my running laptop with the case open). When I woke up in the morning I sat down to use my computer only to realize that it was literally sitting in the middle of a quarter inch of rainwater. As I picked it up water poured out the bottom of it. Absolute worst feeling in the world (same thing happened to one of my friends the very same night). I held it up for a while and shook it so the water could drain out of it. Once it stopped dripping I laid it on its side on top of a towel and put 2 fans on it for the entire day. Then I made the mistake of trying to turn it on later that day. The screen actually turned on and started to almost boot up, but the screen blanked out a couple seconds later. Im sure I shorted something. I called Toshiba afterwords, and form what I gathered water to a laptop while its running is pretty much worst case scenario. Apparently my warranty was expired and I never bothered to register, so I was pretty much screwed. I was advised to open it up immediately and use a blow dryer on a low setting from a distance to dry everything off. You wait to long and the water oxidizes and then youre really screwed. If it wasnt running when water fell on it, DO NOT turn it on for a very long time and make sure everything is dried off fully before doing so, theres a good chance you can recover. If it was running like mine, theres a good chance stuff is fried. In my case, it never fully recovered and I bit the bullet, dipped into savings and dropped 2 grand for a new IBM. I feel for you, its not fun. At least you seem to boot up, so you might be able to escape with just replacing some stuff.</p>
<p>What a bummer justplayin! I'll tell you what my hubby did once and you won't feel like the only one who did something silly. He was in an airport, used the restroom then went to wash his hands. He put his computer bag in the sink next to his since the floor of the restroom was wet and dirty. He did not realize the faucets were automatically triggered and you guessed it - water poured into his computer bag. It destroyed his cell phone and palm pilot but luckily, water didn't get into the computer section. We all do things like this at some point so don't get too down on yourself. Good luck and let us know if you ever get it working.</p>
<p>Ariesathena is right on about immediately turning it off and removing the battery. Sometimes you can stop the damage in time.</p>
<p>So the morning after I read this thread, I proceed to spill coffee on my Dell laptop. Given that Murphy's law was in full force, this was the day I work at home and due to various other appointments could not go into the office. So, I proceed to use one of my son's machines for the day (limited to email and AIM). </p>
<p>Luckily, my system was ok the following day. I've since been told that since I drink my coffee black, I had a pretty good chance of a recovery. Evidently cream and sugar wreak havoc on electronics.</p>
<p>haha I'm sorry - I've had to replace so many keyboards (at my job as a computer tech at UCLA) just in the past year because of similar accidents. Just to reiterate ariesathena, if you spill something on your laptop, disconnect it from power and pull the battery out immediately! Then let it sit for at least a day after you try to dry it with an air can or hair dryer.
It's pretty funny though when some people bring their laptops in because of spilling liquid on it, and they say "yeah I spilled some water on it". Then I take it back and open it up and there is the distinct smell of hard liquor coming from the keyboard.</p>
<p>This is the worst case? I left mine on and a window open during a wind shear thunderstorm last night. desk was soaked but don't think the laptop was hit directly by the rain. it of course was partially shut down and blinked a couple of times when I tried to shut it down completely.....made a couple of chirping noised out of the speakers. so I pulled the power cord and battery (battery was dry) and tipped it on its side (no drips) and used a blow dryer on it for a while......I did try to fire it back up again after drying it for a while and so far it's DOA. nothing. I gather I should let it dry for a couple of days before trying again. But.....what if the flickering and the chirping was actually the thing shorting out since it was still partially powered and wet when I tried to shut it down? If it shorts what is the fix? if any.......</p>