Water spill: almost not turning on - side white light on - power light off

[nichierichetti]

Hello everyone,

today I spilled some water on the laptop. I immediately turned it off (forced) and removed all the liquid.

After doing this operation the power button stopped working, but for two times (with battery and charging) it turned on by itself, came until the password screen and then turned off as if i removed the power). In the cases when the screen wasn’t starting I noticed the caps lock blinking 3 times and then faster (but i am not sure if it was 3 or 4 times slow).

After a while it stopped at all doing that.

I noticed now that:

- with battery nothing happens

- with charging nothing happens

- with battery and charging the side light is fixed on white, but the power button is still off

what can I do? what is happening? I temporarily put it into rice just to see if there is any humidity left.

Thanks in advance! Hope there is a solution!

ps i already did the power reset thing (no battery-charging, pressing the power button for seconds and try again)

[iomare]

Hi,

With any water or liquid spill you should either dismantle the whole PC and dry and clean all the parts.

You should wait at least 12 hours and even better 24 hours before trying to restart the PC.

You need to first wait without applying any power to the machine.

Let me know,

David

[nichierichetti]

Hello there

thanks for your reply!

sadly it is impossible to dismantle the laptop because it is too complicated. I will wait for it to dry and see..

the weird stuff is that the charging light works, but the power button doesn’t turn on. Also, the two times when it started by itself, even if the screen was on the power button wasn’t 

Thanks again for your reply!

[nichierichetti]

Okay now the laptop started working again, but it doesn’t turn off. I mean, I switch it off, and after 5 seconds it automatically boots without any external input 😮

alao, the power button light now works, but seems the computer doesn’t receive the press input on it (nor in turn on/ nor in turn off)

[WAWood]

@nichierichetti 

Turn the laptop OFF -- and do NOT turn it back ON!!

Here are some tips on dealing with liquid damage: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/you-just-spilled-water-or-coffee-on-your-laptop-heres-what-you-should-d...

However ... it's most likely that SOME damage was done, regardless of how quickly you turned off the laptop and what you did afterward. The key problems are only the surface and almost certainly, more damage was done than that.

The ONLY way to know for sure is to take or send it to an HP Service Center and pay a LOT of money for them to run full diagnostics on it, and after that, to disassemble it to repair or replace any damaged components.

And, if the motherboard is damaged, the cost of repair can easily exceed the cost of replacing the laptop -- because (as far as I know) liquid spill damage is NOT covered under the warranty.

If you live in the U.S., here is a link to the HP Service Repair Centers:
https://www.service-center-locator.com/hp-hewlett-packard/hp-hewlett-packard-service-center.htm

If you live outside the U.S., here is a link to HP Service Centers, by Country/Region: https://support.hp.com/in-en/service-center

[nichierichetti]

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Hello there

thanks for your reply! actually the computer itself perfectly works! it is just the power button that even if the light on it works, is not responding, as well as the laptop itself that turns on on its own.

everything but the switch on/off seems to work

[iomare]

OK.

Can you provide the exact model or product number of the machine. Here is how to find it.

https://support.hp.com/it-it/document/c00219498

let me know,

David

[nichierichetti]

Here you are: 

HP Pavilion Notebook - 15-ab234nl (ENERGY STAR)

[iomare]

OK.

Now, the problem could have originated in many places. The best idea would be to take to a technician.

The power button board in your notebook can be replaced. I would first take out the board, see if any oxidation has occurred on the board or the slots where the ribbon cable attaches to the motherboard. Clean away any oxidation with contact cleaner (electrical). I would do this for most of the motherboard anyway. Place the button board back and see if it works

The board can also be replaced as you can see on page 67 of the service manual. You can find the part by searching online with the part number.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04642845

Hope it helps,

David

[fmooks]

Once I went through this unpleasant situation. But in my case, it was a cup of hot coffee. I thought I would throw away my laptop. So I closed it, wiped what I could, and immediately called for the technical specialist. I am from https://populationstat.com/japan/ and he lives next door. He came and opened the device. There was some liquid inside, but luckily it damaged nothing seriously. So all ended well.