ants in laptop

[Fifty]

I have had like 10-15 ants crawling out of my laptop this morning.

How do I get rid of them?

I tried taking apart the laptop but I"m too stupid to figure out how so I gave up after 20-25 screws and sprayed what I could with canned air but I dont think that helped as I didn't actually see any ants in the parts of the comp I had exposed.

Would freezing ruin my comp?

 

[Perfection]

I don't see why freezing should ruin any components. After all a laptop should be able to survive a day in a cold car. Might want to take out the battery beforehand, though.

Of course if there are ants in there,you'd have to deal with bursted dead ants, and that might cause some problems.

 

[GenMarshall]

Sounds like a movie.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Stop playing SimAnt.

 

[taper]

Freezing your computer won't hurt it, but thawing it out might. If it warms up too fast you'll get condensation all over inside. Putting it in an airtight bag and sucking out as much air as you can before freezing will help. Might be easier to put food and an ant trap just outside your laptop to draw them out.

 

[GoodGame]

Set it up near some ant traps?

 

[Captain Carnage]

Tip some antrid into it.

 

[Chieftess]

Sounds the your laptop has a bug.

 

[Yeekim]

Sounds like a movie.

You beat me to it!
Now all we need is a good poster!

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If you think you can do better, go ahead and try.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Do not freeze your laptop! You will ruin it when the ice from the condensed moisture thaws as taper already pointed out!

Also, if you kill them inside, they could short something out if you don't get rid of all the body parts. You also run the same risk by using the laptop with them inside.

http://www.xnetmedia.com/users/antibug/en/bug.html

You could put the laptop in a garbage bag and spray insecticide into the bag, thereby exterminating them the same way professional exterminators get rid of termites. But you then have the problem of lots of dead ants rolling around inside your laptop...

The ants are likely eating crumbs or the sugar from spilled soft drinks, and will probably go away once their supply of food has been exhausted. I seriously doubt they will decide to set up permanent residency. My advice would be to wait them out and use the laptop sparingly in the meantime. If they aren't gone in a couple of days, then you may want to escalate your eradication efforts.

In the meantime, I'd frequently move the laptop so the ants can't create trails to guide other ants to it.

 

[Fifty]

Do not freeze your laptop! You will ruin it when the ice from the condensed moisture thaws as taper already pointed out!

Also, if you kill them inside, they could short something out if you don't get rid of all the body parts. You also run the same risk by using the laptop with them inside.

http://www.xnetmedia.com/users/antibug/en/bug.html

You could put the laptop in a garbage bag and spray insecticide into the bag, thereby exterminating them the same way professional exterminators get rid of termites. But you then have the problem of lots of dead ants rolling around inside your laptop...

The ants are likely eating crumbs or the sugar from spilled soft drinks, and will probably go away once their supply of food has been exhausted. I seriously doubt they will decide to set up permanent residency. My advice would be to wait them out and use the laptop sparingly in the meantime. If they aren't gone in a couple of days, then you may want to escalate your eradication efforts.

In the meantime, I'd frequently move the laptop so the ants can't create trails to guide other ants to it.

But I heard sprinkling breadcrumbs and sugar water on your laptop nightly improves performance... was I given bad information!?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Do not freeze your laptop! You will ruin it when the ice from the condensed moisture thaws as taper already pointed out!

As long as you take out the battery and the caps are discharged, you'll be fine in freezing it. You need to make sure you let it dry out completely once you're done though.

Water alone doesnt cause damage to computer components. Water and electricity together do. You can always submerge your pc in a tank of water, as long as there is no current to it, itll be fine. But if you dont dry it out before using it, there are going to be problems.

 

[Narz]

Why the heck did they go inside it in the first place is what I'm curious about.

 

[GoodGame]

Why the heck did they go inside it in the first place is what I'm curious about.

They smelled barbecue. Then became it.

 

[taper]

As long as you take out the battery and the caps are discharged, you'll be fine in freezing it. You need to make sure you let it dry out completely once you're done though.

Water alone doesnt cause damage to computer components. Water and electricity together do. You can always submerge your pc in a tank of water, as long as there is no current to it, itll be fine. But if you dont dry it out before using it, there are going to be problems.

Not true. Condensation can be really bad for electronics, even if you let it dry completely, even without electricity. All the minerals in the water will be left behind, corrosion is possible even with short exposure to water. You really don't want to risk a freeze/thaw cycle with a drop of water between your processor and heat sink. Don't forget every motherboard has a battery on it, can you get to that on a laptop? The OP has already said he couldn't get his apart. Capacitors can take a lot longer to discharge than you'd expect too. My day job is Product Test for a well-known manufacturer, so trust me when I say this.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Not true. Condensation can be really bad for electronics, even if you let it dry completely, even without electricity. All the minerals in the water will be left behind, corrosion is possible even with short exposure to water. You really don't want to risk a freeze/thaw cycle with a drop of water between your processor and heat sink. Don't forget every motherboard has a battery on it, can you get to that on a laptop? The OP has already said he couldn't get his apart. Capacitors can take a lot longer to discharge than you'd expect too. My day job is Product Test for a well-known manufacturer, so trust me when I say this.

If you're getting condensate water drying out, there will only be tiny ( read: harmless) amounts of minerals in it. Anything else would be due to the residue present on the parts already, in which case its not likely to be conductive, or it would have fried things already.
Condensate water forms from the water molecules in the air, which means it only manages to trap some small amounts of minerals present in a gaseous state.

Capacitors on a motherboard can be considered discharged after a few power-on's with no battery present. The CMOS battery is very often accessible by a panel on the underside of a laptop.

The biggest danger from freezing a laptop is in the LCD. You freeze that and you may very well damage it, or at the very least render it inoperable for some time.

 

[Formaldehyde]

As long as you take out the battery and the caps are discharged, you'll be fine in freezing it. You need to make sure you let it dry out completely once you're done though.

Water alone doesnt cause damage to computer components. Water and electricity together do. You can always submerge your pc in a tank of water, as long as there is no current to it, itll be fine. But if you dont dry it out before using it, there are going to be problems.

That's just it. You will never get it dry. There will always be moisture trapped inside, not to mention probable mechanical damage to moving parts and contacts due to rust and corrosion. Deliberately freezing or submerging a computer is an incredibly bad idea.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

That's just it. You will never get it dry. There will always be moisture trapped inside, not to mention probable mechanical damage to moving parts and contacts due to rust and corrosion. Deliberately freezing or submerging a computer is an incredibly bad idea.

Please explain this to my MX440, my laptop HDD and my soundblaster sound card.

 

[Abaddon]

Let them be. They are cleaning it for you!


*Insert anthill inside joke here*