Computer emergency

[splent]

Pop spilled on my wifes laptop keyboard and a few keys dont' work. I took off all the keys and wiped off with qtips and a damp cloth, then dried with a blowdryer on the cool setting, and am just waiting. Is there anything else I can do?  We can't afford to go get it fixed at a repair shop.

[El Barto]

For the time being you can plug in any old keyboard and still use the thing.  If it doesn't come back to life, you can buy a repacement keyboard on eBay for $15 or so.  You should be able to install it yourself.  No point in paying some guy $150 to do it. 

[splent]

That's not going to help her now, Barto... unless we just look for an old keyboard at a thrift store or something.

[El Barto]

You didn't say that you needed to get it working now.  If that's the case, you can pick up a <$10 keyboard from Frys or Microcenter, and if you don't want to go that far,  $20 from any of your retail stores. 

BTW, if you're going to try to use the thing so soon,  take it apart and make sure the innards are completely dry.  A couple of drops of Mr. Pibb rolling around in there can screw a whole lot more than the keyboard. 

[splent]

We are going to let it sit with the keys off for a couple of days to make sure eveyrthing is completely dry.  There are like 7 keys that don't work in the middle of the keyboard. 

[jeebustrain]

do they actually not work or are they just really sticky and stuck? It's most likely just the sugar gummed up the hinges. There are no real electronics in a laptop keyboard that can be damaged by liquids - it's just a mesh with some touch sensors on it. The only time you'd have a problem would be is if the liquid was on there long enough to where it would seep down into the chassis onto the motherboard. However, if that happened, you would have a lot more problems than just a few keys not working.

what you need to do is take the keyboard off the laptop (different models do it differently, but once you get whatever is holding it on there loose (it's usually the piece of plastic right under where the screen hinges are on most newer ones), you can pull the keyboard out and disconnect the ribbon (there will be 2 plastic tabs in the socket that you gently pull with either a fingernail or a small flathead screwdriver.

Then take a dishpan or baking dish and fill it with hot (as hot as will come out of your tap) soapy (dish soap) water. Put the keybaord in there and soak it until the water isn't hot anymore (about 20-30 minutes), hitting all the keys over and over until the hinges break free. When the water cools down, replace it with more hot soapy water and do it again.

Then rinse the keyboard off and let it dry on a towel after shaking the hell out of it (to get the water free from under the keys).

Let it dry overnight and test out the keyboard to make sure all the buttons move freely. Reattach it to your laptop (with the power off and battery out) and give it a shot.



FYI - I've done this at least a 1/2 a dozen times both in a personal and professional capacity and it works every time. If you are unsure about how to remove the keyboard, post the make/model and I can point you to a tutorial or schematics that will help you.