Just got finish cleaning up my desk from spilling a large plastic cup of tea, and did I mention this is the same desk where I have my computer, scanner, DVD burner, etc? Every things seems to be working though..... I know better than to sit a glass of any kind of liquid next to a computer, but I forgot and got careless.... But what really makes me go Wow that was close was that I have been working on one render now for almost 16 hours and it was finally almost finished when I spilled my tea. Right now it is hopefully finishing rendering... But as point of curiosity, has anyone else had a close call like this, I would hate to think that I am the only stupid person here;)

Heh. I know that feeling, had a couple close calls where nothing happened and this one. Back in my beer days I had one sitting next to the keyboard. While typing something I bumped it with my arm... I watched in fascination as it rocked back and forth two or three times... before it tipped all the way over onto the keyboard. Nothing spectacular happened though, I shut the machine down and disconnected the keyboard. Dunked it in the bathtub for a minute and popped off all the keys and let it dry. It worked for quite some time after that. I was damned glad, I'd have kicked my own ass for a month had something blown up while being so careless. Now I keep coffee (oh wait, that's another one...) way off to the side. I -did- bump an almost full cup one time and it sloshed all over a cd stack. I had to open all those jewel cases, take out the inserts and cd's and clean all that up. Maybe I should switch to sippy cups. ;)

I've lost count of the number of coffees I've spilt on this keyboard..yet it keeps on ticking ...except for the 'tab' key,which just keeps on sticking ;) even the Wacom had a full drenching the otherday & it survived just fine fortunately the HD is under the desk & out of harms way

I do that a lot, I am very cack-handed ;-)

I drop once a coffee over my keyboard. Thanks to heaven was at work, so my enterprise, with a grunt changed my device. Since that, I drink my coffee at home... in the kitchen :D

I've spilled a glass of diet coke on my desktop keyboard once. I figured it was wet anyway so getting it more wet wouldn't make a difference. I washed it in the kitchen sink in warm water, in order to get rid of the cola, sat it upside down in my dish tray and left it try for a couple days. Worked like a charm. I always have something to drink sitting near me. It's next to my computer, but towards the back of my table above my mousepad(it's a small table, just room enough for my laptop, mousepad and remote to sit side by side.)

Message edited on: 11/08/2005 02:17

Message edited on: 11/08/2005 02:19

As a PC "repair man" I often get calls about removing spills. Must be the area I live in because it's usually red wine. If you want to save the keyboard, the best thing to do is NOT clean the keyboard in tap water, but use distilled water instead. (The stuff used to to up car batterys) Some keyboards use cheap metal parts and tap water makes these go rusty and stick. Leave it to dry for 2/3 weeks. Oh and don't forget to unplug it from the computer 1st.

I've spilled stuff on my keyboard countless times,coffee and soda mainly...lol usually though,I just take it apart and put all the keys and the top cover in the dishwasher and clean off the rest by hand,and all my keys still work like new and they are sparkling clean :0) -3dz

The first thing I do when I get a new computer is buy a "keyboard condom" for it. It's worth it even if you never spill anything; keeps dust, lint, crumbs, etc. from causing the keys to stick.

All the electronics on my desk are raised slightly, on stands or little feet. So a spill would be messy, but nothing would get wet.

Except paper. In my workplace, we still use paper plansheets a lot. It's so easy to print them out again that spills are no big deal, but the old-timers, who remember when plans were drafted by hand, are still careful to keep their coffee "below the plans." They rest their cups of coffee in a spot lower than their desktops (such as an open drawer), so if they spill, it won't get on the plansheets.

My brother in law can take a hard drive that has been submerged in : tea, coffee, milk, kool aid, water (pick one) and clean it up enough to retrieve important data from it. Me, my hubby, the kids and Katrina have made him a very popular man.

hmmm, i haven't yet done this, mainly because my keyboard and mouse are on my lap, the computer is out of the way and my two screens are withing arms reach. The only problem i suffer with is that as the mouse is wireless and i go to do something else the thing decides it wants to become a lemming, and belly flops onto the floor throwing up the batteries as it goes, luckily i don't put my coffee below my leg or it would do the high dive as well...lol

I just bought a new Toshiba laptop two weeks ago and managed to dump a glass of water on the keyboard while plugging in the ac adapter for the first time... even before I booted it had ever been booted. It seems to be okay. Luckily my dog got wetter than the computer and the upside is that he's stopped trying to muscle in on my space when he sees I'm typing.

LOL, poor doggie :( I have a cat that sits on the coffee table in front of me (behind my laptop), and with her huge paws tries to capture the mouse as I'm using it. She's actually just trying to catch my hand and get me to pet her, but it's sure funny to watch.

I have to be very careful, any liquid must be at least 50 cm from the computer, coke I drink directly from the bottle. I live in permanent danger and at any moment can be attacked, CATS!!!!.....

I eat lunch at my desk, the worse I have ever done apart from coffee, is spurting heavy thick creamy cucumber salad dressing all over the keyboard. Needless to say I frantically cleaned it with the utmost care, what saved me was that the stuff was so thick it didn't really go deeply in between the keys, what a mess!

I've spilled all kinds of things on my keyboard. I think that's why I have problems with mice in my office. The worst incident I observed wasn't one I caused. We had just gotten a Macintosh for desktop publishing and only one person was allowed to use it because he was a self-proclaimed expert on the equipment. First day, he sits down. He has a Big Gulp drink in his hand. It tips over and completely shorted out the computer...keyboard, hard drive, etc. He lost his guru crown at that point.

LOL. Nothing like a Big Gulp to knock you down a few rings on the totum pole, hehe

Hmmmm, I've had my system for almost 4 years now, and I am extremely careful. I am a known klutz, and a bad one at that, so I set everything up so that my computer and all it's workings are on it's own desk. Next to that is a full sized kitchen type table that I keep any liquids on. I've had a few close calls with my printer, but so far have been able to reach a towel before anything reached it. The "no drink or food" rule on my computer table is a cardnal one. So far, so good.

Here's a thing...when I was supporting a bunch of users the first question I'd ask after a spillage was "do you take sugar?" That got some really weird looks...but coffee (or tea) with sugar in will wreck a keyboard whereas most often I was able to salvage the keyboard if there was no sugar involved.

Was that just because it was sticky, or was it some other reason that sugar was worse?