When I was in the forces, we had what we called 'immediate action drills' which you had to do quickly in order to save your life and the lives of others. This was trained into us and done efficiently and effectively. You could apply this logic to laptop accidents and repair... Most people think of their mobile devices as a tool and do not think of the damage a broken item can cause with data loss, esp those e-mails and contact/address books. So here is my IA for laptops...
1) Disconnect from power IMMEDIATELY - this includes AC and battery.. Get the item off. A little bit of data loss is far better than a bricked machine.
2)SPILLAGE - turn the laptop upside down straight away. Keyboards always have a 'splash deck' were the keys are attached. Fluid reaching here can be stopped at this point by simply inverting the machine. You may lose a keyboard, but you may save your machine.
3) Stick it on a towel if wet upside down to soak any fluid away.
4) Remove the hard drive and RAM and if you can access it easily the CMOS battery. This can save your data and also the laptop, by preventing an accidental switch on with residual power.
5) Dry it out THOROUGHLY before attempting a switch on after the event.
This comes from experience and can also be used with digital cameras/pda/tablets and cell (mobile) phones. Getting the battery out of a camera or phone and leaving it unpowered until dry has saved it.
As you can guess I have repaired a fair few water damaged devices. Almost all are saved by quick thinking and simply getting them powered off and leaving them off.
1) Disconnect from power IMMEDIATELY - this includes AC and battery.. Get the item off. A little bit of data loss is far better than a bricked machine.
2)SPILLAGE - turn the laptop upside down straight away. Keyboards always have a 'splash deck' were the keys are attached. Fluid reaching here can be stopped at this point by simply inverting the machine. You may lose a keyboard, but you may save your machine.
3) Stick it on a towel if wet upside down to soak any fluid away.
4) Remove the hard drive and RAM and if you can access it easily the CMOS battery. This can save your data and also the laptop, by preventing an accidental switch on with residual power.
5) Dry it out THOROUGHLY before attempting a switch on after the event.
This comes from experience and can also be used with digital cameras/pda/tablets and cell (mobile) phones. Getting the battery out of a camera or phone and leaving it unpowered until dry has saved it.
As you can guess I have repaired a fair few water damaged devices. Almost all are saved by quick thinking and simply getting them powered off and leaving them off.
