Long story short, I had a water bottle in my bag that leaked with my Inspiron 6400 laptop in it (which was in a bag that was *suppose* to be water proof). The system boots up fine, and the monitor still works, but there's water in the display. It causes discoloration on the left hand side of the monitor, and is adversely affecting the display (it will begin to flicker if its on for more than a few minutes). I took out the display panel itself, but unfortunately there's no (easy) way inside. No more screws to undue (I swear, I must have removed 30 screws to get this far. . .). At this point, is there anything I can do to get the water to evaporate, or am I looking at spending a few hundred on a new display ()?
You could just keep the display in a dry, warm place for a few days. The water got in somehow, surely it can get out the same way again.
Laptops are not watertight. Water (like rainwater) can seep in if you don't have a completely waterproof case. Which is why I advise people to stay away from the cheap bags. To answer your question: The previous poster is correct. Put the laptop in a Dry warm place (NOT HOT or HUMID) for several days. This will quicken the evaporation time. The Question is did the water just collect in the screen or did it cause an electrical short or other damage somewhere else. The best hope is if the PC was off and whether it was off long enough that the screen or motherboard didn't have any electrical charge left. If your in luck, the PC should boot up normally, otherwise your are going to have to send it back to DELL. I should warn you water damage is usually not covered by the warranty... Best of Luck.
In my experience, the water will *never* all evaporate from the screen. I'd bet money that you'll end up buying a new screen/replacing the laptop within 3 months.
Screen is FUBARed it seems. I let it sit out for the past few days. Tried connecting it back up to the system. There's now a 4-step gradiant vertically across the screen on black screens like the Vista boot screen (top of nice and black, bottom is pretty gray). Once Windows boots, the gamma appears to be at some sort of crazy high value. Everything is very white and washed out. I haven't had time to call a Dell Customer Service rep, but I've been told that Dell sells the screens for $600+ in most cases and that it's just not worth going through Dell for the upgrade. I've taken a look at some replacement screens on eBay, most of them are around $250 or so shipped for an sxga+ screen, give or take. I noticed one wuxga screen (1920x1200), for another $20 or $30 more (link is here. It wasn't given as an option when I picked up the system, though I've since seen later Inspiron 6400s with the option. Anyone happen to know if my system would be compatible, or if there were significant differences between the original Inspiron 6400s and the later ones?
I'd be careful, that 1920x1200 might be a typo and is really for the 17" model. I've never heard of a WUXGA for the 15.4" Inspiron 6400s.
I guarantee you can fix the problem but it might take a while. As suggested put the laptop in a warm dry place. I recommend an enclosed space (like an immersion heater cupboard) and put a dehumidifier in with it, blowing the dry air onto the laptop. This will for sure draw the water into the air but may take a while unless you can open the laptop up. The sooner you do this the better as water will trap dirt and microbes (you may get bacteria growth too) and will leave more residue behind the longer it is left.
Trust me, dude, it doesn't work. His screen is borked. The sooner he springs for a new screen the happier he'll be.
If you've got a convection oven and you can set it for an extremely low temperature- no more than about 115*F/46*C then I'd just throw it in there for a day. 115 is not going to be high enough to damage anything, and that'll accelerate the drying process quite a bit. But if the water has shorted anything out (and it very well may have, since its been powered on with the water in it) you may be SOL anyhow.
At this point it appears the monitor is more or less FUBARed... I'm thinking about simply going with a new Vostro for a new warranty with accidental protection coverage to last me through the next 2 years of school and throwing the laptop into a corner and setting it up to act as a media server or something similar for lack of a better use for it at the moment. Of course, if I did that, I'd have to come up with $1100, which is about $1100 more than I should be spending at the moment.
Laptops have never been cheaper; pick up a unit between $500 and $650 and I'll bet, for school, you won't be dissapointed, from either Dell, Toshiba or Acer. You can probably even get a low megahertz Core 2 Duo in this range if you shop around.
I ended up ordering the WUXGA+ monitor on eBay. I briefly considered a new laptop, but the cost is rather prohibitive at this point in time (e.g. I'm poor). I got the new screen a couple eof days ago. Works great and the BIOS detected it as a WUXGA screen without any issues. The resolution looks seriously amazing on such a small screene. I thought 1680x1050 looked sharp, but damn. This is just crazy gorgous--I can't see an individual pixel even with my face right up to the screen. Only problem I have with the screen is that the metal frame that is used to secure it to the case does not fit in the case--I'll need to swap it out with the one on the old monitor. Shouldn't be to much of a problem once I get a 1.4mm philips screw driver to remove the frame on the new monitor (damn small screws).
You can take the LCD apart and clean the laminaire with eyeglass wipes. I just did mine with great results. You need the right tools. 0 and 00 high quality screwdrivers, foil and mylar tape to reassemble. Take your time and dont operate tired or upset. Stay organized. Fold laminates over as you clean them, and fully support LCD on book and soft cloth. Taking apart is the only answer IMHO, I tried everything else. Good luck, Jim A
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