Those of
you who read our
CES coverage as obsessively as we covered the show may
remember a brief mention of an unfortunate incident involving a laptop and some spilled coffee (it was actually hot
cocoa). Even though we got the lappy pretty clean with just a few paper towels, a more severe spill might have really
blown up our spot, which is why we wish we'd seen this "how-to" a little earlier. Chris J. over at Grynx
helpfully recounts the tale of his friend's water-damaged router and the steps he took to get it working again, if not
perfectly. We'll leave the deets to Grynx, but basically this rescue mission involves complete disassembly of the
affected device, rather counterintuitively running the circuit boards under more water, and using an alcohol-based
cleaning agent (not gasoline, warn several commenters) to brush the remaining rust/calcium residue from the guts. Money
quote from the article: "If the substance is already dry, as it was for me, then use your wife’s toothbrush
(you don’t want to use your own, right?) to brush off as much as possible."
