My toddler has widdled on my laptop keyboard. Do you think the latter is fixable?

[tigermoth]

That's not the reason my spelling is up the creek btw. I rarely preview.

Anyway, the laptop is covered by our home contents insurance and is now with approved repairers.I will know in a few days time if it is fixable or if I will get a new one (yippee).

Anyone know if uric acid is very corrosive? In the meantime I will be continuing to get my emails and log on here via my neighbour's computer or internet cafe.

In a pH balanced body. urine is slightly acid in the morning, (pH = 6.5 - 7.0) generally becoming more alkaline (pH = 7.5 - 8.0) by evening in healthy people. Nothing within that range should be corrosive, and the uric acid is diluted to make urine. I don't know what it might do to a keyboard, but it wouldn't be as corrosive as tipping a coke over it!

Crikey ? how on earth did that happen? Details, please, tigermoth!

Oh tigermoth, what a pain! How on earth did he manage that!!! You've got a laptop IIRC so I can see how it could have happened I spose! I spilt wine on my keyboard a while ago and it totally f**d it up, had to be thrown away. I know a friend who did the same (wine, not wee!) on a laptop and it was fixable. Hope you're back online soon.

Dd weed on one of her electronic toys (she was standing beside it at the time!) and it was OK once it had dried out (we put it in the airing cupboard). Don't know about a laptop though!!

tigermoth, you mentioned recently that your toddler drinks all day? So what he pees is probably mostly water anyway.

A friend of mine lost a brand new laptop (1500 quid) at Christmas when her SIL was looking at some photos and spilled a gin and tonic on the keyboard - those must have been really exciting snaps - anyway the thing died and we all agreed that if only she'd been drinking the gin neat it would have been OK (evaporation/no sugar/no bubbles!)

DS1's almost-new mobile fell in the loo out of his jumper pocket (kangaroo-type) - it was only water and he hooked it straight out - the screen was blank but it eventually recovered and worked fine for several months. Then it stopped taking a charge so we sent it back to the service company but unfortunately they could detect "fluid ingress" (there's posh) which invalidated the warranty. Damn. Not worth claiming on house insurance - the excess would barely cover it. Another fiver for Oxfam!

Good luck with yours - hope you get a gorgeous new one out of it!

Hum. Well I dropped my poor old Persona down the toilet one morning and it didn't even have time to tell me if it was a red or a green day before it went phut permanently. I'd agree though that coke (because of the fizz and then the sticky residue) would be much more likely to cause permanent problems than a bit of toddler widdle. However, with a laptop I am guessing that crucial stuff like chips and disks might have been caught in the blast - it's all so close together.
I'm sorry Tigermoth, I really am, but I think this tale is completely priceless and you are going to be able to sell it to OK in 20 years time when ds2 becomes the first person to run up Everest in the nude (or something). He is such a little dude! And of course you did NOT put him up to it to get a good upgrade gratis. And of course you did not commit this act of sabotage yourself and then try and blame a defenseless three year old...

Marina, what a devious mind you have!

JanH, I didn't know they could tell about "fluid ingress" or whatever you called it - ds put my mobile in a sink full of water since it had some toothpaste or something on it so I told them it had just stopped working and I wanted a new one and they gave it to me. I was lucky it seems.

WWW, did you just take yours back to the shop? I think if we had done that at the time we might have got away with it too - "'ere! it's stopped working!"

The service place included a picture of the inside bits of the phone with a big red cross on one part - must have been some corrosion or something. You were lucky!

DS1 is now talking about getting one of those phones that send pics of David Beckham when you bump into him over the veg. Pur-lease! (He just got a well-paid Saturday job and has more money than sense.)

DS1 I mean - not Becks. (Well, he does have a well-paid Saturday job too come to think of it...)

How did he do it, well the laptop is usually placed on a 2 foot high wooden chest that backs onto a sofa, so is quite sheltered, but unfortunately also at small boy standing up wee height. He has never attempted this feat before, and I wasn't even using the laptop at the time and so neglecting ds. The laptop just happened to be open( I usually put it straight away after use). I think ds just decided to see what would happen if.... OH and our downstairs loo seat is broken and this might have been the catalyst, too.

Janh I was surprised your ds wasn't given a new mobile, but warranties are tricky things and as you say, you have to think twice about claiming on house insurace for small items.

Marina, you know I wouldn't think those thoughts! still.... I wouldn't exactly be in tears if my laptop (current value approx £200.00) is replaced with a lovely brand new one. Perhaps that is what my ds had in mind at the time.

Hmb, the wee incident happend in the afternoon, so the uric acid would not have been as strong, and yes, my ds does drink lots, so I'll have to wait and see.

Thought I would tell you our funny 'wee' story aswell.
When DS was cruising around the furniture, he would cruise along the front of the fireguard in front of our lovely open coal fire. He was always fascinated by the fire ( aren't all males?) and would stop and gaze at the fire. So far so good, but one evening he was cruising butt naked after his bath, held on to the fireguard at his usual place directly in front of the fire and did an enormous wee perfectly aimed directly into the fire. It immediately started hissing and spitting and great clouds of wee flavoured steam filled the room! DS started squealing with delight and pride!
Needless to say, he was never allowed to play firemen again!