Now before you call me crazy for opening up my new (few weeks old) Xtab A10, let me give you the reason why I did so. Well the A10 tablet in standby mode was lying on the dining table (base touching the table) and next to it (feet away) was a glass full of Milk, ah so you are getting the idea.

Yes I spilled the milk, of course accidently, knocked the glass and spilled the milk on the table and on the tablet (oh isn’t it surprising just add a t and the table becomes a tablet), anyway the milk. I immediately cleaned the tablet which was drenched in the sticky liquid with a soft cloth and left it for drying.

After about 2 hours I cleaned the outer surface which was still a bit sticky and tried starting the tab. It did not start. It did not hurt much as this was a low cost tab, cannot promise the same reaction had it been an Apple iPad or any high end tablet.

Now with the Xtab A10 totally dead and sure enough that the warranty will not cover such damages, I was left with no option but to open up the tab and try my luck. Now do not try this until and unless you want to void the warranty or you are facing a similar situation that I have gone through or which will not be covered in the warranty, in other words, no option left.

The Xtab A10 does not have any screw and tab is well packed. I figured out the way to open it using the very thin gaps found on the front side near the edges. Use a thin screw driver or any tool that will not damage the plastic edges and slowly flip the cover as shown in the image below.

Open the Xtab A10
Open the Xtab A10

Slowly keep repeating until the plastic cover is unlocked. Be careful as there is a speaker inside just take care not to pull that. Once done you will have the LCD screen with top frame and the bottom cover that click-fits with the top frame. Also when you open the tab cover the volume / power button will fall off.

Inside the Xtab A10
Inside the Xtab A10
A10 tablet hardware
A10 tablet hardware
Allwinner CPU inside Xtab A10
Allwinner CPU inside Xtab A10

So what you get is the motherboard, the volume / power button and the back cover. Now back to the milk issue. On the motherboard I could clearly see the milk debris which had now tuned solid, I used a mini screwdriver and carefully scrapped off from the circuit and used a soft painting brush to clean away the white particles. When done, I switched on the tab and it worked, yes it worked, but with no sound, probably some more drying needed. I then left the tab hardware open for the whole night in a warm place and the next morning tried again.

Amazingly the tab is now working again as it did before with the sound. I think the Xtab A10 design saved the unit from the milk spill. Even though some of the milk fell on the touchscreen it remained undamaged. Anyway it’s great to have the xtab back again.

Check out the video of what’s inside the Xtab A10 and how to open the Xtab A10

By Rajeev Rana

Founder and Chief Editor - gogi.in