talkmagic.co.uk

Hi Rep,

If the laptop is beyond repair, then once you get the hard drive out, get hold of a Nexons USB 2.0 to IDE & SATA Adaptor Kit for 2.5/3.5/5.25 Inch SATA or IDE Drive with Power Adaptor from Amazon at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001A5SK56

Best £15 I ever spent, rescued my data inc photos, from my old PC and now I can use and hard drive as a very large USB storage system to boot.

Highly recommended.

G

Infinite wrote:The dry out method is not going to work if the coffee had sugar in it. Unfortunately the coffee + sugar will dry out leaving sugar granuals which are conductive.

Looks like you're right. There was sugar in the coffee and after two days of drying out, it is still deader than a dodo.

The question is when you hit the power button does anything happen? If not then yanking the battery out and trying it again might work.

Tried that and still no joy.

Was the laptop on when the coffee hit it? If so this might be a lost caused if it shorted and died. If it was off then it should be savable.

I'm afraid it was on. But the coffee soon sorted (shorted?) that out.

So, it looks like I might be making a call to the insurance company soon. I removed the HDD and it had some coffee on it so I'm hoping the contents are salvageable. By the way, SugarPuff, your wee post was quoted in four consecutive posts; must be a record, surely? Graeme, thanks for the Amazon link. I will definitely check it out.

Thanks to you all for your advice. I really appreciate it.

Replicant wrote:So, it looks like I might be making a call to the insurance company soon. I removed the HDD and it had some coffee on it so I'm hoping the contents are salvageable. By the way, SugarPuff, your wee post was quoted in four consecutive posts; must be a record, surely? Graeme, thanks for the Amazon link. I will definitely check it out.

As long as the coffee didn't go inside the unit and you didn't accidentally smash it with a hammer, you should be able to get the content

I was just moaning to an editor about my (currently in the shop) computer. She had a good anecdote about the very pricey laptop issued by her employers. While travelling, she had it in a bag together with a big pot of raspberry yoghurt. And you guessed it. Opened the bag, yoghurt everywhere, laptop non-functional. She cleaned off the splodges and took it to the IT department with a lame story about how it just stopped working, no idea how or why... They opened it up and found great quantities of raspberry pips in the works.

Two years ago my laptop crashed suddenly - no coffee or rasbery jam involved. I was told that since it was about ten years old it had expired through old age. Unfortunately at the time I was completing two books, both to tight deadlines. And I had no back-up on either. And I was leaving the country in a few days to work for six weeks in Lapland. So I had no option but to go to the experts.
The good news is that all the data is recoverable from your hard drive. The bad news is that it costs a fair bit. I spent E900 to recover my two manuscripts.
The company that did the recovery then used DHL to send a new hard-drive out to Lapland. Unfortunately DHL lost the hard-drive. When they finally found it (in a warehouse in Stockholm) I was within 48 hours of losing one of my book contracts - and having to hand back the hefty advance. What did DHL do? They put the hard-drive in the post.
Luckily the Finnish postal service were not as incompetant as DHL. As they would not be able to deliver the drive on time, they agreed to stop the truck in the middle of nowhere, at a cross-roads ten miles from my hotel and fifteen miles from the nearest town. I met them there. They emptied the post-truck, found my package, and gave it to me. I fired up my new laptop and e-mailed the manuscript to London with just 14 minutes to spare. The closest shave I have ever had.
The moral of this story is never use DHL - and be careful where you put the coffee mug. Preferably down the trousers of a DHL executive.

I've ordered a hard disk enclosure so hopefully that will be enough to save the contents of my HDD once I've plugged it into another computer. Fingers and toes crossed.

I'm in the library today, and I really dont understand those signs that say "No hot drinks here"...and then let people buy coffee and use the computers and scanners. Its not a good idea to mix the two.

I've just been informed that the reason my computer turned up its toes is that the motherboard is fried. So it's off to Maplins this afternoon to discuss options. At least the hard drives are OK, so I haven't lost any projects or anything.

When I worked in IT support a long time ago, we discovered that if you turn a computer keyboard upside down and shake it, you get an awful lot of eyelashes falling out. Dunno if times have changed.

Robbie wrote:I've just been informed that the reason my computer turned up its toes is that the motherboard is fried. So it's off to Maplins this afternoon to discuss options. At least the hard drives are OK, so I haven't lost any projects or anything.

Hi Robbie, rather than Maplins, a good store but not the best prices, try
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/dirr ... bundles&d=
I've used this company in the past and they're great. If you get a bundle deal then at least you know the board, proc and ram all match and have been tested. I've built 5 PC's for family and friends using components from here as well as other misc bits 'n bobs.

G

I don't know why they don't make laptops more durable to liquids. The very nature of the things means you'll probably be using one with a drink close to hand, so they should be able to withstand the odd splash or two. Laptops are way too fragile, if you ask me.

My laptop fell down a flight of stairs in a very flimsy bag, gets knocked around all the time, wasdropped from a table on a tile floor and all was well.

I spilt mere water on it a few weeks back, and it is no more.

yddraig wrote:

Robbie wrote:I've just been informed that the reason my computer turned up its toes is that the motherboard is fried. So it's off to Maplins this afternoon to discuss options. At least the hard drives are OK, so I haven't lost any projects or anything.

Hi Robbie, rather than Maplins, a good store but not the best prices, try
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/dirr ... bundles&d=
I've used this company in the past and they're great. If you get a bundle deal then at least you know the board, proc and ram all match and have been tested. I've built 5 PC's for family and friends using components from here as well as other misc bits 'n bobs.

The PC was already at Maplins being checked over, and I'm not confident enough to mess with motherboards on my own. The repair job is simultaneously going to be a major upgrade which should hold me for another 5-10 years, so I'm happy enough. New power supply, motherboard (including processor and memory upgrade), and internal hard drive, all of which were on sale. I'll be shopping for a case to turn my old IDE drives into externals.