I spilled a tiny drop of coke on my trackpad as i opened a can. It somehow went into the little sliver of space and underneath the trackpad. Now my trackpad makes a sorta different mushier noise and feel to it. How do I fix this? Or will it go away after a while?
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I spilled Coke on my trackpad!!
- Thread starter Ruehasa
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If it were water, I would say it would dry up after a while and be fine. With sugar, however, it may never go back to normal. At least it's working, right?
Like the previous poster stated, sugar won't evaporate. However, a working trackpad beats a non-working track pad. Why were you near your precious Mac with a coke
I don't eat near mine; I know I'll spill something on it
Good luck,
Habitus
welcome to the world of science its called capillary action but the point is its a 50/50 chance it will go away,50/50 chance it will ruin your pad and only way to fix it ould be to take apart your laptop and clean up the residue of the coke or replace the pad.
on a serious note... take a cotton swab (Q-tip, if that's your favorite brand) and moisten the end with rubbing alcohol. Then swab the seam as best you can. This will hopefully dissolve the icky sticky enough to remove it with the swab... the alcohol will evaporate quickly and not damage anything.
oh, and make sure it is powered off when you do this.
oh, and make sure it is powered off when you do this.
This is unconventional, but is a proven remedy for the issue you've come across:
You'll need very little in the way of materials. A clean dry cloth, 1 gallon of distilled water, 1 one large plastic bag, and 1 large aluminum pan (about the size of a typical lasagna).
First, wipe down your laptop completely of any excess dirt or dust. You want it to be as free as you can possibly make it of any foreign dust particles.
Next, slowly pour the distilled water into the pan you've selected, making sure to do it evenly and not allow too much oxygen to mix in.
Next is the tricky part. Slowly submerge your laptop into the pan of distilled water. Make sure it is off, and the battery has been removed for at least 15 minutes prior to allowing any water to touch it (to ensure there's no latent power circulating).
Let your laptop soak for about 5 minutes. It's up to you if you'd like to keep the monitor open or closed. Some people claim that this process actually renews your screen as a side effect. Another option is to add about a tablespoon of salt. This is said to absorb any foreign particles that may be in or on your laptop, including sugar residue from the soda. I haven't personally tried this, so do so at your own risk.
After you're done soaking your laptop, immediately take it out and place it in a plastic bag. Ideally something that you can get air tight (like those large zip-lock freezer bags). One you've gotten it bagged, place it immediately into the freezer for no less that 2 hours.
While it's in the freezer, pre-heat your oven to 365 degrees. You must be precise here because any less will be ineffective, but any more may possibly cause some permanent damage. When your two hours are up, take the laptop out of the freezer, remove from the plastic bag (this is important!) and immediately into the oven, ideally directly on the rack, but you can use a cookie sheet as well providing that it's clean and there's no chocolate residue.
If you've gotten this far, then you should have your head examined. As if drinking a soda over your laptop wasn't bad enough, now you want to drown, freeze, and cook your laptop too?
You'll need very little in the way of materials. A clean dry cloth, 1 gallon of distilled water, 1 one large plastic bag, and 1 large aluminum pan (about the size of a typical lasagna).
First, wipe down your laptop completely of any excess dirt or dust. You want it to be as free as you can possibly make it of any foreign dust particles.
Next, slowly pour the distilled water into the pan you've selected, making sure to do it evenly and not allow too much oxygen to mix in.
Next is the tricky part. Slowly submerge your laptop into the pan of distilled water. Make sure it is off, and the battery has been removed for at least 15 minutes prior to allowing any water to touch it (to ensure there's no latent power circulating).
Let your laptop soak for about 5 minutes. It's up to you if you'd like to keep the monitor open or closed. Some people claim that this process actually renews your screen as a side effect. Another option is to add about a tablespoon of salt. This is said to absorb any foreign particles that may be in or on your laptop, including sugar residue from the soda. I haven't personally tried this, so do so at your own risk.
After you're done soaking your laptop, immediately take it out and place it in a plastic bag. Ideally something that you can get air tight (like those large zip-lock freezer bags). One you've gotten it bagged, place it immediately into the freezer for no less that 2 hours.
While it's in the freezer, pre-heat your oven to 365 degrees. You must be precise here because any less will be ineffective, but any more may possibly cause some permanent damage. When your two hours are up, take the laptop out of the freezer, remove from the plastic bag (this is important!) and immediately into the oven, ideally directly on the rack, but you can use a cookie sheet as well providing that it's clean and there's no chocolate residue.
If you've gotten this far, then you should have your head examined. As if drinking a soda over your laptop wasn't bad enough, now you want to drown, freeze, and cook your laptop too?
u almost got me there.
tho the distilled water might actually work, as it is distilled, so it should be okay.
Although IPA is a very good cleaner for many contaminants, I don't think coke is one of them. I.E. sugar will not dissolve in IPA.
This is fantastic.
And I'm not going to lie. If you had left out the freezer part and the head examination part, I may have almost believed it.
If you're comfortable taking your computer apart, simply take the top off (the part that has the trackpad) and run the offending part under warm to hot water. Make sure it's dried thoroughly before connecting it back to the computer.
I did this once with a keyboard from an IBM laptop that I had spilled Arizona Tea on (lots of sugar), and it worked like a charm.
I did this once with a keyboard from an IBM laptop that I had spilled Arizona Tea on (lots of sugar), and it worked like a charm.