Certain keys stopped working after I spilled small amount of liquid on my laptop
I spilled a VERY small amount of liquid on my husband’s Dell laptop and now certain keys stopped working (Z X C V M , . / Shift Enter). I’m freaking out that I’ve broken his computer…how can this be fixed. We contacted Dell and we’re past the warranty by one week (figures)…any suggestions to make the situation better? What do we do???
Most likely you’ll have to replace the keyboard. You can find a new keyboard for your laptop here if you search by the laptop model and then replace the keyboard using the service manual. If that’s the only problem with your laptop then replacing the keyboard should fix it.
December 2nd, 2007 at 12:01 am
Hi
I have some of my laptop keys not working today I dont remember spilling anything. Surprisingly that keys stopped working are (Z X C V M , . right side Shift Enter right side Ctrl) mostly same as yours.
Just wondering whether is this a lock on these keys. Would like to know if you get to any solution.
Thanks
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:16 pm
you need a new keyboard. they usually run around 100 bucks and are easy to install. most shops don’t even charge labor for keyboard installs. find a local warranty center for your manufacturer, chances are they do out of warranty repairs too for a cost.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
this happened to me… same keys dell 600m. I replaced the keyboard but the keys still dont work.
March 24th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Help! My ancient cat likes to sleep on my old Dell Inspiron 8100 keyboard – ever since I came home to her snoozing away the other day, the letters on the keyboard are all shortcut keys to for other commands (i.e. “n” opens a new window, etc.)
How can I restore the settings to alpha-numeric?
May 25th, 2008 at 3:39 am
How do I change the cursor highlighter ? It’s driving
me crazy!?
First of all, I got a desktop, the keyboard got some sticky honey in some keyboard, i got it cleaning out with cotton bud with water, then after that, the cursor highlighter start highlighting everything (which I only click the one I wanted)I trying going to control panel to fix it but the cursor highlighter just higlight everything.Will this effect once i add add water?? WHAT SHALL I DO??!!! PLEASE HELP ME?!
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 am
This isn’t a spilt drink problem, but there are keys that aren’t working. More specifically the two shift keys. This is happening on a user’s computer that has frequent problems, she might hit buttons or click the mouse way too much when the computer is slow. It is a Dell Latitude D520 running XP Pro. She recently complained of an error stating that the computer was overheating, when she restarted the computer she could not log on. After fiddling with it this morning, I figured out she could not log on because the shift keys were not working. The caps lock key works but it obviously doesn’t help with special characters (i.e. *,&,), etc). After playing around with it some more, I found some peculiar things. The following applies to when BOTH shift keys are held down together: In IE, pressing z acts like TAB. In Word, pressing ‘t’ results in ‘tv’ being typed. ‘v’ results in ‘tv’. ‘y’ results in ‘ym’. ‘.’ brings up spelling and grammar check. ‘x’ toggles CAPS LOCK. Not all characters results in something weird, only about 1/3 to 1/2. I have looked in a lot of places and have found nothing helpful. I have tried updating the driver to no avail. When booted in safe mode, the shift keys still do not work. I don’t want to reinstall the OS, but that seems like it will happen in the near future. If you have ANY suggestions, it would be very appreciated. Oh yeah, I tried a USB keyboard, and it worked fine.
Thank you very much.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:33 am
ok i spilled some liquid on my Toshiba Satellite A10-S1001 laptop and some of my keys aren’t working, especially my function keys or fn keys as it is called…is there anyway i cud could access my function keys functionality or any software i can download to access them..without buying a new keyboard
July 30th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Exact same problem, inspiron 9400, red wine spill, same keys stuck, and of course off-warranty. I tried a new keyboard (Brilliant Store, $24; as needed to order a new battery anyway) but didn’t work. Guessing one of the electrical pins controlling these specific keys has residue on it from the wine. So next tried electrical component cleaner on that whole connector. Same problem!
Have bookmarked this website to check back; hopefully somebody else has discovered a fix. Meantime my computer is fine, but do need to carry a USB external keyboard around with me, minor inconvenience
…
January 30th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
my son spilled water on his toshiba a35 laptop. most keys don’t work. [vista's onscreen keyboard does, if that is significant.] i’ve removed the keyboard, cleaned some whitish skuzz off the connector end of the ribbon, soaked the keyboard in distilled water n let it dry.
same keys still don’t work when i reconnected, but i don’t think the keyboard ribbon is completely in the connector; the right side seats better, and when i look closely, there’s what seems to be a white coating on a few of the pins on the left side of the connector.
is the white “normal?” should it be removed? i’d like, of course to get this working, and will buy/replace the keyboard if that’s what the problem is, but i don’t know how to distinguish a keyboard problem from a controller problem.
January 30th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
sorry – just noticed you don’t want 2 comments, i guess even on different categories
January 30th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
larry,
Why wouldn’t you try reconnecting the keyboard cable? In most cases, after you spilled liquid, you’ll have to replace the keyboard.
Was it a bad spill? Did the liquid went down to the system board?
You’ll have to take a look under the keyboard. If you see no liquid damage on the motherboard, most likely it’s just a bad keyboard.
There is no way to find out if your problem is related to the keyboard or controller, until you test the laptop with another working keyboard.
January 30th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
thanks for the quick and to the point response.
my son said it was a bad spill, and he didn’t turn off the computer, remove power cord and battery for several minutes.
after cleaning the keyboard, i did reconnect the cable, [sorry if i wasn't clear] but it doesn’t seem to fit flush on both sides, so i thought there might be interference with full seating, so i looked and a few pins seem to have a white coating. it didn’t wash away with component cleaner.
i am guessing trying a usb keyboard won’t help distinguishing a keyboard problem from a controller problem.
do you think the white coating could be interfering with the keyboard connection [so that replacing the keyboard won't help]? would saturating the connector with distilled water be safe? any suggestions on whether/how to clean the pins in the connector would be appreciated.
January 30th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
larry,
I don’t think it will be a good test. I believe an external USB keyboard still could work fine even though there is a problem with the keyboard controller.
I don’t know.
I don’t think so. Keyboards don’t like water.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
The same thing happened to my Advent 9617 laptop, so i bought a replacement keyboard off the internet. i have tried looking for instructions on the internet to help me replace the keyboard myself, but cant seem to find any for this model. If you or anyone knows how to replace the keyboard for this particular laptop, please help me out.
x
September 24th, 2009 at 8:42 am
One thing you all can try is press the non-working key very hard see if it’ll work, sometimes it’ll fix. Good luck!
September 30th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
keys on laptop i using now dont work… dwn and rigt arrow didnt work anyway, now since tiny drops of water from nt drying ‘ands properly da h,b, and right sift keys dont work…am needing to use on screen and cannot afford replacemnt keyboard… ideas?
October 6th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Kat, you just need to press it really hard and hold it, it’ll make it work. The key will slowly get back to normal after a while. I am talking about laptop. Try it and let us know.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:44 am
not sure what is happening to keyboard….
i press certain keys and this happens…….hi how ar5e you6…it adds characters that im not typing!!!
October 12th, 2009 at 11:53 am
dave,
1. Poor connection between the keyboard and motherboard. This is not likely but possible. Try reconnecting the keyboard.
2. Bad keyboard. This is most likely the problem. Replace the keyboard.
3. Keyboard controller failure on the motherboard. Not likely but possible.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:26 am
I hope you can help me. I have a Jujitsu laptop(Amilo). Someone visiting split white wine on the keyboard, not much. At first it wouldn’t work, but now I have 4 keys that don’t respond in the uppercase with the bar on one side. It will work on the right side, at least the 8IK, but not the left. This is a French keyboard(qsdf?) so the 8IK. don’t respond. The 8IK respond if I use the right shift bar and everything responds if use the shift lock. It will work with the left shift bar if I hold down the bar and the required 8IK. and then release it quickly. HELP!!!!
By the way, an external keyboard works perfectly on it. THanks for any advice.
Martin
December 31st, 2009 at 11:20 pm
i figured it out first clean the keybord with cotton but and warm water it that dosnt work; hold fn+F10
February 20th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I hope this will show up this time– having trouble posting on here. I fell asleep playing on my laptop with a wine cooler in my hand. I woke up this morning, the bottle was empty in my hand and resting on the keyboard. The keyboard itself did not seem to be wet or sticky, but underneath the laptop the bed was all wet. I don’t know exactly how much spilled or if it spilled onto the laptop or right next to it, but it was powered off. I turned it on (like an idiot) and tried starting it in safe mode. I was able to get it to work but could not type in my password because about 4 or 5 keys no longer work, the t and a couple on either side and one below it. Also the touch pad does not work so there is no mouse cursor. Before I realized the keys were not functioning I tried opening it a couple of times- once my monitor showed really scary bars like it was dead but then it worked fine after that. Like an idiot I did not unplug it or take out the battery before leaving for work and didn’t think to do so until looking up this site. Will do so when I get home but need to know what to do next. I don’t even know what a motherboard looks like. I did have accident insurance on this but I have had it for a little over 2 years so am not sure I still have it. Can anyone help? This is a Gateway M laptop (the garnet red one).
Thanks
February 20th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
maggie,
I guess the best you can do is remove the battery and let the laptop dry for a few days.
If the laptop still not working after that, most likely the motherboard was damaged by liquid.
March 8th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
First off: try an external keyboard. if that works than at least you can work (external keyboards are cheap $10). Second: go to a local computer fixit shop and have them order a new keyboard. Keyboards are about $100 depending on the make/model of your laptop and a computer fixit place may not charge you to replace it.
Third: The big qestion is: did the fluid make it into the guts of the laptop. Probably, this shorts out the motherboard and these things can cost about the same as just upgrading/replacing the laptop. If the laptop is under warranty the manufacter may replace it (just don’t tell them that you dumped a little fluid into the laptop as that will void the warranty, then you are SOL). If you are SOL, think about upgrading/replacing the laptop. Mind you, the hard drive is still ok and you can place it in an external shell to access the pictures you were saving on it. Think Happy thoughts.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:57 am
I spilt a soft drink on my keypad, i went to clean it with a wet tissue as I normally do, however this time Y key isn’t working nor is B key and when I press space two times B pops up on the screen and I have to press backspace really hard to go back, also space goes of randomly. HELP?
Thanks.
October 5th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
HI
I spilt some coffee on my keyboard, the whole computer shut down and it took ages to get it working again, my only remaining problem is now the Fn key is constantly held down!!
Ive tried everything like holding it down, holding Fn + f11 and such but nothings working.
HELP PLEASE
January 6th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
I just accidentally stood on my partners laptop- most of the keys work but for a few I need to press shift or caps lock for the keys to register- they are obviously still working but just not registering properly- does anyone have any ideas on what to do?!
January 6th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
sarah,
Keys like U, I, O, J, K, L, M???
If yes, maybe you enabled NumLk function. Disable it.
October 13th, 2011 at 5:01 am
Some liquid was spilled on my netbook and subsequently some keys stopped working. I figured I needed a new keyboard, so I order a new one. I installed the new keyboard and all buttons now work except for A,S,W, and Z. Other keys weren’t working on the old keyboard, so I’m officially stumped. PLEASE HELP!
October 13th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Jeff,
First of all, try reconnecting the keyboard cable on the motherboard. Make sure there is no dirt inside the connector. Reconnecting the cable might help.
If it doesn’t help, take a closer look at the motherboard. Do you see any corrosion on the motherboard at all? This could be failed keyboard controller on the motherboard.