coffee +keyboard

[t0p]

Last night I spilt coffee on my laptop, and now the keyboard doesn't work right. Some keys produce the correct characters, but others produce completely incorrect characters.

I'm using a USB keyboard and mouse at the moment, and I'm pretty sure it's only the laptop's keyboard in affected. Is this fixable by myself? If not, how mucg would a computer guy want to fix it? (I'm poor as a church mouse)

Cheers

[Double.J]

Hi there!

really sorry to here that! My weapon of choice was tea, but then i am british!

I have changed the keyboards on af least 4 makes of laptops. Some are easy (my samsung netbook) and some are horrendous (dell!!)

It's actually the stuff that was in solution with the coffee that causes mot of the problem- the bean dust, sugar, milk and such. As it drys out it shorts the keyboard.

generally laptop keyboards are held down buy a mild adhesive and a few screws. If you have a popular model someone will have made a youtue video of takibg one apart. Main thing is have something like an egg box to put all the screws in - they have a lot and there's usually at least 4 different types of internal screw. Also make sure you are electrically safe.

in terms of repair, the first time I did it i took the keyboard off and washed it with soapy water, then distilled water and left it in the sun. Surprisingly it worked. However, after seceral years of twch support i'd now recommend 100% isopropenol it will easily break down the deposits and wont cause any more damage. It can usually be got for a few pounds.

In terms of replacing the keyboard i'd say the seemingly random number of £17 is most common online used, maybe 30 new if you can find one.

a computer guy may vary quite a bit in cost. I'd assume parts and labour to be 70-100, nothing more.

if possible stop using the laptop, take the battery out and leave upsidown - the liquid gets around the keyboard you see. A lot of laptops have a platic tray underneath with only a whole for the jeyboard ribbon cable in to protect the motherboard from exposure, but some make it quite easy for liquid to get to the mobo.

best of luck!

Jj

[coldraven]

I took my HP keyboard out in order to clean the fan. It was fairly easy, only three screws to remove from the bottom.
However, the ribbon cable is very delicate and I think that I damaged it. Every so often the keyboard stops working and I have to re-boot the laptop.
I can get a new keyboard on eBay for between £10 and £20 but I'm holding off for the moment.
Look online for a video tutorial.

[tgalati4]

Although I have not done it, I've seen folks put the keyboard in the top rack of a dishwasher with a water-only, wash cycle--no dryer heat. The spray jets get under the keys. After a few days of drying out, you should be good to go.

A less drastic method would be to use electrical contact cleaner under the keys where the coffee intrusion occured.

Make a large label to put on the bezel of your laptop (near the Ubuntu sticker) No coffee drinking!

[grahammechanical]

When it comes to paying someone to repair a computer, remember that the time spent by the repair person may cost more than the machine is worth. No one works for nothing. What is time consuming to the repair person is a large service bill to us the customer.

Regards.

[pauljwells]

I recently spilled a glass of whisky on my MS wireless keyboard, which, after I had passed out from the effect of the previous whiskies, proceeded to endlessly repeat the letter 'z' appropriately! Come the morning the keyboard battery was spent...

In the cold light of day, not wanting to get a new keyboard because mine is UK English and I am in Germany so only German QWERTZ keyboards available I decided to take it appart. Just like a laptop there were way more screws than necessary and finally the top and bottom half of the case had to be prised appart. They were so stiff I was sure I'd missed a screw and was about to destroy the whole thing when it finally popped open.

In anticipation of a storm of loose keys I had taken photos already so I would be able to put them back in place but they were fortunately all held captive.

The 'business' part of the keyboard is a set of thin films that are pushed into contact by key strokes. The whisky had got between the layers so I just gently separated them and using a paper towel dried off all the fluid and then gave a final wipe with a clean, water-dampened towel and left the whole thing by the room heater to dry it out completely. It worked and I am continuing to use it to type this very post.

At the very least you will learn a bit about keyboards, so have a go yourself. You can always go to a repair shop if you get stuck.