Is My Laptop Ruined After Being Submerged in Muddy Water?
Asked by
TechieTraveler92
My laptop was completely submerged in muddy water during a flood, and it was off and unplugged at the time. It's been about 13 hours since I discovered it, and I've tried wiping it down repeatedly and using a cool hair dryer on the back case—though my family suggested I not open it up and just let it dry naturally. Do I have any hope of saving it? What steps should I take, if any, or should I just accept that it's a lost cause? I can't even get to a repair shop today due to the flooded roads.
Answers
You’ll probably need to take it all apart to clean it properly. It might be salvagable, but that’s going to require some time and know-how.
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If it’s an SSD or NVMe storage, there might be a slim chance to recover your data. If it’s an HDD, unfortunately, it’s likely gone for good.
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Chances are slim that it's still working. You need to get the battery out immediately, disassemble everything, and clean every tiny component with isopropyl alcohol to get rid of moisture. Then let it dry before testing.
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Unfortunately, if all you did was clean the outside and didn't disassemble it, the laptop is likely toast. When powered off, the battery can still create shorts. If you're hoping to recover some data, you could try disassembling it, carefully cleaning the solid-state drive with alcohol, and letting it dry. If it had BitLocker, don’t forget your recovery key!
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If the battery was charged when it got wet, you might be out of luck; corrosion can start damaging the internals very quickly. You’ll definitely need to take the back off to see the real damage. It's the only way to know for sure if you can save it or not.
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