Resolved Spillage into HP Notebook

A friend brought her Compaq Presario CQ62-210US Notebook PC Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit to me. Her boyfriend accidently spilled Jagermeister onto the keyboard which seeped into the machine itself. The keyboard, display and wireless all stopped working. I had it working with an external keyboard, external display, and a USB wireless mini adaptor. In the Wireless Assistant showed the wireless adaptor as disabled and it is greyed out so I can't enable it. The Device Manager shows everything is working properly. When I tried to boot into Safe Mode with Networking everything powers up but I have no picture on the external display thus making it impossible to get out of safe mode. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Shut the PC down with the power button and then the next time it boots should go to regular mode or give you a choice.

 

I'll give that a try.

 

Yes I did. I think the system board may be suspect. Device Manager shows everything to be working properly. Even the internal keyboard, Display, and WLAN adaptor but they are not working.

 

MrBill your suggestion did not work. Before trying to start in safe mode. When I had the external Keyboard, display, and USB Wireless Mini Adaptor working. I could not even access the BIOS. Probably will have to tear it apart again.

 

Replaced the damaged keyboard but its still not working. It's getting power. The wireless key is lit(orange=disabled). There is a picture on the display but it is very dark. Had to use a flashlight to see what was on the screen. The brightness adjustment slider has a red X at the dimmest setting and the indicator is set to the brightest setting. The Wireless assistant setting is greyed out and showing disabled on the keyboard. I can only get an external keyboard and a USB wireless mini adaptor to work. I'm leaning towards some sort of system board damage. Anyone have any suggestions. When the booze was spilled into the machine it turned a laptop into a desktop. Maybe it's either drunk or hung over.

 

The immediate danger of most liquids on electronics is its ability to conduct electricity. A single drop of water can instantly create a short circuit allowing an electrical current to travel along an unintended path between the tightly packed traces and circuitry seen in modern electronic devices. This has the potential to immediately destroy the contacted electrical components.

 

Doc. I know about that. Thanks anyway.

 

Fiddling with software will never fix shorted circuitry. The damaged hardware needs to be repaired or replaced before the software stands a chance of running correctly.

 

Yeah Doc I know just being lazy I guess. I have it working with an external display, external keyboard, and a USB wireless mini adaptor(sound familiar). That's the USB wireless mini adaptor that you turned me on to from newegg.com. Is it worth it to tear it apart again and clean it again. If so with what cleaning solution would you suggest I use. Alcohol?

 

I suppose that depends on the extent of the damage and how much time and money you're willing to invest. A new motherboard alone is probably close to $200.

Soap, water and a soft toothbrush would clean it up, but that won't fix zapped components.

 

Just trying to be funny with the alcohol suggestion. Her boyfriend bought her a new notebook with Windows 8 which she hates. I told her to give it a chance. But she tolld me she loves Compaq Presario CQ62-210US with Windows 7. So I'll give it a shot. I still think it's a very strong possibility that some of the components on the system board are fried. They should rebottle Jagermeister and rename it Gorilla Booze. Thanks for the suggestion. Really appreciate it.

 

No problem and best of luck with the restoration.

 

There are several programs that can be used to make 8 look like earlier versions of Windows and are all free downloads. I use one made by IObit.

I think that after a couple of days she will get used to it. I did.

 

Thanks Doc. Thanks MrBill I'll pas along your suggestion and I looked up a few to give to her to.

 

Anyone know of Advanced Universal Laptop Motherboard Diagnostic Card? Found this.1. http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-PCI-E-...265900&sr=1-4&keywords=laptop+diagnostic+card or this,2. http://knightdiscounts.com/estore/advanced-universal-laptop-diagnostic-card-p-1265.html If anyone knows of another one that might be better by all means let me know. What ever one you recommend I'll go with that. I value your opinions very highly as anyone who ever steered me to a product was right on. Thanking you in advance.

 

Chose card #1 but when it arrived the led screen was defective. The company wanted me to download the pdf manual. They sent me the link for Adobe Reader X but it was for a Chinese Font Simplified package. I tried to explain to the company I do not speak Chinese, but they insisted I needed the Chinese fonts. Maybe I'm missing something. So I'm returning the card. I'll mark this thread resolved. If I find another card that tests System boards comparable to this one. I will update this thread.