How To Repair Water Damaged Laptop Speakers

Accidentally spilled water all over your laptop speakers? Do they sound funny now? Learn how to repair water damaged laptop speakers here!

Working at a cafe with laptop

We’ve all gone through the stress of spilling water on a laptop. I’m so clumsy I pray it’s water and not some sticky liquid. If the spill is not that bad, the water can damage only your speakers and not vital parts. I guess you’ve been misfortunate enough to spill water on your laptop, so you came here to find out how to fix the speakers. How to repair water-damaged laptop speakers?

You can fix laptop speakers after a water spill provided that the amplifier chip isn’t damaged. There’s no way to fix water-damaged laptop speakers without taking it apart. All you have to do is wait for the speakers to dry out if there’s water blocking the sound. 

Whether you’ll be able to fix your laptop speakers depends on how you handled the spill. Let’s talk about that.

Can Water Damaged Laptop Speakers Be Repaired?

Let’s be honest here. The question you need to be asking is: Can my speakers be repaired? When it comes to liquid spills on laptops, most people would say spills ruin laptops beyond repair. It’s not a general rule though, the type of liquid matters.

Water isn’t that dangerous, of course, we’re talking about spilling a glass of water and not a whole bucket. The thing is, water can be dried quickly and it doesn’t stick to parts. Sticky liquids, like coffee and sodas, are a problem though. Because of the sugar, they stick to parts of the laptop making it hard to manage the spill. So, as long as you spilled only water, there’s hope.

There’s one other thing you should be concerned about. Water spills on laptops are dangerous only if they cause a short circuit, i.e. mess with the motherboard circuit. But short circuits only happen if you managed the water spill badly.

Related article – Should You Use Headphones With Wet Hair?

Tools on a wooden table

What To Do When Water Spills On Laptop

No one can judge you if you spill water on your laptop. It happens all the time, that’s how most laptops get damaged. Someone will judge you though if you reacted poorly after the spill. The laptop will survive just fine if you react efficiently and quickly. In fact, your speakers will be fine after some time too. Seconds matter here, you must be fast. Here’s what you need to do.

  1. Shut off the laptop as soon as you can.
    We have already said that water can mess up the motherboard’s circuit. That won’t be able to happen if there’s no power. You must shut off the laptop immediately after the spill. Chances are, the water didn’t get all the way to the motherboard if you were fast enough. Even if the water makes it to the motherboard after that, nothing will happen because there’s no power.
  2. Remove the battery if possible.
    The second thing you need to do is remove the battery. It doesn’t matter that the laptop isn’t drawing power, the battery can still get damaged. Water is bad for the battery cells. Exposure to water can significantly weaken the battery or ruin it altogether. So, the smartest thing to do is take out the battery. This way, it can quickly dry out, and you’re making room for water to go out from the laptop.
  3. Place the laptop upside down and dry periodically with a fan.
    The water can enter the laptop either from the keyboard or the speakers. And it can only come out from there. So, you need to place the laptop upside down so it can dry properly. You can use a fan to help but don’t get too close with it. If you see water coming out of the keyboard wipe it with a soft cloth.

That’s all you can do really. Taking apart the laptop really helps but I don’t recommend it if you don’t know what you’re doing. Let’s see about those speakers now.

Related article – Can I Use Headphones While Charging My Laptop?

Water spilled on laptop

Repairing Laptop Speakers After Water Spill

I wouldn’t really call what follows “repairing” but you know what I mean. Besides opening up the laptop, there’s not much you can do. I don’t feel comfortable advising you on touching the inside of your laptop, so I’ll offer something else. First, we need to know if your speakers are damaged beyond repair.

Is The Sound Chip Damaged?

In some cases, the laptop survives the spill but only the sound is messed up. It’s not unlikely for the water to ruin only the sound chip. If water entered from the speakers, it may have damaged the sound chip. This is not an ideal situation because you can’t really fix it yourself. The sound chip needs to be replaced. The chip is placed on the motherboard so you’ll need professional help.

There’s a quick way to find out if the sound chip is damaged. So, if the speakers are muffled or not working at all, it’s not the sound chip necessarily. Is the sound plugin(3.5 mm jack) working? If you plug in headphones in the laptop, are they working just fine? If so, the sound chip is okay. A damaged sound chip won’t be able to play sound on headphones too.

Is Water Blocking Sound From The Speakers?

Now, the other option is that your sound chip is fine but water is blocking the speakers. This means that the speakers still aren’t dry. In this case, you’ll be able to hear some sounds coming from the speakers. At the least, you can hear the sound but it’s muffled. There’s not much to do here but wait for the speakers to dry out. Many laptop speakers started working later after a water spill.

Place the laptop upside down to help the process. You can also use a fan. Some suggest tweaking the bass all the way up and playing a heavy bass song so the water comes out. I’m not quite sure if that will work though. Give your laptop time to dry out and see if your speakers start working.

External Laptop Speakers

I’m guessing that for some people the speakers will still not work after they dried up. If so, you can take your laptop to a repair shop or get a Bluetooth speaker for your laptop. These are great sound devices that you can take anywhere with you. I’ll leave some recommendations below. Hope this post helped you.