Wife spilled tea on laptop keyboard. Is it toast?

[thekkfan]

Those saying to rinse out.. tried that many times and never completely works the same as before.

For replacement... depends on model. Look it up on youtube as others mentioned to see the ease of installation.

I have installed easy 3 minute jobs in Dells and HPs, and of course, the dud Toshiba of my own. I wouldn't wish that one on anyone. I literally had to remove EV-ER-Y-THING from the inside (while upside down) to get to the keyboard for replacement. dumbest design I've seen in 25 years for one of the most replaced items in the unit. :thumbdown:

 

[MossRoad]

When I first started in I.T. we had three spare keyboards for about 400 users. So, we had to clean keyboards as they were a couple hundred bucks a piece. We had to pull each key off, remove the rubber boots, springs, etc... clean everything with contact cleaner. Replace everything, test and repeat. At least once a week someone would spill something in the keyboard. Eating and drinking was not allowed at work desks, so if we got a spilled one, we had to report it to H.R. so they could discipline the person!!! That's how expensive keyboards were, plus 2 hours of labor to clean if it could be salvaged.

Over the years, keyboards started dropping dramatically in price, to the point they were under ten bucks. However, we had a boss that kept demanding we "clean that pile of keyboards!" I finally explained to him that it cost him $30 to have me clean his $10 keyboard. He hadn't realized what a waste of time it was.

We had a serial spiller for many years. About every other month she'd call and tell us she spilled coffee, tea, lemonade, you name it. My buddy would go out there and get her keyboard, take it back to our office, throw it in the trash can and wait about half and hour. Then he'd take out a new one to her and tell her he cleaned it. This happened at least 15-20 times over the years.

So one day, she calls about a spill. He goes out there, and it's yogurt! He takes the keyboard and throws it in HER trash can right in front of her. WHAM! She asks "Aren't you going to clean it?" His reply....

"We don't do yogurt!" :laughing:

 

[the old grind]

... I have installed easy 3 minute jobs in Dells and HPs, and of course, the dud Toshiba of my own. I wouldn't wish that one on anyone. I literally had to remove EV-ER-Y-THING from the inside (while upside down) to get to the keyboard for replacement. dumbest design I've seen in 25 years for one of the most replaced items in the unit.

I guess you haven't worked on much Sony gear. Have to be sure you don't mix up the 3mm, 3.5mm, or 4mm long screws, not confuse 4mm, 4.5mm, or 5mm long ones. Don't expect to be easy finding which goes where without copious, detailed sorting and note taking. Only brand I've had pro tech shops send me (and my 'full factory schematics') elsewhere with ... and wouldn't touch for service with a 3 meter pole. So far, only a Dell or Acer has ever been worth my trouble to do more than upgrade RAM or ... replace a kbd (how you get free laptops )

Back to topic: for the trouble to R&R a keyboard I'd replace it every time. Contact cleaner (a solvent) won't get sugar & some water-solubles off anything you can't wipe. I'd sooner use Windex for that or rubbing alky for a soak, but you end up using a lot of that, and/or distilled water to rinse. (I'm sure Moss would agree somewhat on the elbow grease.)

I've cleaned dozens of phone handset, video game, and remote ctrl keypads in 2+ decades and all too often a 'second life' is disappointingly short. t o g

 

[hawkeye08]

The Christmas sales were great for us this year.. replaced large TV, bought wife her first laptop (she has had tablet and smartphone, used desktop computer as needed).. I told her I would get whatever she wanted, laptop, tablet, foldable laptop that can be used as tablet or laptop, even suggested ones with detachable keyboards.. After much looking, she decided she wanted a laptop, but not a big one.. I saw a deal on a 13.3" laptop with i7 processor, 16GB ram, 512GB SSD, multi touch touchscreen, ordered it and she is very happy... now I can buy mouse for it and padded case/sleeve for gifts in the future.. she likes the trackpad and doesn't want a mouse right now... but a nice small purple one would be welcomed I'm sure..

Changing a keyboard should be fairly cheap and easy, so decide if you want the laptop still or not..