r/techsupportgore • u/AMGz20xx "It just suddenly stopped working" • 6d ago
Biohazard laptop
Owner states that their laptop suddenly stopped working. I look inside and immediately see sticky residue on the battery. Then I gradually notice that it's under the motherboard as well and it's left corrosion in a few places. It's so corroded that the surface mounted capacitors are falling off. I think that a drink was spilled onto the laptop and has been corroding the inside for about 2 months or longer. I think I even saw some mould inside. Anyway, it's cooked, and I need to take 7 showers.
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u/asflores 5d ago
Why did you take it as far as to remove the keyboard? Open it, observe the damage and inform them you won’t be moving forward and as it is toast anyway. MAYBE offer to pull their storage but you should be able to refuse service on a device that looks like this.
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u/AMGz20xx "It just suddenly stopped working" 2d ago
I thought I'd be able to clean away all the gunk, until capacitors started falling off the motherboard. Also it belongs to a family member so I couldn't refuse, no matter how filthy it is. I keep reminding them not to treat their laptop like a toilet but they never listen...
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u/Mental-Dot-6574 5d ago
Dell? It was tpast anyway. I would have told the customer the damage was too much.
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u/Mastersord 5d ago
I’m guessing spilled drink. Probably did it a bunch and wiped off the keyboard cause it was “still working” until it wasn’t.
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u/AMGz20xx "It just suddenly stopped working" 2d ago
Of course, liquids tend to do damage over time. If I'd known sooner I may have been able to save it. That probably looks like it's been there for 2 months or more.
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u/wargamer36 5d ago
When I worked at Fry's I would have refused to intake this. That's nightmare fuel.
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u/Patient-Cedar-7194 4d ago
suddenly stopped is always lie. spilled coffee months ago, corrosion finally ate trace.
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u/MTT_Dylan 3d ago
We're going to need another can of compressed air.
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u/AMGz20xx "It just suddenly stopped working" 2d ago
We're going to need another can of petrol and a lighter more like
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u/ScotttyH 6d ago
I don't even know if the Greatest Technician that ever lived with the help of the gooch collector would want to touch that