Ooops! Spilled Wine!

Spilled wine is not really new at my house, but in the 25 or so years I have had a computer, I have not spilled anything on the keyboard.  Until just recently.  On Tuesday night, the 19th of June, I did just that.  I wiped it up the best I could.  And could do no more.   I did not think to get on the smart phone to read what to do, so I just shut down the computer as quickly as possible. (What to do, wipe off the key board, turn the laptop upside down, and take out the battery.  The point is nothing runs, and maybe the liquid will not get into anything and do permanent damage.)  

Well, this was late at night, so the next morning, I tried to turn on the computer, but could not get the keyboard to respond, although the wireless mouse did.  Hope for me.  I took the laptop to the Office Depot near me.  We tried attaching a remote keyboard and wireless mouse.  My files opened, but everything just "rolled."  Something was stuck, I thought.  They did not do internal work on sight, so I took it to Expertech.  Spilled liquid is evidently common enough, they have a standard price for it.  

When I brought the computer in, their comment was wine is better than water:  wine gets everything sticky, water starts to corrode everything.  They would have to dry and clean the laptop, and then install a new keyboard (or I could use a remote keyboard.)  The first thing the technician did? Take out the battery. It took several days, before I heard back.  They said they had cleaned and dried the computer, and it just needed a new key board.  I went with the new insert. They gave me a price for the keyboard, and we went with it.

When I picked up the computer, they showed me the old keyboard, and the new one that was installed. He said he had opened my recent files, and they seemed to be intact and working. He told me to take it home and if I had issues after I got home, to let them know!   

It took longer the than a week to repair, but the price was reasonable, and my files and email addresses were all intact!  So, life is good.  

I just need to be more careful.