Kevin's Watch

Who ever can help me with this gets a big sloppy kiss from me...or...well, my eternal gratitude (or both if you want it).

So I think I've f***** Mr Seareach's laptop. Urgh. Well, it wasn't totally my fault: I was drinking a glass of wine while using it, SoS came up and knocked it onto the keyboard. Wasn't much liquid left.

Anyway, immediately tipped the thing upside down etc.

Soooooooo....

When I booted it up this morning it was clear that a key was stuck because at the password screen it was entering letters/numbers/whatever into the password field. I pushed a few buttons, managed to get it to stop. Tried putting in password...some of the keys weren't working (numbers).

Long and short of it, turned it off, it came back on but then wouldn't go past the dell startup screen.

Pulled battery out. Started up again without battery. Worked fine, got to password page, keyboard now unresponsive but mouse works fine, touchpad also works fine.

Plugged in external keyboard. That works.

So, have I just fried the keyboard <groan>.

Any suggestions? Oh, I did the thing where you take out battery and also power supply and hold down the power button for 20 seconds but...well...my head hurts and Mr Seareach hates me (not that that's anything new but...well...he hates me more than he usually does! )

If it's a Dell you can call them and order a replacement keyboard. They are relatively straightforward to remove and reattach. I had to take mine off to replace my monitor LCD when that got damaged...

I'd guess that you fried the keyboard, yeah. Beverages with sugar in them, or alcohol, are particularly bad for electronic circuitry.

Could be worse, tho. I understand that in MacBooks, the CPU sits directly under the keyboard. Dump some sort of liquid onto one of those and your whole machine is toast. As soon as I heard that, I made sure to get Magickmaker a silicon cover for her keyboard....

First of all, just in case the wine may have affected more than the keyboard, please make copies of any files on the laptop you cannot risk losing.

There is a chance of salvaging the laptop keyboard...but not a certainty.

Before going into how, I have to suggest something to everyone else reading the thread Silicon keyboard covers, also known as keyboard condoms. Absolutely worth the money. The link is to just one brand of these, because they have some Dell ones and Sea said this was a Dell laptop. There are plenty of other brands out there.

OK, Sea. The "locking the barn after the horse is gone" part is over. Here is what you might try:

Get a can of compressed air from your computer shop or home-improvement store...or where ever it is sold n your area. Failing that, you can try to get by with the crevice tool (the very narrow nozzle) for your vacuum...but the compressed air works better.

Let the laptop dry completely, then have someone (SoS, Mr. Sea, whomever will help you without turning it into a hassle) turn it upside-down and hold it while you blow out debris with the compressed air, push all the keys a few times to loosen any dried bits of yuck from the wine, blow again, press keys again, blow again...

Turn the laptop upright again and try booting it up. If the keyboard is still not working, use the external keyboard to get logged in and open a typing window (MS Word, Notepad, even the URL line in your browser. Disconnect the external keyboard if you had to use it to get this far, then try all the keys and keep track of which work and which do not.

If none work (or very few), your computer shop may be able to replace the keyboard, but it will cost the equivalent of $50 to $300, depending on laptop model and how mercenary the shop is.

However, if all or most are working, you now know which are not working and can concentrate on those. If another few rounds of inverted blow-and-keypress do not get those keys working, you can also try prying off an offending keycap and using a barely-moist cotton swab to clean the contacts beneath, then snap the keycap back on. If all else fails, replacing the keyboard is still a better alternative than a full laptop replacement!

Personally, I wouldn't know how to make copies of files off of a computer that won't quite start.

Didn't Sea say she can get it started without the battery but with the external keyboard? And that the mouse and touchpad work?

Before you replace the keyboard (and only when you're sure you'll be replacing it or there's no other choice):

Go to your local electronics-type store. Buy lint-free cloth or swabs. Buy the purest alcohol (not from the liquor section) they have. Pick up the compressed air canister SD mentioned. Take a picture of your keyboard. Pop out all of the keys. Spray with air. Apply alcohol to cloth or swabs. Clean space under the keys vigorously. Dry with compressed air. Replace keys according to the picture. If the problem's solved, great. If not, repeat.

In the worst case scenario, as in there's nothing you can do about it, don't get rid of the laptop. The key contacts shouldn't be electronic, and even if they were, they'd short out 'off' not 'on' and wouldn't do anything at all. The stuff gumming them up will break down over time. Probably.

Doing a quick search, I can't find any laptops whose keys don't pop out normally. Forget what I said about the ("no other choice") bit. It shouldn't hurt anything. Just be careful when popping the keys out.

It also looks like you can buy a 'Super Lube Dry Film Lubricant' to spray everything with after you clean it.

www.computing.net/howto/simple/keyboard/

Thanks everyone for your advice. Shall let you know how I go. I haven't got the time to do it in the next day or two but will attack it soon. We certainly won't get rid of the laptop--can't afford a new one and since it's working with a USB keyboard it's still operational (even if I can't use it with the battery plugged in).

I'm thinking that I've fried some circitry or something...since none of the keys appear to work. Anyway....

Thanks again!

Sloppy kisses all 'round!

Didn't you murder a laptop back in 2008 too?

No, I didn't murder that one/didn't do anything to it except turn it on one day. That one was a lemon! But, yeah...I think modern technology just doesn't like me!

Modern technology doesn't like your habits, not you, Sea.

Reminds me of a call I got at an old job where I handled problems like that. "I spilled coffee on the word processor and it's starting to smoke!".