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April 24, 2006
It's a Goner
edited -- my bad, reference fixed now. Thanks Dwight!
A recent post at Dwight Silverman's Tech Blog had me strolling down the horror highway: How to Kill Your PC. Reading through some of the ways geek types fried their PCs (Dwight points to PC Stats as the source of these sorry tales) did nothing to diminish the tune playing through my head: memories, light the corners of my mind, misty water-colored memories, of the way we were... ;-)
I considered leaving my own sorry story in Dwight's comments section but instead chose to put it here. Here's my own tale, posted in '03, of how I killed my laptop.
December 22, 2003 - I Think my Titanium is a Goner
My Titanium laptop took a sip of tea last night. Yes, really. Laptop + liquid = fried.
I'll just assume that it's a goner, since the on/off button is ... permanently off. Now I know why I dreamt of Steve Jobs the night before. (It was funny in an ironic sort of way because I was working for him, and all excited and happy about my new job.) I'm digressing (yes, because I want to weep bucketloads but what good will that do?)
What makes this even worse is that the G3 clamshell, which I am using to type this, is not set up for broadband - only dial-up. Dial-up being what it is means that I can't always access MT to post on my blog for whatever funky reason the IP address doesn't resolve. So I sit here and ponder.
Do I ... take the Titanium to the Apple Store and see if they can fix it? Do I ... take the Titanium to TechServ and see if they can fix it? What are the chances that I'd get a tech person from my cable company here to set up the broadband connection? It's a holiday week. So is next week. I want to cry. I really do. I know it's stupid and all, but it was a freak accident. An expensive one.
Someone tell me what to do here. I'm lost.
P.S. If for some reason there are no other posts here for the rest of the week, you'll know why. I'm wishing you all a happy holiday NOW because I may not be able to later on.
December 24, 2003 - TiBook Status
After hours of drying out, I couldn't resist the temptation to see if the machine would boot up. The good news is that the machine boots up now. The not-so-nifty news is that there seems to be a diagnostic problem with the rear end. I'll explain. When the machine booted up, I plugged in the power cord. The laptop didn't care for this and shut down immediately. I unplugged it again, waited a while and then turned the machine on. It booted successfully. I decided to try the Net connection, and plugged in the broadband box. Though the cable box reflects both a PC link as well as cable, the software for email and the Web browser did not respond. My guess is that the back-end of the laptop could be fried. Since I'm not a technician, I could be wrong (and that would be terrific) but as I wrote earlier, I'll wait until the new year before taking it wherever I need to take it.
And, to add a bit of humor to an otherwise unfortunate situation, my friend Marcus came up with a beauty. He wrote in the comments regarding my post, I Think my Titanium is a Goner:
I never thought I would write or say
"give your computer a blow job,"
but that is what it really needs.
Drying Out
I've taken everyone's good advice and stripped open the laptop. The battery is out as well as the keyboard, and I'll see if that helps any. The good news is the broadband is miraculously in sync now with the iBook, (I ended up being the tech person,) so that's helpful. However, though I've snapped out of my hysterics (well, not hysterics really, but I was a bit miffed at the stupidity of it all) I am indeed concerned about the Titanium. I was working on a few things simultaneously and wasn't at the backup point just yet when disaster struck. If it ends up that the machine still won't boot up, I'll wait until the new year before taking it to be repaired.
That's just the way it is ... for now. Plan for the worst but hope for the best. :-)
Thanks to all for the helpful hints!
January 12, 2004 - Titanium Update
For those who are curious about what happened to the laptop after I spilled tea on it ...
Last week I took the laptop to the Apple Store only to find the Genius Bar closed for 4 hours thanks to Steve Job's keynote at MacWorld. No offense to Steve worshipers out there but this infuriated me. It made no sense whatsoever to have all the technically elite just standing there watching the big screen -- I'd think one could listen to the speech while working, yes? grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Anyway, the machine powers up but all external devices do not work. This includes everything -- the power cord, the CD slot, etc. Anything that plugs in no longer works. Okay, that's one problem identified. The good news is that when it boots up, all my files are still there ... so I'm hopeful. I plan a return visit to the Apple Store sometime this week.
Let Us Pray ...
It is with a heavy heart that I report the untimely death of my Titanium. The coroner's report (aka the genius at the Apple Store's Genius Bar) attributed the unfortunate demise to death by drowning (due to carelessness.) All lifesaving methods had been deployed and there was little hope in saving the files that existed on the hard drive (now known as the 'soft' drive.) The coroner (aka the genius) suggested an (Apple) autopsy -- leave the laptop there and gamble with $150 to see whether or not files could be recovered. Unable to bear further pain, the widow declined, thinking of those she knew who were technically adept, and thought perhaps it would be better to pay them to try it instead.
Survivors include the laptop's sister, the G3 clamshell along with the grieving widow, who requests kind words, virtual hugs and almost anything else one would like to contribute in lieu of flowers. The widow held a private service this afternoon, and placed a bowl of red apples and a framed photograph of Steve Jobs next to the gravesite.
Cindy
Comments
Oh, what a shame! At one report you were able to turn on and boot the machine, at the next it was a total loss. What happened in between? Did you ever get your files off?
If I ever spilled liquid, especially something potentially sticky like tea, into a laptop, I would immediately power off, remove the battery, disks, and anything else easily removable. I'd take the covers off the laptop, and if possible remove the disk drive and optical drive. Then I'd rinse the innards with warm (not hot) water to flush away the foreign liquid, gently shake as much excess water off the laptop's innards as possible, and prop the thing in a dishwasher rack to dry. If possible, I'd speed the drying with a fan set back a foot or two. (Don't use a hair dryer - too much heat!)
There's no reason why SHORT exposure to foreign liquid should render you laptop inoperable, if cleaned out quickly. What you don't want to do is to allow the liquid to dry in there where the trace remnants of the tea can cause short-circuits. This is why rinsing with warm water is a good idea: it'll eliminate anything that can muck up the insides of your computer, but it will evaporate away cleanly.
I have actually saved several devices like keyboards and a Palm Pilot like this. Better luck next time.
Brain matter deposited by: Jim Thompson on April 24, 2006 10:59 AM
Allways a sasd thing when a computer dies on you.
But also een geekjoy to buy a new one.
BTW, did you see the new Macbook Pro 17"
Brain matter deposited by: Joost on April 24, 2006 11:33 AM
Hi Jim - welcome to DMB, where you never know WHAT will happen! :-)
Thanks much for your words o' wipeout wisdom. Where were you in '03? Sheesh. NOW the geeks show up. What's a girl to do? (wink) I'll save your comment in case I ever need to reference it. For now, all liquids remain on a table UNDER the desk, never ON it.
Joost - I'm not even going to check it out. Dwight's posted about the new machine on his Tech blog (see my reference to him above) -- but I'm just not GOING to look at that new one. No way, no how, too much $.
Brain matter deposited by: Cindy on April 24, 2006 1:37 PM
Actually, Squip, the source of the tales of woe is PC Stats, not Digg. Digg's just where I saw the initial link to the PC Stats story.
Brain matter deposited by: Dwight Silverman on April 24, 2006 6:16 PM
Dwight, oops! I fixed it. Thanks for pointing it out. :-)
Brain matter deposited by: Cindy on April 24, 2006 8:53 PM
<lights a candle>
The poor little guy; cut down in the prime of his life.
In case you're in need of another useless factoid, isopropyl alcohol, preferably medicinal grade would also be worth trying (you should be able to source this from your local pharmacy).
This will actually disperse water and foreign liquids before it evaporating. It's a better substitute than distilled water, however timing is critical here - if you can't get isopropyl alcohol quickly, stick with the distilled water.
Brain matter deposited by: Greg on April 25, 2006 10:07 AM
Yes, the new macbook is so (maybe too) exspansive...
But it is such a cool machine....
Brain matter deposited by: Joost on April 25, 2006 10:41 AM
That fucking rocks!!! The grieving widow!!! I had forgotten how funny your coverage of that unfortunate event was...
Ken
Brain matter deposited by: Kenster on April 26, 2006 3:39 AM