- If any liquid is on the battery or AC adapter, wipe them carefully and
set them aside.
If the AC adapter or the battery has been thoroughly soaked, your
best bet is to consider one, the other, or both a loss. Replacement AC
adapters and batteries are available from various sources, including the
original equipment manufacturer, from laptop accessory companies like
http://www.iGo.com, and on the used market through http://www.eBay.com. - Remove any cards installed in the PC Card slot.
If they’re wet, carefully dry them off. If any water has gotten into the
narrow slot, dry out the area with a cotton swab, taking care not to
leave any threads of cotton in the internal connector. - Wipe off any liquid on the display.
Use a clean cloth dampened with water to remove any sticky residue. - Remove the hard drive and the CD/DVD drives if they’re installed in
plug-in bays.
Dry them off if wet. Set them aside. Consult your laptop’s instruction
manual for specific instructions on removing a drive. - Open the memory module container; remove and dry the memory
modules.
Make notes on the placement of the modules. Set them aside.
The most likely site to collect a puddle of pop or a cuppa java is the key-
board, and this may or may not be a serious problem. If your laptop has
a plastic or rubber-like membrane beneath the keys this should protect
against leakage to the motherboard beneath. If it has individual springs
and switches beneath each key, the cleanup will be more laborious and,
in the instance of a major spill, the prognosis is uncertain. It should be
relatively easy to mop up a reasonable-sized mess.- Hand-dry the keyboard surface with a lint-free cloth.
If you spilled soda or coffee, consult the instruction manual for your
computer and learn how to carefully remove each of the keycaps for the
affected area. If the instruction manual includes a picture of the keyboard,
make sure you can see the names of all the keys and their locations;
otherwise make a drawing of the board, paying special attention to the
location of some of the specialized keys, including cursor keys, Page Up,
Page Down, Scroll Lock, and the like. One other shortcut: Use a digital
camera to take a picture of the keyboard.- Clean the exposed membrane or switch cover and the keys themselves.
Leave the keys to dry before replacing them. By now you should have an
open shell of a laptop.34 Part II: Explaining What Could Possibly Go Wrong