I need some help from computer types out there...

[RonJohnSilver]

This morning I spilled coffee into my computer, not a little, a lot. Knocked a full cup right into the keyboard. Unplugged it, cleaned up and turned it on its side to drain it. When coffee will drain out of your computer, well, that's not normal. Plugged it in again....nothing. So, I took it to the Staples tech people and they said they could not fix it and that I would likely have to send it to the factory. Now, plan B. I have a spare computer, actually the one I used prior to upgrading 3 yrs ago. I'm using it now. It's possible, possible, that they will be able to recover the files, etc from the other one and put on this one. Possible. Plan C...they have a ChromeBook which is designed for web surfing and one MS Office use. About $250. I use the computer because I teach in church so I use a lot of PowerPoint and web sources but not much else. So, here's my dilemma....Should I just buy another new one? I haven't checked prices, but likely looking at 1500$ at the high end. Maybe 800 at the low. Or, get the files transferred to this computer and then upgrade this one...faster, more storage, etc? The defunct one was 3 years old, this one, about 10 (It's Windows 7). That's a lot of upgrading money wise, almost close to a new one. Or, should I get a Chromebook or something similar? Its hard to know if it will be enough for my use without ever having used one. So, that's where I'm at. Just to end the story, I was at my daughter's house sitting at her table when it happened. I only justify the spillage by noting that I was unfamiliar with a new table and the arrangement of her items and mine so the cup was not where I would have normally placed it. Yeah, my wife didn't believe it either. Anyway, thoughts? Recommendations?

 

[caligal]

I don't do any tech stuff but I liked windows 7 alot. So sorry about your computer.

 

[Tall Timbers]

Condolences. I'm guessing you don't have a copy of your data files. I'm gonna guess that the computer that was baptized was a laptop. Data from the hard drive may be recoverable for a price. You can get a good laptop for around a $1000, give or take a hundred. When you get the new laptop I encourage you to also purchase a portable drive that you can use to keep a current copy of all your data files. If you get a windows system, find SyncToy and use that to replicate your files from the laptop to the portable drive.

 

[Jonathan]

This morning I spilled coffee into my computer, not a little, a lot. Knocked a full cup right into the keyboard. Unplugged it, cleaned up and turned it on its side to drain it. When coffee will drain out of your computer, well, that's not normal. Plugged it in again....nothing. So, I took it to the Staples tech people and they said they could not fix it and that I would likely have to send it to the factory. Now, plan B. I have a spare computer, actually the one I used prior to upgrading 3 yrs ago. I'm using it now. It's possible, possible, that they will be able to recover the files, etc from the other one and put on this one. Possible. Plan C...they have a ChromeBook which is designed for web surfing and one MS Office use. About $250. I use the computer because I teach in church so I use a lot of PowerPoint and web sources but not much else. So, here's my dilemma....Should I just buy another new one? I haven't checked prices, but likely looking at 1500$ at the high end. Maybe 800 at the low. Or, get the files transferred to this computer and then upgrade this one...faster, more storage, etc? The defunct one was 3 years old, this one, about 10 (It's Windows 7). That's a lot of upgrading money wise, almost close to a new one. Or, should I get a Chromebook or something similar? Its hard to know if it will be enough for my use without ever having used one. So, that's where I'm at. Just to end the story, I was at my daughter's house sitting at her table when it happened. I only justify the spillage by noting that I was unfamiliar with a new table and the arrangement of her items and mine so the cup was not where I would have normally placed it. Yeah, my wife didn't believe it either. Anyway, thoughts? Recommendations?

Sorry to hear about that. I DO feel your pain. I've done that not once, but twice. It is the reason I have a latex guard on top of my keyboard.

I can't really give you the best answer, but to use your questions as a catalyst to general advice for anyone reading this, water itself is harmful because it conducts electricity quite well. The essentially ends up short circuiting whatever electronic you spill it on. If, you spill water (and well, just in case you can get extra lucky) another type of fluid on your electronic advice. The first thing you want to do is IMMEDIATELY disconnect power and shut it down. Assuming it survives the initial bath, the electronic device in question has a decent chance of returning to normal if you just don't bother it for several days, and allow all of the liquid to evaporate completely.

While I have never heard it suggested for laptops, I have heard many tech experts say if this happens to your non-water resistant phone, placing it is a bag of very dry rice and sealing it tightly will accelerate the dehydration process.

I've seen it work.

On the other hand, a coffee spill leaves little room for optimism simply because it is more than just water.

One thing I've started doing is making a full image backup every few months using a backup program like Acronis. External HDs are extremely affordable, and often have even more HD space than your computer. With a program like Acronis and an External HD, you can fully back up your computer to easily recover it even if you are recovering it into a new or different PC.

Finally, there is a very decent chance your HD may have been unaffected. In which case, there are ways to simply remove the HD, insert it into a compatible interface, and copy the data that way which can then be restored to whatever platform you have available.

Good luck!

 

[Matthew6:33]

Take the battery out and cover any fan vents with tape, and shove the laptop into a garbage bag with a few lbs of rice. Pray to the Lord that He will resurrect it like Lazarus. Maybe after a day or two it might work if it didn't get shorted out, but it most likely did. Hopefully the HD wasn't fried - if it was your data is probably gone.

If you want to go cheap, I would check out the used market. You can get used laptops for much cheaper and they usually include everything you need. I have used many in the past and they have always worked great.

As far as the Microsoft products, everything is Office365 on the cloud (not sure if this is what you use right now?).

My wife did this same thing to her laptop but didn't spill much coffee, just maybe an oz. It dripped perfectly through one of the cracks onto her HD and shorted it and fried it - all the data was gone but I was able to salvage the laptop with a new HD and (free) Linux OS. It's just the nature of the beast unfortunately.

 

[daygo]

Don't fully understand you say spilt drink on keyboard how did it effect computer if it went into computer itself, very difficult to get working again, also my advise would be build your own computer I did much more powerful and lot cheaper and its not difficult.

 

[Tall Timbers]

Don't fully understand you say spilt drink on keyboard how did it effect computer if it went into computer itself, very difficult to get working again, also my advise would be build your own computer I did much more powerful and lot cheaper and its not difficult.

It was probably a laptop keyboard (computer components underneath the embedded keyboard).

 

[Lynn]

If you get a windows system, find SyncToy and use that to replicate your files from the laptop to the portable drive.

TT, at your convenience, I would like to know what I need to transfer my files from IMac Pro desktop to a laptop? Also, just purchased a new Apple laptop. What would I need for in order to save my files externally for safe keeping? Thanks for your willingness to help those of us who are less tech savvy than you are.

 

[Tall Timbers]

TT, at your convenience, I would like to know what I need to transfer my files from IMac Pro desktop to a laptop? Also, just purchased a new Apple laptop. What would I need for in order to save my files externally for safe keeping? Thanks for your willingness to help those of us who are less tech savvy than you are.

I don't know anything about Apple systems, unfortunately. It appears that portable USB hard drives will work with Apple systems. You can purchase a Seagate or Western Digital USB drive and then google how to change the formatting to HFS+. After the drive has been formatted to work with Apple, you can copy your data files to the portable drive and then later copy them to the new computer. I don't know where the default data storage location is for Apple, but I'll be someone here knows. If you're using iCloud to store your data files, then they should be available to you through the cloud once you log into Apple via your new laptop.

I think 2 TB portable drives go for around $50 or so when they're on sale at Costco or Amazon. Once you have your data files on the portable hard drive I'd encourage you to occasionally copy your new/changed data files to the portable hard drive. That'll protect your data when you spill coffee onto your laptop. My daughter, who is working from home, keeps drinks on her work desk and doesn't screw the cap back on between sips. It's only a matter of time before she baptizes her keyboard... I'm sorry that when it comes to Apple products I have almost no knowledge. Best wishes.

 

[Lynn]

If you're using iCloud to store your data files, then they should be available to you through the cloud once you log into Apple via your new laptop.

I think 2 TB portable drives go for around $50 or so when they're on sale at Costco or Amazon. Once you have your data files on the portable hard drive I'd encourage you to occasionally copy your new/changed data files to the portable hard drive

Thank you, TT. I got the laptop set up this afternoon and plan to transfer files soon. Your information is very helpful, and I appreciate your time in giving so much detail.

 

[daygo]

I don't know anything about Apple systems, unfortunately. It appears that portable USB hard drives will work with Apple systems. You can purchase a Seagate or Western Digital USB drive and then google how to change the formatting to HFS+. After the drive has been formatted to work with Apple, you can copy your data files to the portable drive and then later copy them to the new computer. I don't know where the default data storage location is for Apple, but I'll be someone here knows. If you're using iCloud to store your data files, then they should be available to you through the cloud once you log into Apple via your new laptop.

I think 2 TB portable drives go for around $50 or so when they're on sale at Costco or Amazon. Once you have your data files on the portable hard drive I'd encourage you to occasionally copy your new/changed data files to the portable hard drive. That'll protect your data when you spill coffee onto your laptop. My daughter, who is working from home, keeps drinks on her work desk and doesn't screw the cap back on between sips. It's only a matter of time before she baptizes her keyboard... I'm sorry that when it comes to Apple products I have almost no knowledge. Best wishes.

Interesting t.t thanks for this as well.

 

[pixelpusher]

Thank you, TT. I got the laptop set up this afternoon and plan to transfer files soon. Your information is very helpful, and I appreciate your time in giving so much detail.

Apple has a migration tool built into the OS to handle all that for you. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350

I second the external backup drive, and have had good experiences with Western Digital drives, Seagate and LaCie.

@RonJohnSilver: If everything you're doing is online, a Chromebook will probably cover you. It's not a traditional laptop tho.

My $.02, fwiw

 

[daygo]

Apple has a migration tool built into the OS to handle all that for you. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350

I second the external backup drive, and have had good experiences with Western Digital drives, Seagate and LaCie.

@RonJohnSilver: If everything you're doing is online, a Chromebook will probably cover you. It's not a traditional laptop tho.

My $.02, fwiw

WDD and Seagate are good.

 

[Bethlehem57]

This morning I spilled coffee into my computer, not a little, a lot. Knocked a full cup right into the keyboard. Unplugged it, cleaned up and turned it on its side to drain it. When coffee will drain out of your computer, well, that's not normal. Plugged it in again....nothing. So, I took it to the Staples tech people and they said they could not fix it and that I would likely have to send it to the factory. Now, plan B. I have a spare computer, actually the one I used prior to upgrading 3 yrs ago. I'm using it now. It's possible, possible, that they will be able to recover the files, etc from the other one and put on this one. Possible. Plan C...they have a ChromeBook which is designed for web surfing and one MS Office use. About $250. I use the computer because I teach in church so I use a lot of PowerPoint and web sources but not much else. So, here's my dilemma....Should I just buy another new one? I haven't checked prices, but likely looking at 1500$ at the high end. Maybe 800 at the low. Or, get the files transferred to this computer and then upgrade this one...faster, more storage, etc? The defunct one was 3 years old, this one, about 10 (It's Windows 7). That's a lot of upgrading money wise, almost close to a new one. Or, should I get a Chromebook or something similar? Its hard to know if it will be enough for my use without ever having used one. So, that's where I'm at. Just to end the story, I was at my daughter's house sitting at her table when it happened. I only justify the spillage by noting that I was unfamiliar with a new table and the arrangement of her items and mine so the cup was not where I would have normally placed it. Yeah, my wife didn't believe it either. Anyway, thoughts? Recommendations?

Ever since I could stop working on any Microsoft, I got an iPad. It cost a bit mor, but I invested in a keyboard, pencil and mouse. I don’t have to worry about the next Windows update or what virus I might get next.

You can get a refurbished model relatively cheaply and add the extended warranties. I highly recommend a good protector and screen cover. Whatever you do on the previous machine can be done on an IPad. I know that Apple isn’t popular with a lot of people, but Microsoft isn’t great either. What little I have used a Chromebook, I didn’t like it either.

Just my two cents.

 

[Tall Timbers]

Recommendations?

At 70 yrs old, I recommend you stick with what you know.

One of my sisters and her husband are in their 70's. One or more of their kids helped them switch their phones and computer to Apple. The kids thought they were doing them a favor of course... My sister and her husband have since been struggling with their computer and phones and rue the day they switched over. The different choices we have are all good for a portion of the population, but it's my opinion and experience that it's better if older folks stick with what they're familiar with. It was a big change to just allow computers in their lives... then cell phones... and then to figure out how to do everything that has moved online.

Today's operating systems are all pretty rock solid. The Microsoft OS isn't a buggy thing. Updates are smooth. Apple is good. Linux in it's many forms is excellent. It's easy to connect peripherals to today's devices... it wasn't always easy... Viruses are being written for every OS out there. Everyone should have a good antivirus installed on their devices.

 

[daygo]

At 70 yrs old, I recommend you stick with what you know.

One of my sisters and her husband are in their 70's. One or more of their kids helped them switch their phones and computer to Apple. The kids thought they were doing them a favor of course... My sister and her husband have since been struggling with their computer and phones and rue the day they switched over. The different choices we have are all good for a portion of the population, but it's my opinion and experience that it's better if older folks stick with what they're familiar with. It was a big change to just allow computers in their lives... then cell phones... and then to figure out how to do everything that has moved online.

Today's operating systems are all pretty rock solid. The Microsoft OS isn't a buggy thing. Updates are smooth. Apple is good. Linux in it's many forms is excellent. It's easy to connect peripherals to today's devices... it wasn't always easy... Viruses are being written for every OS out there. Everyone should have a good antivirus installed on their devices.

I so agree, very good advice.

 

[Nemophilist]

Just fwiw, I recently started using a Chromebook and love it. It covers my needs. I am NOT a very tech-savvy person either.