Trackpad- what have I done?

[graydecember]

I can't help myself- I'm OC about keeping things neat and clean. I wanted to clean the dirty trackpad and surface of my ibook G4....

so I scrubbed it with a *scotchbrite* pad w/ vinegar and detergent. Although I was able to remove the oil, grime and dirt from the dense plastic chassis....

...the mouse activity is squirrly and erratic, sometimes it just won't move at all, sometimes perf. fine.

do I need a new trackpad?!

thanks~

e

 

[aricher]

hmmm - doesn't sound good. I've read reports that say liquids and trackpads don't mix very well. How long ago was this cleaning? Maybe it's not fully dry or some liquid got underneath the trackpad internally. Maybe a hairdryer would help. Don't try it yet though - let's see what other folks think.

 

[Sun Baked]

Do a search, there's quite a few "I cleaned my trackpad and broke it" threads.

The chemicals in detergents can cause a problem, and may need to be cleaned with a damp cloth (just water) to try to reduce the chemical content (which can cause a problem with the way the trackpad physics.)

And it "may" start working once it dries fully.

 

[gekko513]

Or if it doesn't come along after some extra drying, try clean water in case some vinegar/detergent stuff remains.

(And I don't mean that you should pour clean water on your laptop, but gently rub it with a damp cloth. )

 

[dotnina]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s possible you’ll need a new trackpad. I “cleaned” a trackpad with Lysol once. After that, the trackpad performance was very erratic. I had to press down *extremely* hard to get a response. I thought this would go away, but it never did.

It sounds like you might have had the same thing happen to you … in which case, sorry, and good luck. In the future, before you clean anything, check what the manual says about cleaning. It often suggests what to use (and what not to use).

 

[graydecember]

dotnina, did you actually go ahead and replace it? i wonder how much *that* costs!?

thanks everyone....

 

[graydecember]

seems to working perfectly now!

therefore, for anyone who wants to know how to clean the trackpad... it works!

 

[realityisterror]

or just use a mr. clean magic eraser like normal people... you should search google before you do something like that... chances are, you're not the first one to try it..

reality