Disaster befell the Peoria Chronicle technology department on Sunday, March 11, 2007.
My beloved one-year-old son James found a glass of soda tonight and proceeded to dump it onto my laptop keyboard this afternoon — a cold-blooded execution of the most expensive and data-sensitive electronic gadget I own. My only hope is that the hard drive and the data it contains are salvageable.
Please observe a moment of silence for my departed Dell Inspiron 1100. It served me and my wife well these past several years and did not deserve such an ignoble death.
I’m posting from my work computer this evening. I came in to look at new Dell laptops online, how long they take to ship, and what the credit terms are. I won’t be posting much in the next few days — just what I can post from work before/after working hours. I’ll still be able to get my e-mail over the web at work and other various computers.
R.I.P., my faithful laptop.
UPDATE (3/12): On my lunch break, I bought an enclosure for my laptop’s hard drive and I’m happy to report that all the data is intact.
My condolences. Don’t give up until it dries out all the way. I mean like 4 days. You’d be surprised.
Yes, you can salvage the HD and the data contained therein. If there is any stickiness on it (which I don’t believe will be the case, use alcohol to clean it off. Good Luck.
I am willing to bet that James will soon become the property of Mongolian goat herders.?.?
Let it dry out and clean off the sticky stuff.
Laptops are surprisingly resilient. email me if it is dead and I’ll loan you a device that will allow you to get any/all data off the old laptop hard drive very quickly and easily.
Big Mountain: No, but the new laptop is being paid for out of James’s college fund.
All: Thank you for your support. I did do some disassembly so I could get some of the liquid dried off more quickly; we’ve also tried to get the sticky stuff off as much as possible. We tried restarting it once; it clicked and whirred and shut right back off. I’m not holding out much hope that things are going to change. I’ve looked at several message boards about this problem and have yet to find anyone who’s had any success. But I may try firing it up again in a couple of days just out of morbid curiosity. Arrgh.
http://deals2buy.com/delldeals.htm
Try this site – they are usually very up to date w/ coupon codes, etc… Bought my last two computers after looking here first and saved a bundle. (btw the site links directly to Dell)
Ugh… That’s the problem. You have to resist the urge to try it until it is completely dried out.