Two days ago something tragic happened...

I was busy playing GW on my computer like the massive geek that I am, when I quickly became distracted by my new flatmate playing Banjo-Kazooie (which, strangely enough, is absolutely fantastic to just watch if your new roommate has very poor hand-eye co-ordination skills). Unfortunately I became quite .. er.. animated giving advice one time, and when I turned back to my laptop my hand nudged the cup full of green cordial (or kool-aid, for you Yanks) sitting before my keyboard. Suffice to say, green liquid poured EVERYWHERE, screen, keyboard, desk, pants etc etc.

I quickly turned the laptop upside down, drained it as best I could, and left it upside down to drain any remaining sticky liquid out.

Unfortunately, my punishment for carelessness is that my keyboard does not work any longer. I'm DEVASTATED! And, I'm a complete tool. I'm usually soooooo careful with my things. The only work-around I can get is to, ahem, 'borrow' my partner's USB keyboard while he uses the shitty and old spare keyboard. Basically what this means is that I need to buy a new keyboard, because Ian Thorpe will announce his heterosexuality before I get to use his keyboard whilst he is stuck using the piece of crap we call a 'spare'. I can't use the spare because it has the old-school pin connector, not a USB port. My laptop does not support such outdated nonsense.

Has anyone else done something similarly dumb? And does anyone know what one might do to fix said broken keyboard? Everything else works great- mouse, screen, the damn thing turns on just fine... but I just can't use it for gaming, which is its purpose.

Makes me sad, it does.

So please, after that little tirade, send me your condolences.

Regards,

-Dave_the_quack

[ 01-08-2007, 04:13 AM: Message edited by: Dave_the_quack ]

My keyboard got drenched in coca cola the other day, after which some of the keys were completely useless, or should i say sticky ? But the keys come off pretty easily so i gave it a good rub and now all is well again. If it weren't, still not much harm, keyboards cost a few pennies these days. I realize it's different with a laptop though.

LOL I feel for ya mate! Can't say I've ever done it but i feel for ya!

Not sure on how a laptop keyboard typicaly operates, but if its like a standard PC keyboard you have two problems. The first is that the key mechanisms are now coated in gunk. To fix that, pop off the keys and clean them. The second is that liquid may have penetrated between the membranes, leading to shorts. If this has happened, you'll find some keys not triggering and others triggering multiple keys at once. The way to fix that is to dismantle the whole thing, clean and dry the membranes, and put it all back together. Ive never tried this on a laptop.

Had my Dell laptop for 2 weeks, and this was right after the launch of guildwars, was up late playing and managed to extremely stupidly drop rebdull all over the thing.

Keyboard death number 1


Halfway through last year, once again, up late playig something(cant remember what it was) and had already had quite a few drinks, unfortunatly my new G15 keyboard did not like the beer as much as I did :D

Keyboard death number 2

And finally, wasn't feeling great and decided to have a nice big giant mug full of orange juice, was watching something on my other computer and as I normally would, I had the drink resting on my laptop (same one that had the redbull drink) and then somehow fell asleep, not long after, the doorbell rang, I awoke and jumped up out of bed, andswered the door, got rid of the salesman and came back to find about 300mls of orange juice inside my laptop and a nice big orange stain on my bed :D

Suffice to say this was keyboard death number 3 and came along with a very sad Hivetyrant :(

Luckily im a guru and I managed to clean the thing and get it working (was feeling pretty damn good after that)

Then again, my sister dropped the thing about a week later and it's officially dead now [img]tongue.gif[/img]


Oh, and EDIT: I send you my sympathy ;)

Typically, the keyboard can be removed and easily soaked in water without taking any damage (what I did the the redbull keyboard-didn't work as well as I would have liked)

[ 01-08-2007, 07:00 AM: Message edited by: Hivetyrant ]

You ruined a G15 keyboard and deserve to die, HT. Die a horrible and painful death.

I never had a keyboard die on me, but it wasn't for lack of trying. My very first keyboard was a Keytronic something something. It was a beast. I later found out it was actually a failed project aimed for the US Army field operations or something. Anyway, that thing had an internal metal skeleton, isolated electronics, able to work while wet, every one of it's keys was armored or something. See, whenever I got upset, I took my fist and banged it over the keyboard. No effect. Whenever I got really really upset, I took this solid metal ball(a trophy I found a few years ago), weighing more than a pound, and slammed it over the keyboard a few times until I cooled off. I did this atleast 4-5 times. I spilled drinks ver it atleast half a dozen times, ranging from red bull through tea all the way to hot chocolate. I once dropped(more like slammed) it on the floor accidentally while carrying the PC with the cord still attached. The keyboard took this abouse for 7 years before being replaced with what I have now. Total damage at the end of it's life: nonresponsive sunken left side of the Space key)right side worked fine, slightly odd-angled C, V, B and G keys which still worked fine, and a left Alt key upside down(that was a purposefull reminder). And it worked fine. I'd still have the keyboard as a wired backup if it weren't for one of my mom's clean-up operations. "Where's the keyboard?" "Oh that old thing? I threw it away."
Chapter 2
I now own a Microsoft Wireless Desktop Elite keyboard. I was never violent with this keyboard. But I did spill my drink over it atleast three times, one of those was actually laughing-induced spewing because of this very forum. Luckily, the keyboard has a drain underneath, and it's still working perfectly.

You have my sympathies.

A quick Google (how to clean a laptop keyboard) shows:

A forum with answers:
http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/23824

A site for the obsessive-compulsive:
http://www.centricorp.com/papers/howtocleankeyboard.htm

One that's not so obsessive:
http://www.computing.net/howto/simple/keyboard/

Worth a shot... and in any case, you can buy a new external USB keyboard for just a couple of bucks....

Sounds like you need liquid proof keyboards, guys! ;) Condolences on the sticky/not working ones!

::raises hand:: I spilled tea all over my laptop two years ago. The keyboard was similarly shot. Actually, Dave, I think you saw what happened to it when you came to visit.

Anyway, if you get a replacement keyboard all should be well. Also, you may find that your laptop keyboard takes over sometimes... For example, I would be typing normally and all of a sudden lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll would happen until I smacked the laptop keyboard. Ultimately I unscrewed everything and cut whatever it was that connected the laptop keyboard to the laptop, and all was well. Do keep me posted on your progress.

Not teh keyboard! *cries* I'm sorry to hear of your loss.
My boyfriend frequently "spills" (I think he pours it on purpose) all over his keyboard. He now has a splash proof one.