Spilt tea in laptop keyboard
Community Forums/General Help/Spilt tea in laptop keyboard
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| Hi, after spilling a bit of tea into the laptop keyboard.. The keyboard works when I switch on the laptop but then stops working altogether after a few minutes. Any advice? |
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| Sounds like one of the keys is stuck or sticks after its pressed... no real alternative but to dismantle, remove the keys. Weak warm soapy water will fix it, if you cant remove the keys, you may need to use a spray to get into the corners. Just make sure everything is bone dry before re-assembly. |
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| thanks, im not sure if the keys can be removed its a 2710p |
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| For most laptops, individual keys can't really be removed - they have a kind of see-saw mechanism to keep the keys elevated, and once they come loose they're nearly impossible to re-seat... REaly easy to snap off part of the plastic too. Pretty much all laptop vendors replace the entire keyboard if there's a problem with even a single key since it's really not a serviceable part. (Typically you need to dis-assemble the entire laptop case, after which you can take out the keyboard and replace it with a different one. Obviously the keyboard is unique to each vendor, so you'll have to talk to your laptop manufacturer for a replacement model. Most likely they're going to be ridiculously expensive, though... you may wish to look around ebay for an identical laptop. You can often pick up dead laptops real cheap, and there's a good chance that it still has a functional keyboard that you can harvest. |
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| Also best to check if the tea reached other parts as well. Fluids in your computer can cause shortcuts, wich is normally not a real problem with a keyboard in most cases because that will simulate some keys being pressed all the time. But if there are some fluids on the mainboard of the notebook, wich is beneath the keyboard there is a chance you can kill it when there is power running through it. So if possible dissasemble the notebook and let the other parts dry a bit as well if needed before using it again. Don't do any of these things if you have an insurance for your notebook for cases like this, warranty will never cover stuff like this. Also be sure what your doing when opening a notebook, you can easily break something. Safest option is always to let the hardware vendor fix it, but mostly this is not the cheapest option. |
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| I called them and they said it is covered by warranty - hopefully they done change their mind when they take a look inside! |
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| Take the keyboard out of the laptop, wash it fully in alcohol (the 'clean evaporation' kind like methys, NOT WHISKY or RUM! :) then dry it out thouroughly in a warm dry, ventilated place for a long time, periodically pressing keys and giving it a good shake, making sure all alcohol is gone. Then replace. Ive done this twice and not had a problem.. but still.. you know.. at own risk and all that :) |
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| no alcohol ! Dry it first ! clean it with destilled (?) Water . dry it some keyboard have rubbergum which alcohol will destroy . |
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| Turn off Sticky Keys? ;) |
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| Don't drink tea while using the laptop? ;-) Primary rule of computing: expensive electronics + liquid = sadness (and sometimes sparks) Seriously, if it's under warranty I wouldn't risk a DIY job. |
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| @panno, hmm, you are probably right distilled water is probably the safest bet, save the alcohol for if it fails to de-stickyfy it. I have not had that problem with the times i have done it(a dell and a siemens), perhaps it depends on what type of alcohol you use. Methys have always done the job for me. Failing that a new keyboard from the manufacturers parts dept would cost not a lot (15-20 quid tops). @uber most warranties will be voided from liquid damage, i know dell's and HP's are. Unless you purchaced some kind of buyer protection insurance. Hehe i used WD40 once in a normal keyboard when the keys started sticking due to beer damage. It worked a treat and is non conductive (so can be used immediately) although it is HIGHLY flamable (at least alc evaporates) so wouldnt reccommend it for a LT keyboard :) in fact i wouldnt reccomend it full stop, but it does work :D |
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| I spilt few times beer and cider on my keyboards (IBM PS/2 keyboards), then I washed them in the shower and bathtub. Didn't even open them, just let them get completely soaked in water. Electronics doesn't get damaged from water or moisture, unless it has electricity. So let the keyboard then dry for 3-4 weeks before you use it. I wouldn't bath the whole laptop though, but just the keyboard. It can be usually removed quite easily by removing a few screws. |
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| I remember my old laptop, an Emachines M6805. That must've been the toughest laptop out there at the time. I spilt a whole quart of sugar-saturated tea on the keyboard. The bottom of the screen changed brightness a little, but not noticeably. Aside from that, no damage at all. That laptop lasted me 6 years, all the paint around the touchpad and a few of the keycaps wore off, by the time it stopped working. The hinges on the screen were cracked, one of them got fixed in time with a little Gorilla Glue, the other I didn't get to in time. Now that I think of it, I bet the problem that finally broke it was that the CMOS battery had worn out. Meh. It was starting to get pretty obsolete anyway. Funny thing is, it wasn't really marketed for durability, but it was tough as nails. My new laptop's power cord socket broke off within a month. The manufacturer said it was a common thing to happen, and fixed it for me. Still, a pretty big difference. |
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