Hi,

My 9 year old has a laptop that has been a lifesaver through lockdown and her two periods of isolation for school work.

It was left charging on the floor under a coffee table and her younger sister put a bottle of bubble mixture on the table, lid not on properly, knocked over, dripped onto the laptop. The lid was closed so it only seeped in around the edges.

I was out so my wife’s first reaction was to turn it on to see if it worked…..you can hear it power on but only a flicker from the screen.

I left it to try for a few days and tried it again. Same.

I took the keyboard off to see if there was anything obvious, no signs of damp, it seems like the connections for the screen are in the middle of the machine so away from the edges that might have got wet.

Left for a few more days and its the same.

Any advice for what might be wrong and how to fix it myself? Or is it worth taking to a repair place? What’s a repair likely to cost?

The laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad 310-15ABR, model no 80ST and has a manufacturing date of October 2014 with an AMD A10 processor. My Dad bought for himself, didnt know how to use it so left it lying around before gifting it to my daughter this time last year. Its probably bottom of the range but worked ok for what she needs.

Thanks for any advice!

I don’t know AMD well, but A10 seems to be a reasonably high-end processor.

That said, sadly it’s probably dead.

Most have a HDMI port, or even VGA on a 2014 laptop, it might be worth trying to connect it to a TV/Monitor to rule out a screen fault.

There will likely be a repair place local to you, I know a great one in Cardiff if that’s local to you, but water damage is often terminal. Sorry.

Again I’ve no experience of the AMD processor, but would agree it sounds terminal and beyond economic repair at 6 years old, if more complicated than the screen being dead (check with an external monitor). That said, look up your local IT and ask for a free diagnoses? With a view to having it repaired if viable.

If you can see where the fluid might have gone, you can try getting some contact cleaner (which is IPA = disk brake cleaner for MTB people), sprayed around that and thoroughly dried.

Thanks for the replies. I’ll try an external screen via the HDMI socket and report back!

Stop switching it on before you make it worse, take the battery out if you can and leave it somewhere warm and dry for at least a week. A desiccant will help, a bag of dried rice or one of those pots from the supermarket.

If it’s a Lenovo there’s a good chance they have the service guide as a free download on the website. Get that. (Make sure you’re on the UK site before you start.)

If you can see where the fluid might have gone, you can try getting some contact cleaner (which is IPA = disk brake cleaner for MTB people)

You can also use distilled water or even the water from your tumble drier if it is the condensing type.  Rub gently with a soft toothbrush.  I would only be doing this if I was stuck but I’ve rescued machines when I’ve been stuck and had no choice before.  Unplug the battery from the motherboard before doing this though

External screen is the best choice though

After the horse has bolted but I have a rule of no laptops or tablets charging layed flat unless on a table. So if it has to be on the floor it’s uptight to stop people sitting on it stepping on it etc.

Right, so an external screen works. That feels like good news.

How do I get the screen to work?! When it was apart it looked like there was a small ribbon cable that plugged in from the screen. I took this off and cleaned it.

This feels like good news, but what do I do now!?

I’ve taken it apart and the connection between screen and machine has overheated and melted. The screen and cable to the screen are damaged.

I can find replacement screens for about £50, but can I get a replacement cable?!