BoyBigBrain
Technical User
I knwo this is the PC hardware forums, but here goes. So my friend decided to spill coffee on my laptop. It still works perfectly fine, just the sound is now gargled. I was going to buy a sound card, but I'm not sure if i have any free slots. My motherboard is an Intel Calistoga i945GM/PM, intel says its has one PCI x16 and one PCI x1 slot, but im not sure if they are in use. How can i tell? I'm pretty sure i have integrated sound as the controller is the actual chipset. I saw that you could install sound cards on a laptop after construction, but how would i go about doing that? I have a Dell E1705 (yes, i know) with a Geforce 7900gs inside already, and im assuming that would take one of the slots. I guess i need to know how many PCI card slots it has and how many are in use, and if i can install a sound card on the comp. Any help?
EDIT: I think i may have a bigger problem on my hands. I noticed that when the sound jumped from windows media player, City of Heroes(MMORPG) would also jerk for a second. I'm worried that the coffee actually did some damage as the computer immediately shut down when the coffee hit it and would not turn back on for about two hours. I really hope i dont have to actually return my comp to dell and wait for a month+ to get it fixed. Anyways, any ideas? What would cause both WMA and the game to halt for a split second at the same time, and pretty frequently at that? I'm told i should clean it out in case there is any dried sugar/coffee on the inside, does that mean i should just take off the keyboard and look inside? Or do i have to dismantle the entire thing? Will removing the keyboard void my warranty? What if i were to try to clean it myself? What could i use to dissolve any of the coffee left inside of the computer? Is there any special cloth or liquid used to clean the inside of a computer, like the motherboard and such? If not it looks like i am forking out $200 for geeksquad to fix my computer.
EDIT: I think i may have a bigger problem on my hands. I noticed that when the sound jumped from windows media player, City of Heroes(MMORPG) would also jerk for a second. I'm worried that the coffee actually did some damage as the computer immediately shut down when the coffee hit it and would not turn back on for about two hours. I really hope i dont have to actually return my comp to dell and wait for a month+ to get it fixed. Anyways, any ideas? What would cause both WMA and the game to halt for a split second at the same time, and pretty frequently at that? I'm told i should clean it out in case there is any dried sugar/coffee on the inside, does that mean i should just take off the keyboard and look inside? Or do i have to dismantle the entire thing? Will removing the keyboard void my warranty? What if i were to try to clean it myself? What could i use to dissolve any of the coffee left inside of the computer? Is there any special cloth or liquid used to clean the inside of a computer, like the motherboard and such? If not it looks like i am forking out $200 for geeksquad to fix my computer.