I've got unwanted milk in my laptop.

January 9, 2007 6:25 PM

Milk on the laptop

So we spilled some cereal and associated skim milk (maybe 1/2 cup) onto the laptop keyboard.

Hard drive and optical drive are out, and seem dry.

So what's the next step? Quick bath in 50/50 alcohol/water and then drying? Just let it dry in a pile of rice for a few days?

posted by ROU_Xenophobe to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

What model notebook is it. In a lot of them you can remove the keyboard pretty easily (usually remove a plate near the binding of the screen, then two screws and you can lift the keyboard out. After that the keyboard is pretty easy to rinse off, and without the risk of damaging more fragile components. Blowdry after without getting it too hot.
posted by furtive at 6:31 PM on January 9, 2007

Response by poster: Acer Travelmate 2300. I'm looking for that information now.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:32 PM on January 9, 2007

If it was mine, I'd take it all apart down to major module level (including removing the CPU from the mobo, if it looked like any milk had gone anywhere near the CPU socket), rinse the affected parts in a strong stream of lukewarm running water to get rid of the milk, then a final rinse in deionized water to get rid of the tap water solutes, a good shake and pat dry with a slightly-damp bath towel (because you don't want to zap the thing with static electricity) and thoroughly air dry everything for a couple of days before putting it back together. This would suck, but not as much as using a laptop that stank of rotten milk and failed in a couple of months. Good luck!
posted by flabdablet at 6:35 PM on January 9, 2007

I feel your pain. I've twice spilled cups of coffee on my laptops - one survived, and one needed a new mobo/chipset, optical drive, and battery. So my advice comes with a 50/50 success rate. It really came down to how quickly I reacted and how much the keyboard was separated from the rest of the delicate parts.

Here's what saved my first laptop: First, right after I spilled the coffee and swore categorically, I removed the battery to avoid shorting anything out - I don't know if that mattered. Then I quickly removed all easily accessible items: HDD (check), optical drive (check), and RAM. Then I stood the laptop up at an arch, on it's screen and base, to allow things to drain while I ran off to find tools. My reasoning here was that most of the critical components were most likely mounted to the bottom, so I wanted to avoid any pooling. (This was not the case for my other, deceased laptop, but in these situations, you hardly have the time to find physical schematics so I took a chance.)

With better tools and space to work, I then disassembled everything. Unplugged every component and set it aside for cleaning. (My warranty being voided already via spilled coffee, I figured what the hell.) To my horror, almost everything was soaked with coffee. I used 70% rubbing alcohol and a lot of Q-Tips to clean everything off (no other water mixed in). I did this several times, meticulously cleaning every contact and connector, and then let the whole pile of parts dry out under a fan for 24 hours.

Turns out the only things I needed to replace were the battery and the keyboard*. That particular laptop continued to run for several months, albeit smelling like a Starbucks garbage can. Problems started cropping up later, but I don't know if it was coca related. I eventually had to get a new laptop, but at least I had time to back everything up and find a suitable replacement while still getting work done on the salvaged one.

The second time, everything went to hell. I won't bother you with the details.

* Since then I've heard tell you can run keyboards in a dishwasher, so who knows, maybe I could've saved that one.

Good Luck!
posted by krippledkonscious at 7:00 PM on January 9, 2007

Some models of laptop have drain holes in the keyboard to allow any wayward liquid to drain harmlessly (to the rest of the computer) away. If yours does, tilting the keyboard at odd angles is about the worst thing you can do for it!
posted by wierdo at 12:10 AM on January 10, 2007