Cup of water spilled on laptop...

[BudAshes]

My girlfriend managed to dump half a cup of water onto her laptop keyboard while it was on. I turned it off and took it apart and let it dry. But when i turned it back on the some of the keyboard keys were "stuck" together. I hit the t key and g is also hit, hit the delete key and the back key is also hit etc. I replaced the laptop keyboard but it still is sticking so it appears to be some problem with the keyboard connection or on the motherboard itself. Doesn't sound too good but Is there anyway i can fix this for her without using an external keyboard?

 

[imported_wired247]

It may not be as dry as you think...

Get some high purity isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, try to rinse the keys as much as possible, let it dry overnight at least, then try it again.

Alcohol will dry up the water and will not leave any residue that you'd have to worry about.

 

[BudAshes]

I already replaced the keyboard and the new one doesn't work either. The exact same keys still "stick" together.

 

[jdkick]

Without disassembling the notebook there's no way to tell how far the water got. I've seen a notebook restored after having a cup of tea spilled on it, but it took a fair bit of effort. The keyboard and CMOS battery were toast, but all major components were undamaged. The bottom half was fully disassembled (CPU removed, motherboard removed from chassis, etc) and the components were thoroughly cleaned as required. Everything was left to dry for a few days and worked good as new when reassembled... it was also a good opportunity to correct the crap-tacular application of the factory applied thermal compound.

 

[BudAshes]

Originally posted by: jdkick
Without disassembling the notebook there's no way to tell how far the water got. I've seen a notebook restored after having a cup of tea spilled on it, but it took a fair bit of effort. The keyboard and CMOS battery were toast, but all major components were undamaged. The bottom half was fully disassembled (CPU removed, motherboard removed from chassis, etc) and the components were thoroughly cleaned as required. Everything was left to dry for a few days and worked good as new when reassembled... it was also a good opportunity to correct the crap-tacular application of the factory applied thermal compound.

The weird thing is that everything works perfectly except for the few keys that don't. I'm not sure what could have been damaged for that too happen even after the keyboard is replaced. I'm guessing it has something to do with the connection between the keyboard input and the motherboard.

 

[bruceb]

From what you describe, it sounds like the connector
that the keyboard ribbon goes into needs to be cleaned.
Or there is still water in that connector shorting it out.

 

[BudAshes]

igts hyas been like 2 weeks since igt hyappened. gthyis is beingt gthyped on gthye affecgted lapgtop.

 

[imported_wired247]

sounds like some bad luck then. My good friend spilled a cup of hot chocolate on his compaq presario laptop and it was fine the next day, after a thorough draining