Weird keyboard problem (after spilling tea)

[Arjen de Winter]

Hi all,

I have the weirdest problem with the keyboard of my laptop since I
spilled tea over it yesterday. I put the laptop on its side overnight
and quite a bit of liquid drained from it. Fortunately, it was tea
without sugar or honey so the computer is still working.

THe problem that I still do have is that the keyboard does NOT work (and
here's the strange part) in graphical mode. So I can select the
operating system while starting up and also make changes in my textbased
BIOS setup. However, as soon as XP askes for the password I cannot type
anything any more (although the mouse still works). They keyboard does
react to the CAPS-Lock and also XP indicates that the CAPS-Lock key has
been pressed.

I have tried to connect an external keyboard but oddly enough this did
not improve the situation. Same result: in textmode everything is
possible but as soon as I use graphical mode I cannot type any more. The
external keyboard did not get spilled on and is working fine with
another computer.

Anybody any idea?

Thanks,

Arjen

 

[destron]

completely wierd. its possible, i suppose, that something in the
keyboard got fried which now prevents it to use it in graphical mode as
you say, but i have never heard anything like this happening before.
what brand of keyboard is it?

 

[UCLAN]

completely wierd. its possible, i suppose, that something in the
keyboard got fried which now prevents it to use it in graphical mode as
you say, but i have never heard anything like this happening before.
what brand of keyboard is it?

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[kony]

Hi all,

I have the weirdest problem with the keyboard of my laptop since I
spilled tea over it yesterday. I put the laptop on its side overnight
and quite a bit of liquid drained from it. Fortunately, it was tea
without sugar or honey so the computer is still working.

THe problem that I still do have is that the keyboard does NOT work (and
here's the strange part) in graphical mode. So I can select the
operating system while starting up and also make changes in my textbased
BIOS setup. However, as soon as XP askes for the password I cannot type
anything any more (although the mouse still works). They keyboard does
react to the CAPS-Lock and also XP indicates that the CAPS-Lock key has
been pressed.

I have tried to connect an external keyboard but oddly enough this did
not improve the situation. Same result: in textmode everything is
possible but as soon as I use graphical mode I cannot type any more. The
external keyboard did not get spilled on and is working fine with
another computer.

Anybody any idea?

Tea is acidic, it may have corroded the contacts a little.
The keyboard may use 2 or 3 thin plastic membranes which can
wick and hold water for far longer than one day. It should
not have been (only) turned on it's side then tried the next
day. The keyboard assembly itself should've been (should
still) be removed, and a fan pointed at it for another day.
If you can gain access to the inside of the keyboard
(backpanel comes off) then inspect the traces to see if
there's any corrosion. If there is, firmly rubbing back and
forth on the area with a very mildly abrasive substance
(like a disposible paper towel) might suffice. Avoid
anything highly abrasive, and a gold or black hued coating
is expected to be uniformly over all of it, don't try to rub
all that off.

 

[Arjen de Winter]

Tea is acidic, it may have corroded the contacts a little.
The keyboard may use 2 or 3 thin plastic membranes which can
wick and hold water for far longer than one day. It should
not have been (only) turned on it's side then tried the next
day. The keyboard assembly itself should've been (should
still) be removed, and a fan pointed at it for another day.
If you can gain access to the inside of the keyboard
(backpanel comes off) then inspect the traces to see if
there's any corrosion. If there is, firmly rubbing back and
forth on the area with a very mildly abrasive substance
(like a disposible paper towel) might suffice. Avoid
anything highly abrasive, and a gold or black hued coating
is expected to be uniformly over all of it, don't try to rub
all that off.

One more day of drying the laptop solved the problem. I'm typing this
message from my laptop and everything's working fine!

Thanks for your suggestions!

Arjen