Is my Laptop going to make it??!

Newhavenmama · 11-13-2008, 12:01 PM

Hi,
Sigh...long story short....had to take my daughter out of province for medical reasons and asked to borrow my boss's laptop so we would be able to easily keep in touch with family and friends. After a particularly stressful day, my husband decided to surprise me with a lovely glass of wine while I sent emails off to loved ones. Of course, the rest of the story is obvious....knocked my glass over and spilled some wine on the laptop!

I quickly tipped the laptop over on its side and let what had entered...exit! I powered off but because we were in a hotel room and I had no more access to the outside cyber world, I had no idea what to do next. So I turned the laptop upside down (screen) open and left it overnight. In hindsight, I wish I had not tried to power on the next morning but I did with no results. I left it alone until we had returned home whereby I tried to open up the back of it as much as I could to dry out. About 4 days later, tried it again and it showed life although would not get past Windows page and would then power off. I let it dry more and then took it to a repair guy. He turned it on and it actually booted up and went to the desktop!! But it would only stay on for a few minutes then power off. He told me to forget about it and go buy a new one. I knew there was no harm it trying a bit longer....that plus I didn't have the guts to tell my boss!! So I continued to apply some warm air....and lo and behold it booted up and worked! I was able to do everything - using the touch pad - the keyboard was dead! I tried plugging in an external keyboard and that worked fine.

So I thought that was the extent of the harm....and that hopefully a replacement keyboard would do the trick! However, last night...which was 2 weeks + 1 day after the incident...I powered up only to find the screen flicking and going dim...then bright again....then finally staying dim.

I couldn't believe that things could get worse again!

So now I sit here at work contemplating telling my boss that I have ruined his laptop but still holding on to that thread of hope that maybe...just maybe....there is something i can do to make this all right??!!! And without spending a lot of money that I don't have!

The patient in question is a Gateway MX7515.

If there is anyone out there who may be able to shed light

...offer assistance

...break the bad news

...

Thank you....

**TriggerFinger** · 11-13-2008, 06:51 PM

Try hooking up an external monitor. If it is bright and beautiful there then it could be the backlight or your inverter or your LCD.

Post back what you find out.

Newhavenmama · 11-13-2008, 08:23 PM

Kay - this laptop is messing with my head!! Tonight I turned it on to see what it was doing and to confirm it was still having the same problems.....well....the screen is perfect...it has loaded fine and I am sitting here typing on an external keyboard - but other than the keyboard not working, it's great??!!

So....at present...the keyboard is the only problem?! Does that mean that all I might need to do is replace the keyboard? Or might it continue to surprise me with problems down the road?

I am hoping for good news!

Thanks!

**TriggerFinger** · 11-14-2008, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newhavenmama

Kay - this laptop is messing with my head!! Tonight I turned it on to see what it was doing and to confirm it was still having the same problems.....well....the screen is perfect...it has loaded fine and I am sitting here typing on an external keyboard - but other than the keyboard not working, it's great??!!

So....at present...the keyboard is the only problem?! Does that mean that all I might need to do is replace the keyboard? -- at this moment yes.

Or might it continue to surprise me with problems down the road? -- we really cannot say as we do not know what is the extent of the spill so far.

I am hoping for good news!

Thanks!

11-13-2008, 12:01 PM	#1 (permalink)
Newhavenmama Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Is my Laptop going to make it??! Hi, Sigh...long story short....had to take my daughter out of province for medical reasons and asked to borrow my boss's laptop so we would be able to easily keep in touch with family and friends. After a particularly stressful day, my husband decided to surprise me with a lovely glass of wine while I sent emails off to loved ones. Of course, the rest of the story is obvious....knocked my glass over and spilled some wine on the laptop! I quickly tipped the laptop over on its side and let what had entered...exit! I powered off but because we were in a hotel room and I had no more access to the outside cyber world, I had no idea what to do next. So I turned the laptop upside down (screen) open and left it overnight. In hindsight, I wish I had not tried to power on the next morning but I did with no results. I left it alone until we had returned home whereby I tried to open up the back of it as much as I could to dry out. About 4 days later, tried it again and it showed life although would not get past Windows page and would then power off. I let it dry more and then took it to a repair guy. He turned it on and it actually booted up and went to the desktop!! But it would only stay on for a few minutes then power off. He told me to forget about it and go buy a new one. I knew there was no harm it trying a bit longer....that plus I didn't have the guts to tell my boss!! So I continued to apply some warm air....and lo and behold it booted up and worked! I was able to do everything - using the touch pad - the keyboard was dead! I tried plugging in an external keyboard and that worked fine. So I thought that was the extent of the harm....and that hopefully a replacement keyboard would do the trick! However, last night...which was 2 weeks + 1 day after the incident...I powered up only to find the screen flicking and going dim...then bright again....then finally staying dim. I couldn't believe that things could get worse again! So now I sit here at work contemplating telling my boss that I have ruined his laptop but still holding on to that thread of hope that maybe...just maybe....there is something i can do to make this all right??!!! And without spending a lot of money that I don't have! The patient in question is a Gateway MX7515. If there is anyone out there who may be able to shed light ...offer assistance ...break the bad news ... Thank you....

11-13-2008, 06:51 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,851 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Is my Laptop going to make it??! Try hooking up an external monitor. If it is bright and beautiful there then it could be the backlight or your inverter or your LCD. Post back what you find out. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE

11-13-2008, 08:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
Newhavenmama Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Re: Is my Laptop going to make it??! Kay - this laptop is messing with my head!! Tonight I turned it on to see what it was doing and to confirm it was still having the same problems.....well....the screen is perfect...it has loaded fine and I am sitting here typing on an external keyboard - but other than the keyboard not working, it's great??!! So....at present...the keyboard is the only problem?! Does that mean that all I might need to do is replace the keyboard? Or might it continue to surprise me with problems down the road? I am hoping for good news! Thanks!