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Urgent - Spilled Coffee On Keyboard - Not All Keys Behaving Correctly

D

dandaman2

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 18, 2008
102
0
hey Macrumors...
I just spillt my coffee on my macbook keyboard. The spill was localized to my keyboard, fortunately, and no other components were affectes, which is great. All my letters and numbers are 100% there. Some of my punctuation is a bit off - my apostrophes become semicolons, for example, I don:t know what to do. I:ve also got a bunch of other odd problems going on but only when holding down shift. I removed my ram and reinstalled it as part of my clean. Because a lot of my punctuation issues only occur with modifier keys, I think I might have broken something during the deep clean )I was messing with RAM, etc...0 but I:m not to experiences with hardware repair.

What should i do??? Do you think it really is software and updating my keyboard firmware will do good? should I go to iFixIt and pick up a new keyboard? given a guide, I could do the repair myself if it comes to it.

My backup plan is to do a full heart transplant - pull the HD and put it in another computer. I love my alumium macbook though, and I hope it doesn:t come to that.

Did I mention that I'm a student with a major paper due in the near future? Suggestions would be great, suggestions soon would be greater.
 
I didn't wait because I figured I'd rather replace the keyboard than fail the class and am currently using an external keyboard.

Are you sure I'll need a new keyboard? I'd agree, but I'm only having issues when certain punctuation keys are used with the shift key. One idea I had was to find an advanced keymapper and fix the problem keys with software. While I mentioned that I was willing too, I just looked up prices, and $300 is steep for a student.

Does this solution seem viable or am I being delusional?
 
As a consolation, will you at least try to explain to me why the keys are behaving so erratically? I don't see how a key can work normally without the shift key, how 26 letters can work normally regardless of shift, but when I hold down "shift" and "comma" I get "asterisk."
 
Is it possible to remove the keyboard? If so, you might try soaking it in distilled (!) water, then drying it very very carefully before putting it back together.

Obviously this is risky but it can often be done. Do not use tap water because impurities can be left on the electronics.
 
Well, I will try this too then. Thanks. I'll buy the part so that if that doesn't work, it will be simple enough to reassemble with the replacement. If I don't need the part, I will return it.

Sorry if I was being a little bit annoying. I am under a little pressure and I hope you will all understand.
 
Good luck. If you do try the distilled water, make sure you don't rush the drying process. The keyboard needs to be absolutely dry before you turn the power back on. Give it a few days. You can try keeping it in a bag of uncooked rice (the rice absorbs moisture) or find some silica gel (those bags of "DO NOT EAT" that you get with some products).
 
I'm in the process of tracking down a part. I'm actually considering bringing it to Apple. Apple quoted my last repair - a broken LCD - at $800. I bought one for $200 and DIYed it. At first I expected a similar markup for the keyboard, but I was searching through macrumors and Apple's price might not be as bad as I originally thought. If an unbacklit top-case on iFixIt is $200 and the repair through apple is $300, I will consider going through apple.

I've started the disassembly already and I've run into issues already. I don't have the best tools and the screws strip real easily. I have a genius bar appointment tomorrow and I'll decide what to do once I get the quotes.
 
notjustjay said:
Is it possible to remove the keyboard? If so, you might try soaking it in distilled (!) water, then drying it very very carefully before putting it back together.

Obviously this is risky but it can often be done. Do not use tap water because impurities can be left on the electronics.
Click to expand...
Absolute alcohol makes more sense than distilled water and in one of the more highly recommended fixes for spills.
 
dandaman2 said:
I'm in the process of tracking down a part. I'm actually considering bringing it to Apple. Apple quoted my last repair - a broken LCD - at $800. I bought one for $200 and DIYed it. At first I expected a similar markup for the keyboard, but I was searching through macrumors and Apple's price might not be as bad as I originally thought. If an unbacklit top-case on iFixIt is $200 and the repair through apple is $300, I will consider going through apple.

I've started the disassembly already and I've run into issues already. I don't have the best tools and the screws strip real easily. I have a genius bar appointment tomorrow and I'll decide what to do once I get the quotes.
Click to expand...

Sorry about your woes, but keep us posted on what happens for you
 
I've been to the genius bar. The display wasn't working - I must not have reconnected it fully - but even so they decided it would be a Tier 4 repair - shipped out to Texas for a flat rate of $800+. Which I'm not doing. They can do the keyboard (plus unibody) for I think $350 plus labor and tax but they can't do partial repairs. My mommy offered to pay for that (go ahead and laugh) so I'm leaning towards getting that display running and sending the computer off for a little bit.
 
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