don't spill coffee on your pro keyboard

[jeryci]

:confused: well... i am a coffee drinker... so ?

ok, i've had the imac 400 for about 6 months now, so cool ..
this morning, half awake, i drink my coffee as usually, and eventually spill it on the keyboard (lucky enough it was only the keyboard...)

and it just stopped working, wouldn't answer a key stroke...

a bit of a worry.. anyway, i looked up, for the first time, prices for a new keyboard...and decided i'd try to repair it myself,

so i found myself dismounting the poor thing... took off the transparent covers, and found a white plastic cover underneath, sticked with (not too strong) glue..

took it off, thinking i would see the base of the keyboard and would then be able to easilly access the membrane to see what was wrong...

and saw an incredible amount of tiny little screws !!! amazing quantity of them, i couldn't believe my eyes, after unscrewing the bloody screws, i eventually took apart the keyboard of the membrane, finding lose little plastic nipples for each key, that of course fell everywhere.... making sure i didn't lose any, i started cleaning membrane and keys , and finally put it all back together, after err, about 4 hours work ....

so i guess that will teach me a lesson, not to drink coffee next to the computer, hey..

anyway, as a proud geek , i took fotos of the process, anyone interested, ask me..
(and no, no pics of the coffee, i am thinking about , say water from now on.. coffee with sugar tends to make things a bit sticky..)

well, yes i managed to save my $80 keyboard, and put it all back together...at least i have a clean one now...



Jc

[Chaszmyr]

I want to see a photo of all the tiny little screws :-)

[zarathustra]

RE: don't spill coffee on your keyboard


Also avoid licking power outlets, using cd tray as cupholder and using white-out on LCD screen. ;) :p

[bousozoku]

Maybe Starbucks would have sold it as a Christmas gift item--had you been drinking their coffee. :)

Way back when computer terminal keyboards cost several hundred dollars, we had a strict rule about liquid and keyboards. Some had electric shock involved since the keyboard housing was metal and this was usually enough to keep the oblivious user from spilling anything near the keyboard. :D

[Megaquad]

my pro keyboard has all kinds of food between keys.. if i ever want to sell it with my imac, what will buyer think of me? :D

[Wes]

The easiest solution to this problem (although it takes much longer) is to, get your keyboard, unplug it, and soak it in water and get all the stickiness off. Then leave it to dry for a few days. Then it will work again without problems ;-).

[mmmdreg]

I once got water inside my hockey-puck mouse for some reason and it didn't work for a few hours until it dried up...

[Wes]

Originally posted by mmmdreg
I once got water inside my hockey-puck mouse for some reason and it didn't work for a few hours until it dried up...

Yeah it's called a short circuit!:D

[King Cobra]

Luckily when I had a can of Pepsi by my computer the worst that happened was my fingers would become sticky, and my typing would be off.

Then, again, that might have been from something else. :p

If you're in such a positive mood about it, obviously you had to tell everyone. :D :D

[jeryci]

I decided i would hare the moment... lol

here goes:
go to : http://www.escalanet.com/MacAccident/

a few photos, for you all to see what i went through...


cheers

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by zarathustra
RE: don't spill coffee on your keyboard


Also avoid licking power outlets, using cd tray as cupholder and using white-out on LCD screen. ;) :p

and never drink near any laptop

i always keep drinks off the desk