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We have an Acer Aspire One laptop that just got a drink spilled completely all over it.

We got it vacuumed out mostly with a wet/dry shopvac. Now when booted up, I see the first BIOS screen (and can get into the BIOS), but all I get is a repeating series of long BIOS beeps. Anyone have this problem? I've looked around on the Acer support site to find what the beeps mean, but their site is awful...

Here's a clip of the beep sound.

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  • Who is the BIOS maker?
    – A Dwarf
    Commented Sep 19, 2009 at 23:20
  • On boot it says InsydeH2O, which looks like the BIOS maker.
    – colemanm
    Commented Sep 19, 2009 at 23:32
  • Ok. That's Insyde's UEFI/EFI Framework.
    – A Dwarf
    Commented Sep 19, 2009 at 23:45
  • That beep sounds like the beep you get if you hold a key down during post. Try disconnecting the keyboard and booting to see if anything changes.
    – joeqwerty
    Commented Sep 20, 2009 at 0:02
  • I disconnected the built-in keyboard and connected an external USB one. Now I've got this error: flickr.com/photos/colemanm/3935151637/sizes/m (Looks like it's hard disk-related).
    – colemanm
    Commented Sep 20, 2009 at 0:57

4 Answers 4

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It sounds crazy, but I've seen it work on a smartphone that was completely immersed. Completely cover the Aspire One (it's tiny enough) in a container of rice. Yes - you heard me correctly. Get a bag of the cheap stuff.

Rice will draw moisture out of the unit. Downside is, you should let it sit in rice for about a week.

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  • I'd recommend disassembling the device as far as possible to speed the drying.
    – Col
    Commented Sep 20, 2009 at 11:35
  • I disassembled the whole thing and removed the mobo and let it dry out for a couple days. I don't see any obvious damage/corrosion inside, I think the keyboard took the brunt of the liquid. However, now the BIOS doesn't report seeing the HDD at all, and I get the "insert disk" message on each attempted boot. Next step is to put the drive into this enclosure I've got to see if I can read the data from it.
    – colemanm
    Commented Sep 22, 2009 at 20:55
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Here's what ended up happening (a couple months ago, just thought I'd close this out)...:

I disassembled the whole machine and dried out all the parts. Once it dried out for a week or so, I tackled the beep code problem again. I finally got it to boot to Windows okay and noticed that Windows was acting strange and I couldn't control the cursor properly. After some messing around I found out that the "up" arrow on the keyboard was stuck (not physically, but some contact was stuck I guess), so I had to hit the other arrow keys to "unstick" it.

Now the machine boots up fine without errors!

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Try to see if you can get the beep code from Computer POST / beep codes. I'm not sure if that is the whole beep code or if you cut in middle way. However, when trying to interpret it, consider the background continuous beep as the Long Beep and count the small ones.

I'm suspecting AMD BIOS and a bad video card or video memory. Probably caused by a short due to the accident. It's quite acceptable, in case you are wondering, that you can still get to see the POST screen. The card is still functioning obviously. But probably ruined. Anyway, this is my conjecture.

EDIT:
With your new information and after pondering a little more about it, I can tell you this is not a POST beep code. For one, the various Insyde's UEFI BIOS don't use beep codes anymore. It's all moved into event logs. And you do say you can get into the BIOS. Which means can't be POST beep. Hopefully this is just an essential hardware part that failed completely, like you video card (yes, it can fail and still display POST and BIOS screens), keyboard or motherboard.

You can try, just for fun to connect an external keyboard and see what happens. That should eliminate the keyboard option. Anything else, I suggest taking it to an Acer representative somewhere in your area. They will be the one better qualified to identify the damaged component(s) and replace them. You can even ask for a quote so that you make an informed decision based on costs. Just don't take it to generic computer repair shops.

All the best, good luck and I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

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  • I started that recording when the machine turned on, then the beep happens after a few seconds. It just continues like that forever, too.
    – colemanm
    Commented Sep 19, 2009 at 23:33
  • Ok. Thanks for that. Editing my answer to include this new information
    – A Dwarf
    Commented Sep 19, 2009 at 23:46
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Quit trying to start it up. Un hook the power and get a blow dryer and dry it out and let it set overnight. You have probably shorted it out, but sometimes this works.

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