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Published on: 16.02.2024 | updated on: 02.04.2024
Accidentally knocking a glass of water over onto your laptop can prove catastrophic. Water and electronics simply do not mix, and if your computer is the one that's affected, it could have disastrous consequences, ranging from data loss to costly repairs.
Not to worry, though—we’re here to help. Water damage doesn’t always spell the end of a laptop’s life. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps of how to assess the level of water damage your computer has suffered, and how to salvage your device. Whether the solution is a quick fix or a more involved remedy, we’ve got you covered to help you ensure a spilled water incident doesn’t turn into an expensive repair.
Spilling water on your laptop can cause varying degrees of damage. In some cases, it can be minor, while in others, you may need to seek professional assistance. Typically, these are the steps you should follow shortly after the spill incident:
Turn off your laptop and disconnect it from power
Tilt it to its sides and gently shake it to remove excess water
Wipe it dry with a lint-free cloth such as a microfiber towel
Finally, air-dry it for at least 24 hours. Be sure not to use a hair dryer or expose it to sunlight, as these can be harmful.
Depending on the specific part of your laptop that was most affected, you may need to take some additional steps. For instance, if your computer's keyboard was significantly affected by the spill, removing the keycaps during the drying process can be beneficial. In this article, we discuss scenarios for various types of water spill incidents, and how best to address them.
If you accidentally spill water on your laptop, the most important thing is to act fast, as that'll help you minimize the potential damage.
Turn off your computer immediately, unplug it, and disconnect any peripherals. Then, tilt the laptop to its side to drain any excess liquid, and if your laptop’s battery is detachable, remove it.
Next, use a lint-free cloth to dry your laptop of all water. Pay particular attention to any ports or crevices, making sure to dry them. Then, let your laptop air-dry for at least 24 hours before attempting to power it back on.
Remember, your swift action immediately following the water-spilling incident is the key to preventing irreversible damage to your laptop.
Fixing a water-damaged laptop requires a careful, systematic approach, and you'll need to act quickly. As above, start off by powering off and unplugging your computer, disconnecting all peripherals, and if possible, detaching the battery. Then, dry your laptop thoroughly with a lint-free cloth and let it air-dry for 24 hours.
If the spillage is large, you should wait another 24 hours for good measure. Next, re-attach the battery and attempt to power on the device. Didn't help? Don't worry—keep reading our guide for more useful tips.
If your computer continues to have issues, consider reaching out to a professional laptop repair service.
Discovering that your laptop won’t turn on after having spilled water on it can certainly be a stressful situation—but there’s no need to panic. Let’s take a look at some steps you can take to give your computer the best chance to avert disaster.
Power off immediately: Shut down your laptop and disconnect it from all power sources.
Remove your laptop’s battery: If your laptop’s battery can be removed, do so immediately to prevent electrical issues.
Dry thoroughly: Wipe off any visible water and moisture with a dry, lint-free cloth.
Dry for 24-48 hours: Let your laptop air-dry for 24 hours, then place it in a bag of uncooked rice for a further 24 hours.
Power it back on: Try powering your laptop back on. If it still refuses to turn on, it’s time to seek help from a professional technician.
After having spilled water on your laptop, if it still seems to work fine, this is good news. However, it’s not time to celebrate just yet. There may still be issues lurking beneath the surface, and it’s best to be cautious and follow the steps below to prevent these problems from developing into something more serious.
Shut down your laptop and disconnect it from all power sources. If possible, remove its battery, too, to prevent any electrical issues from emerging. Carefully examine your laptop for any signs of water damage, such as corrosion, odd behavior, or discoloration on the screen. Wipe off any visible water and moisture with a dry, lint-free cloth, and let it air-dry for 24 hours before you turn it back on.
Then, power your laptop back on and use it as normal. If any unusual behavior arises, seek professional assistance to avoid lasting long-term damage.
If any water gets into your laptop screen, it can lead to issues like a distorted display, flickering, dead or discolored sections, or complete failure.
First, power down your laptop, disconnect it from the outlet, and remove your laptop’s battery if possible. Then, use a dry cloth to carefully dab away any visible water or moisture from the laptop screen. Leave your computer to dry for 24 hours.
If your laptop’s display issues persist when you turn it back on, consult a professional technician to assess the screen damage and walk you through your next steps. If the damage is localized to your laptop’s screen, the good news is it can be relatively inexpensive to replace.
Spilling water on a laptop keyboard is a fairly common mishap, and can lead to issues like sticky, unresponsive, or non-functional keys. It can also potentially lead to lasting damage to the keyboard and laptop.
Immediately after the water spill incident, shut down your laptop and disconnect it from power. If possible, remove your laptop’s battery. Gently tilt the laptop to its sides to allow excess water to drain away from the keyboard. Cover up the vents and ports to make sure the water doesn't reach them.
Then, thoroughly dry your laptop’s keyboard with a lint-free cloth. Some laptops have detachable keycaps, which you should also remove to dry your computer thoroughly. Simply place your index finger, or a thin tool, under the corner of the keycap. If you’re not confident about this, skip this step to make sure you don’t damage your keyboard.
Flip your laptop upside down and let it air dry for a few hours, then power it back up and test your keyboard.
Some power issues that can arise as a result of spilling water on your laptop can include erratic behavior, unexpected shutdowns, or outright failure to boot up.
Power off your laptop and unplug it. If possible, remove the battery.
Thoroughly wipe away excess moisture from both your laptop and the battery with a dry, lint-free cloth.
Let your laptop air-dry for at least 24 hours.
Inspect your battery, power adapter, and charger ports for any signs of water damage. If your battery or power adapter are damaged, consider replacing them as needed.
Turn on your laptop and check if the power issues persist.
When water spills onto a laptop and seeps into its internal components, such as its motherboard, CPU, and GPU, this can lead to severe long-term damage. If you suspect your laptop has had water seep into it, it’s crucial to act fast.
If your laptop has suffered a significant amount of water spillage, immediately turn it off, disconnect all power sources, and remove the battery if possible. Tilt the laptop to its sides and shake it gently to get rid of any excess water.
Wipe it dry with a microfiber cloth, then turn your laptop upside down and let it air-dry for 24 hours. If you’re confident in opening up your laptop before setting it to air-dry, this can help—however, be wary that this can void your warranty, and is better left to a professional if you’re not sure how to do this step.
Unfortunately, if your computer's internals get damaged, chances are that you'll have to pay for professional repairs—if it's not already beyond repair.
Spilling water on your laptop can sometimes lead to touchpad malfunctions, and that's always going to be frustrating. Fortunately, if the problem is limited to your touchpad, there are a few ways to work around this and improve your experience.
First, power off your laptop and disconnect it from power sources. Then, wipe away any visible water or moisture from your touchpad using a dry, lint-free cloth such as a microfiber towel.
Once your laptop seems to be dry, boot it back up and check whether the touchpad is functioning correctly. If it isn’t, try plugging in an external mouse to check whether that works properly. If it does, then you'll either have to settle for that external mouse or get your touchpad replaced.
Water damage following a spillage incident can, sometimes, be a disaster for a laptop’s battery. Some possible consequences include performance issues, reduced lifespan, or indeed, complete failure.
Power down your laptop immediately after the spill, disconnect it from its power source, and remove the battery if your model allows it. Follow the standard procedure to dry out your computer (and the battery) with a lint-free cloth, followed by 24 hours of air drying. Check your battery for any visible signs of water damage, such as corrosion, swelling, or discolored spots.
Reattach your battery and power your computer back on. If the problem persists, you may have to replace the battery, although the PC should still work when it's plugged in.
Water damage can often compromise a laptop’s cooling system, leading to the computer being highly prone to overheating. This can cause some serious wear and tear to the laptop's components, not to mention performance issues.
As soon as possible after spilling water on your laptop, power it down and disconnect it. Tilt the laptop toward the side that has the cooling vents, and shake it gently to get rid of any excess water. Dry the computer thoroughly with a lint-free towel, then let it air-dry for at least 24 hours while resting on the side containing the cooling vents.
Then, inspect the cooling vents for any blockages and clear out any debris you find. Power your laptop back on and monitor your system’s temperatures using a tool like HWiNFO.
If your computer is still overheating alarmingly quickly, you can invest in a laptop cooling pad to see if there are any improvements. Alternatively, switch to a different power plan to limit performance and prevent overheating.
Water damage to a laptop can result in frustrating audio malfunctions that affect its speakers, internal components, or audio jack outputs such as headphones.
Immediately power down and disconnect your laptop from its power source. Tilt the laptop to each of its sides, gently shaking it. Then, wipe away any visible water using a lint-free cloth like a microfiber towel. We recommend letting your computer dry for at least 24 hours after that. Make sure to rotate it every few hours to ensure the audio jack and speakers are facing downward for a few hours each.
Reboot your computer and make sure its audio drivers are up to date, updating them if necessary. Finally, test your laptop’s built-in speakers, and connect a set of headphones or external speakers to test its audio jack.
If the problem persists, the damage may be component-related and you’ll need to take your computer to a repair store.
Water seeping into USB ports and other connectors on your laptop can very easily make them pretty much useless.
Power off your laptop and unplug it.
Tilt your laptop toward its sides containing the ports, gently shaking it to rid it of any water remnants.
Thoroughly wipe away excess moisture from your laptop with a dry, lint-free cloth, paying particular attention to the USB and other ports.
Dab inside the ports as well. You can do this by wrapping your cloth around a cotton swab or a screwdriver; be gentle so as not to damage the connectors.
Let your laptop air-dry for at least 24 hours, turning it every few hours to let it rest with the ports facing downward.
Turn on your laptop and connect an external device to each port and see whether it works.
Remember, if you have both a faulty USB port as well as a functional one, attaching a USB splitter to the working slot can be a patchwork solution for more ports. However, if high-speed data transfer is crucial to your work, this may not be an ideal solution.
Water damage can often lead to frustrating network connectivity issues, both wireless and wired.
Power off your laptop and unplug it.
Tilt your laptop toward the side containing its Ethernet port, gently shaking it.
Wipe away any excess moisture.
Air-dry your laptop for 24 hours.
Power it back up.
Reset your Wi-Fi settings and reinstall network drivers.
Test your network connectivity.
Sometimes, water damage can lead to operating system corruption, typically due to damage to the hard drive or other vital components. This can lead to instability, crashes, and data loss.
First, power down and disconnect your laptop from all power sources. Thoroughly dry it out with a lint-free towel and leave it to air-dry for 24 hours.
Then, try to boot your PC. If it still refuses to boot, use your operating system’s installation disk or USB drive to reinstall or repair your OS. If you have data you need to back up before proceeding, you can either select the option to preserve your data or attempt to perform a system restore first.
If the water spillage incident lets some water through to your laptop’s hard drive, it can result in data loss. This is a stressful situation, and unfortunately, your files may be in danger.
Power down, disconnect, and fully dry out your laptop—both with a lint-free towel and letting it air-dry for 24 hours. Then, power up your laptop and obtain professional data recovery software to retrieve your lost files.
If the software has the option to schedule regular backups, set this up to secure your data for future use. Otherwise, your OS should have this capability too.
Water damage can cause random errors and glitches to occur on a laptop, disrupting its normal operation. Diagnosing these issues can be complex, but the steps below should help.
Power off and disconnect your laptop.
Thoroughly dry it with a lint-free towel and 24 hours of air-drying.
Reboot your computer and navigate to system diagnostic tools. In Windows, you can find this by searching “Troubleshoot” in the Windows search bar, selecting Troubleshoot settings, and then clicking on “Additional troubleshooters.”
Run each diagnostic tool to zero in on your malfunctioning hardware.
Make sure the drivers for the malfunctioning hardware are up to date. For instance, if your network adapter isn’t working correctly, update its drivers.
Here are a few particularly dangerous myths related to fixing a water-damaged computer. These can, in fact, cause more harm than good.
Placing the computer in uncooked rice: While this method is sometimes recommended for electronics, do not try it on your laptop, as the grains of rice may find their way inside the computer and damage it even more.
Using a hair dryer: While a hair dryer could help quickly dry your laptop, it could just as quickly damage its components from rapidly overheating them.
Leaving the laptop out in the sun: Similar to the hair dryer myth, exposure to sunlight can cause more damage than good by overheating and degrading your device.
Spilling water on a laptop is a situation no one plans for, but you can stay a little safer with the following tips:
Use laptop sleeves or covers. They offer an additional layer of protection against water spillage and moisture. For instance, consider a spill-resistant keyboard cover and trackpad protector.
Avoid liquids immediately near your laptop. Be mindful of where the drink may spill should you knock it over, and leave enough space between it and your computer.
Regularly inspect your laptop for visible signs of water damage or corrosion.
Periodically backup your data to ensure that in the worst-case scenario, you can rest easy knowing that your valuable files are secure.
Power down the laptop and disconnect it from power, gently wipe away visible moisture, and let it air-dry in a well-ventilated area for at least 24 hours.
No, we don't recommend using a hair dryer to dry your laptop, as this can damage its internal components.
Unfortunately, water can damage the laptop keyboard permanently, especially if you leave it to seep into the computer for too long.
Ultimately, no matter how careful you are, you might still spill water on your laptop when you least expect it. At that point, it’s key to stay calm and turn off your laptop immediately, then start drying it with the methods we outlined.
Be patient and give your laptop time to dry out before booting it up again. If it’s still causing problems and you’re not sure how to proceed, don’t hesitate to reach out to Simply Fixable for an affordable and professional repair service for your water-damaged laptop.
Expertise: Technology, PC Hardware, Software, Gaming
Linkedin: Monica J.White
Monica is a journalist with a lifelong interest in technology. Monica attended King's College London and obtained her bachelor's degree in English Language and Linguistics. She then went on to get a master's at that same university, this time focusing on Global Media Industries. She first started writing over ten years ago and has made a career out of it, with a special focus on PCs and mobile devices. She enjoys the challenge of explaining complex topics to a broader audience, whether it's how semiconductors work or how to troubleshoot a tablet. Her work has previously appeared in Digital Trends, Tom's Hardware, Pay.com, SlashGear, Forbes, Springboard, Looper, Money, WePC, and more.
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