Laptop Woes

[nvening]

My sisters laptop suffered some water damage after being left open by an open window during a rain storm .

It is working now however it needs a new keyboard as half the keys do now work. Also i have found a more intresting problem. It runs prime95 max heat just fine for hours on end however if i do the stress RAM as well test it fails after about 12mins.

So i proceded to run mem test and it failed after 40 mins with 22 errors.

I have never run memtest on this so it may have always been bad however mabe this was cause by rain damage? If so would it definately be the ram or could it be damage to the motherboard?

Its a quite old socket a tbird system so it would need replacing with sdram 144pin @ pc133

So shall i purchase some now ram (and take it to 512 while im at it as it runs quite slow) or should i try some other tests first?

[dave87]

Hmm, can you find some known working RAM from a friend/relative - see if it really is the RAM or if it is a problem with the motherboard.

Odd, but may happen, especially with water damage - only so that you don't go and buy new memory to find the motherboard is cream crackered

[nvening]

Hmmmmmm, dont think i know anyone with an old enough laptop, however, scan returns are very nice (considering i order about £100 a week from them lol)

EDIT: Just opened the ram cover up and there is no sign of water damage on the actual ram however underneath the installed module there is what looks like wither water or heat damage on a sticker. Hmmmmmmm

[dave87]

Ah, I suppose that is fair enough then. If you've been lucky, replacing the RAM may give you a perfectly servicable laptop

What are you doing about the keyboard? Ebay may be the best bit for a laptop of that vintage?

Dave

[nvening]

There are plenty of the keyboards going round on ebay so that should be fine.

[oralpain]

I would try washing this stuff first.

It's quite possible that something slightly ocnductive was disolved my the rain and then left on the memory or the board when it dried.

[nvening]

Im guessing you mean clean it with some isopropyl alcohol not stick it in the dish washer??

[EtheAv8r]

Well not the dishwasher at high temps and NOT with dishwasher detergent, which will be somewhat corrosive possibly.

However I have heard that putting a keyboard in a dishwasher at low temps and with a small amount (e.g. tiny) of washing powder is OK but it must complete the drying cycle.

Might be worth a bit of a google to see what there is about this?