Is my keyboard dead? (spilled coffee on it)

[mshan]

My dad's Intel Apple iMac has a wired keyboard.

I spilled coffee on it yesterday morning and now many of the keys don't work.

(I cleaned up the coffee with paper towels and turned the power off overnight. I did, however, turn the keyboard while it was still powered up to drain and such up coffee with paper towels and may have pressed some of the keys then).

If the keyboard is indeed dead, will Apple replace it under warranty without cost to me?

 

[Geomagick]

Don't panic - Un plug the keyboard and dismantle it carefully and clean everything with clean water - preferably distilled although not essential. You can use electrical switch cleaner as well.

Allow the keyboard to dry completely and reassemble. It should now work ok. Coffee - especially if you take cream and sugar leaves behind a horrid sticky residue which is what needs cleaning off.

The answer to will apple replace it at no cost is NO. A warranty covers against manufacturing defects and rarely user error / clumsyness.

 

[mshan]

Stupid question:

Could I just wash the whole keyboard with water (even submerge the whole keyboard to thoroughly wash out the coffee and sugar) and then let it dry out for several days?

Also, any possibility I shorted out something in the keyboard when I pressed keys while there was coffee was in there and it was still plugged in to the iMac?

More importantly, any potential to damage the imac itself if I reconnected a keyboard that still had a little moisture on it's key contacts?

 

[mshan]

Went ahead and aggressively rinsed the whole keyboard under the bathroom tub faucet.

I am going to wait three days for it to completely dry out and cross my fingers that this fixed the problem.

 

[Bozo Galora]

spray it down with Gunk at an engine rebuild shop and hose it out with a high pressure steam cleaner. Then apply WD-40 liberally.

Done!!!

Hope this helps.
Enjoy.

 

[Smartazz]

Some keyboards are water proof, tell us if your keyboard still works.

 

[Proprioceptive]

HAhaha... my friends highly distrust my method of cleaning a keyboard, but it works EVERY time like a charm.

1)Fill a bathtub up with luke-warm water and put just a little bit of dish soap in it. Swish it a bit.

2)Place your keyboard in the water, completely submerged, for about an hour.

3)Pull keyboard out of the tub and drain as much water as possible out of it. Just move it around and swish whatever you can out.

4)Here's the part everyone thinks I'm crazy for... TURN ON YOUR OVEN, and set it to it's lowest setting. Bake your keyboard over night, and voila! You have a brand spankin' new keyboard!

5)Rejoice... tell all your friends about your method and prepare to be laughed at and scoffed. :thumbsup:

 

[wallsfd949]

My previous IT job was for a 3PL warehouse and I would take the dirty warehouse keyboards apart and put them in the dish washer. After a 2 day air dry, they were re-assembled, worked great and were *new* again. I never ruined a keyboard doing this.

I don't know about the wireless mac keyboards, I'd make sure you thoroughly dry it for a few days. I wouldn't suggest the oven especially over night.

 

[mshan]

Thanks for the input, everyone!

I am going to wait till Sunday (3 days) for the keyboard to dry out and then attempt to plug it in again.

Right after I spilled the coffee, I stupidly didnt' immediately disconnect the keyboard from the usb port of my iMac. I tiltetd the keyboard from side to side, trying to drain out the spilled coffee and I pressed some keys on this "wet", still connected keyboard.

Is it possible that I permanently shorted out some keys in this manner? And is it possible to someone damage the iMac by replugging this now thoroughly dried out keybaordr?

 

[CreepieDeCrapper]

Originally posted by: Proprioceptive
2)Place your keyboard in the water, completely submerged, for about an hour.

what about corrosion/rusting of the metal components (i.e. wires, etc.)? i would think the water and soap would be bad for the board inside