Spilled something on your laptop? The first ten minutes matter most
10 September 2026
Liquid damage is our most common repair, and what you do in the first ten minutes, before the machine ever reaches us, makes the biggest difference to the outcome. Here is what to do, in order.
1. Power off, now
Hold the power button until it shuts down. Don’t save your work, don’t shut down politely. Electricity plus liquid is what causes the damage, and every second it stays on, corrosion spreads across the board.
2. Unplug everything
Charger, USB devices, external drives. If the battery is removable, take it out. On most modern laptops it isn’t, so don’t force it.
3. Turn it over and let it drain
Open the lid to a wide V and place it keyboard-down on a towel, like a tent. Gravity does more than any trick. Give it a few minutes.
4. Don’t turn it back on to check
This is the one people can’t resist, and it is the one that kills machines. A laptop that seems fine after a spill can still have liquid sitting on the board. Powering it up completes the circuit.
5. Skip the rice, skip the hair dryer
Rice does nothing useful and leaves starch in the ports. Heat warps parts and bakes residue onto the board. Air at room temperature is fine; nothing else.
6. Note what it was
Water is the kindest. Coffee, soft drink, wine and anything sugary are worse because they leave a conductive film that keeps corroding for days. Tell us what it was and roughly how much.
7. Get it to us within a day or two
We open the machine, clean the board with the right solvents, dry it properly and replace what has corroded. In our experience the sooner it arrives, the better the odds. The hard ones are the machines that were “fine for a week and then died”.
Or book it in. Tell us it’s liquid damage when you call or book.