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Laptop Keyboard likely broken... need help

alexruiz

alexruiz

Platinum Member
Here is the story. My sister in law called 3 days ago with need for computer help. Her laptop keyboard was not working, so I asked her to tell me what happened. She was working on her laptop, while eating at the same time. We all know that is a bad combination. Well, it happened, somehow she spilled sesame seeds sauce on the keyboard. She tried to clen the mess using windex, and she even popped up the left CTRL key. When she restarted the computer she noticed the keyobard stopped responding, and that MS word said "CRTL key stuck"

I told her to bring the machine so I could take a look. At first I thought it just required cleaning, so no biggie. When she came over, there were virtually no traces of the mess on top. I started the comouter and indeed, no keyboard reposnse, just the touchpad.

I proceeded to take out the CTRL key she said she popped out and cleaned it well. Restart, same result. I decided to start taking out keys and cleaning them, one by one and restrat until "I (thought) I could find the culprit. All the bottom row still had heavy sticky residue, which I cleaned, but still, no keyboard response. I took out the second to bottom row one by ione and cleaned it carefully. Still, no response. By the time I was done cleaning F12, my "10 minutes" task had turned into a few hours, and the mess was prety much cleaned as F12 was almost intact. The worst? Keyboard still not working. MS word still reporting CTRL as stuck. I took out both CTRL keys again, left them out. Restarted for the nth time, still no keyboard response. By this time I pretty much gave up, so I grabbed an USB keyboard I had hoping the externalwould work. Well, because the internal keyboard still "sees" stuck key, the external didn't work 🙁

I told her to take it home, and that I would ask here. I am really at a loss, I am always very careful when taking out keys, but I am afraid she busted something in her initial cleaning / reinsertion of the keys. So my questions:

1) Can I disable the internal keyboard from software so she can use a USB one, or do I need to open the machine?

2) Is there a way to monitor the keyboard matrix so I can diagnose WHICH key is the problem? Kind of a keyboard logger?

3) What do you think is the problem? Could she have gone too heavy on the windex and shorted someting beneath the keyboard membranes?


Any help is appreciated. Somebody told her she needs a new machine, I think she needs at least replacement keyboard. Give me your thoughts.

Mods, Can I post this one also in "peripherials?
Thanks



Alex


 
Please do not crosspost.

You can disable the keyboard, but you will have to partially disassemble it. If lucky, you would only have to remove some trim and maybe take out a couple screws to free the keyboard. Then, you can unplug the keyboard ribbon cable from the motherboard, and reinstall the keyboard. This will effectively disable it and allow you to use an external keyboard.

You can also try a heavier duty cleaning method, by removing the keyboard and completely disassembling it and thoroughly washing it and allowing it to dry overnight. Don't know how well notebook keyboards take to this, but the typical membrane desktop keyboard often revives.

You may be able to get a replacement keyboard from Ebay or the manufacturer. Don't know about others, but Dell sells replacement parts.
 
The worst thing you can do to a laptop after a liquid spill is try to turn it on. This can easily short many parts if the liquid is on a conductive circuit. Luckily that doesn't appear to have happened here, although it does appear to have shorted the keyboard in such a way that its continuously reporting ctrl as being depressed, and not responding otherwise. You can do as Zap said and use an external, but you will want to make sure no other liquid has gotten any further into the machine than just the keyboard. I have had instances where a person will tell me thier machine mysteriously stopped working and when i look inside there is massive liquid damage and they said the spill happened weeks or months before, they thought it was ok, but clearly it is not. Liquid can do its dirty deeds slowly over time as well. It's obviously up to you how much you want to invenst in it, but I would suggest opening it up to make sure, or taking it somewhere and telling them it was a liquid spill and having them clean it and see how extensive the damage goes, if at all.
 
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