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Possible water damage?
I had a water bottle next to me in bed last night while I was watching a show on my laptop. I had forgotten the bottle was there so when I moved my leg, water spilled onto the speaker/screen hinge portion of my laptop. From the looks, most of it just drifted off. I hadn't thought much of it as I was tired so I closed my laptop and went to bed. This morning I got up and was checking around on the Internet for a while and then I hear the faintest of pops and now my laptop won't turn on. I've left it tilted all day in rice where the water spilled. I opened it up after all day to see if there's water in it and there isn't. Question, is my laptop done for? Or is there any chance that leaving it be will allow me to continue work in a day or so?
ejn63
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May 9th, 2015 04:00
Remove the battery and leave the system to dry completely. It may come back to life -- if it doesn't, though, you're in for at least a mainboard replacement.
DELL-Infant R
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May 9th, 2015 09:00
Hi EnglishFry,
Thank you for writing to the Dell Community Forum.
If the system is not powering on after the liquid spillage, then the motherboard needs to be replaced. Does this system have a complete care warranty or was it purchased with a normal basic warranty?
EnglishFry
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May 9th, 2015 11:00
I was a basic warranty. But off if it's still active as the laptop was purchased more than a year ago. How much am I looking at spending to get a new motherboard?
ejn63
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May 9th, 2015 12:00
It's impossible to tell without knowing what model system you have -- and if it's a recent system, which processor (all new systems and a large percentage of those made in the last 2-3 years have a soldered-in CPU, so the CPU and mainboard have to be changed as a unit).
In general, figure on $250-350 for the board, plus $100 or so in labor.
EnglishFry
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May 9th, 2015 13:00
It's an Inspiration M5030
ejn63
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May 9th, 2015 13:00
The board and CPU are separate -- about $230 for the board:
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Add $75-100 for a shop's labor if you don't change it yourself.
The board alone may or may not solve the problem - there may be other components that were damaged.