Water damaged laptop

A drink has gone over the keyboard, or the laptop has been caught in the rain, and you need to know what to do right now. Here it is: turn it off, unplug the charger, and do not turn it back on to check whether it still works. Liquid does its worst damage when it meets power, so a wet laptop that stays off has a genuinely good chance, and one that keeps running, or goes on charge, is being damaged while you watch. Do not put it in rice either; that is a myth that costs you the time that matters. The steps below are in the order that matters, so start there, then send us an enquiry. We will look at it, tell you honestly what the liquid has and has not reached, and give you one fixed quote before anything is done. If we cannot fix it, you pay nothing for the repair.

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The short version

Switch it off now. Do not press power to test it.
Do not charge it: power plus liquid is what kills boards.
Rice does nothing. It cannot reach the liquid inside.
Still working is not the same as safe. Corrosion carries on.
Your files usually survive, even when the laptop does not.

Try this first

What to do right now, in this order

This is the part that decides the outcome, and all of it happens before anyone sees the machine. Nothing here needs tools. If you would rather have it on paper, the same steps are on a printable sheet linked from our liquid and water damage page.

Hold the power button in until the machine goes fully dark, five to ten seconds. Liquid does its real damage when current is flowing through it, so cutting the power is the single thing that changes the outcome. Do not use the shut-down menu; it is far too slow.
Unplug the charger, at the laptop and at the wall, and lift the battery out if it unclips. Off is not off while power can still reach the board from any direction. If the battery is sealed inside, which most now are, leave it and move on rather than starting to take the machine apart.
Stand it open and upside down, like a tent, on a towel. The liquid drains back out the way it came in rather than running further down onto the board. Lift what you can reach with a dry cloth: dab it, do not wipe or scrub.
Leave the power button alone, and do not put it on charge to see whether it survived. This is the step that costs people their laptop. Testing it puts power across a wet board, which is exactly how a machine that could have been cleaned and saved becomes a dead one.
No rice, no hairdryer, no radiator, no hopeful windowsill. Rice cannot reach liquid inside a sealed machine, so it dries the outside and leaves the board wet. Heat is worse again: warm air spreads liquid further and can cook residue onto the board. Drying the surface was never the thing that saves it. Tenting it open on a towel while you arrange help is fine - a windowsill instead of help is the mistake.
Send us an enquiry, and say what went over it, roughly how much, and whether it was switched on at the time. From here it is how soon the board is opened and cleaned that matters, not how long the machine sits drying. Those three answers tell us what we are dealing with before we arrive.

What it usually means

What liquid actually does inside a laptop

Liquid stayed in the keyboard and never reached the board underneath, which is the best case and more common than people fear
Liquid has reached the mainboard, where it can short connections while the power is on and corrodes them while it sits
A sugary or milky drink has left a sticky residue that keeps conducting and corroding long after the wet patch has dried
Clean water got in, the kindest spill, where most of the harm comes from power flowing through it before it dries
The battery has taken liquid, which is the one part we treat with real caution after a spill
It seems fine today while liquid on the board quietly corrodes it, which is how laptops fail weeks after a harmless-looking spill

Not sure which is yours? Describe it in a message and we will tell you, free. Tell us what it is doing and we will work it out.

At a glance

What went in changes how much cleaning it needs

The first move is the same whatever it was. What differs is the residue left behind once the wet has gone, and that is the part that decides how much work the board needs.

What went over it	What it leaves behind	What that means
Clean water	Very little, once it has dried	The kindest spill. Powered off quickly, the odds are genuinely good.
Tea or coffee, especially with milk or sugar	A sticky residue that conducts and corrodes	Drying it out is not enough. The board wants cleaning properly.
Fizzy drinks, juice, wine or beer	Sugars and acids that keep working after the wet has gone	The same, and the residue can creep beyond the patch you can see.
Salt water	Salt, which corrodes quickly and holds onto damp	The most aggressive of the lot, so the sooner it is opened, the better.
Rain, or a bag that leaked	Usually little, unless it soaked through	Often recoverable, though damp reaches places a spill on the keys never does.

Whatever it was, the instructions above do not change: off power, unplugged, tipped to drain, left alone. What went in changes how the board is cleaned, not what you should do in the next few minutes.

What we do

How we clean a spill before the corrosion sets in

You tell us in your message what went over it, roughly how much, and how long ago
If it is still running, or still on charge, the first thing we will say is switch it off
We come to you across Leeds, or collect it, and with a spill sooner is genuinely better
We disconnect the battery first, so no power can reach the wet board while we work
We open it and find how far the liquid actually travelled, because a keyboard spill and a board spill are very different jobs
We clean the residue off the board rather than letting it dry in place, because dried residue carries on corroding
We check the battery before it is trusted again, and say plainly if it should be replaced
We tell you what we can see and what the odds are, because a spill is the one job nobody can honestly promise
You get a fixed quote before any work starts, and if it cannot be fixed, or is not worth it, you pay nothing beyond any call-out you agreed

Is it worth fixing?

Is a water damaged laptop worth repairing?

Worth a look, and quickly, because with liquid the odds genuinely improve the sooner it is dealt with. A spill that stayed in the keyboard, or one that was powered off fast and cleaned properly, very often ends well, and a keyboard or a battery is a modest part next to a new machine. The honest exception is a board that took liquid while powered and has then sat corroding for weeks, where the repair can grow beyond what an older laptop is worth. If that is where yours has landed we will tell you plainly. Your files are usually safe either way: the drive is one of the last parts a spill reaches, and it can normally be read on our own equipment even when the machine around it cannot be saved.

This is a liquid & water damage job. Advice by message is free, then you get one fixed quote before any work starts. If we cannot fix it, there is nothing to pay for the repair.

Send an enquiry and describe the fault

Where we work

We come to you across Leeds, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire

Home or work, day or night, Sunday to Friday. There is no walk-in shop, so we come to the machine, or collect it and bring it back. Start at computer repair in Leeds, or pick your area.

Questions

Water damage questions we get asked

It just happened. How quickly does it need looking at?

Sooner genuinely is better here, and that is chemistry rather than sales talk: residue keeps corroding while it sits, and sugary drinks are the worst for it. Do the steps above first, in order, because switching it off properly matters more than speed. Then get in touch and say it is a spill - tell us what went over it and when - and we will be straight with you about what is possible and when. What we will not do is quote you a turnaround we cannot stand behind.

I spilled water on my laptop but it still works. Am I in the clear?

Not yet, and this is the trap with liquid. A laptop can run for days or weeks after a spill while the liquid left inside quietly corrodes the board, and then fail well after the event. Working today does not mean dry inside. The safe move is to power it off, unplug it, and have it opened and checked, so any liquid still sitting on the board is cleaned off before it does lasting harm. Advice by message is free, so asking costs you nothing.

Should I put it in rice?

No. Rice is a myth that refuses to die. It cannot reach the liquid inside the machine, it does not stop corrosion, and it costs you the days when a proper clean would have made the difference, which is the one resource you do not have after a spill. The things that actually help are simple: power off, unplug, disconnect from charge, tip it so liquid can drain out rather than deeper in, and get it opened and cleaned properly, soon.

Can I charge it, or press the power button to test it?

Please do not. Electricity flowing through a wet board is what turns a spill into a dead laptop; the liquid itself is only half the problem. That covers the charger, the power button and leaving it running because it seems fine. Keep it off and unplugged until it has been opened, checked and cleaned. It is a hard instinct to resist, everyone wants to know if it still works, but testing it is the single most damaging thing you can do at this stage.

Can I open it up and dry it out myself?

Unless you are used to working inside laptops, we would rather you did not, and not because we want the work. A wet machine still has a charged battery in it, and disturbing a damaged battery is how this turns into something worse than a broken laptop. Modern cases are glued and clipped in ways that break if you go in blind. The bigger problem is that drying is not the job: the residue left behind is what keeps corroding, and lifting that off needs the right cleaner rather than patience. Off power, tipped to drain and left alone is the genuinely useful thing you can do, and it is most of the battle.

How long do I have before the damage is permanent?

There is no honest number of hours, and we will not invent one, but the direction is simple: the sooner the liquid is cleaned off the board, the better the outcome, and every day it sits there the corrosion spreads. A spill dealt with promptly is routinely fine; the machines that arrive weeks later, having been dried on a radiator and put back to work, are the ones where the damage has had time to take hold. Get in touch the same day if you can.

Does it matter that it was coffee, not water?

It does, and the table above sets out what each kind leaves behind. Clean water is the kindest spill, because once it dries it leaves little behind. Coffee, tea, juice, beer and anything milky or sugary leave a sticky residue that conducts and corrodes after the liquid has gone, so a machine that dried out fine from water can keep failing after a coffee. Sugary spills are exactly why drying is not enough and the board needs properly cleaning. Tell us what went over it when you get in touch; it changes how we treat the job.

Will my photos and files survive a spill?

Usually, yes. The drive that holds your files is one of the parts a spill reaches last, and it survives most liquid damage even in machines where the board does not. If the laptop cannot be saved, the drive can normally be read on our equipment and your photos and documents recovered from it. So do not power the machine on to rescue files, that risks the board for data that is almost certainly safe where it is.

Sound more like one of these?

Tell us what is wrong.

Send an enquiry and describe the fault. We will find the fault properly, give you a fixed quote before any work, and if we cannot fix it there is nothing to pay for the repair. A real person who does the work, not a call centre.