Sticky keyboard

SoapAlchemist

SoapAlchemist

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About 10 days ago my tab key and the delete key and the down arrow key all simultaneously stoped working properly. Sometimes if you press them gently they work, sometimes no matter how many times I batter them, they don't. I haven't spilt coffeee on it or done anything unusual. I've tried hoovering it, I've tried turning it upside down and tapping it on the desk. It's less than a couple of years old, and I've never had this happen before with keyboards I've used for far longer. Is there an easy way to fix this, or do I need a new one?
 
You can try this...
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Blades
 
Thanks Blades.....not sure where to get canned air, so I'll just have to blow really hard. Any ideas what would be a sub for 'dry lube' that could be found in the UK? And where it might be found?
Still, good to know that I can lever the key off without destroying the keyboard. A good place to start I think. :D
 
soapalchemist said:
Thanks Blades.....not sure where to get canned air, so I'll just have to blow really hard. Any ideas what would be a sub for 'dry lube' that could be found in the UK? And where it might be found?
Still, good to know that I can lever the key off without destroying the keyboard. A good place to start I think. :D
Click to expand...

PC world and such sell cans of compressed air but might be easier just to buy a new keyboard.
 
Thanks Pedro, and I'm sure it would be easy to buy a new one.....but what of my duty to the planet? :D HWMOM and I have been clearing out a lot of junk over the past couple of weeks and the amount of stuff we've thrown away, in addition to what we've been able to give to charity shops is quite shocking......we could probably have filled a small landfill site. :(
 
You're local recycling centre should have provision for recycling computer bits, even keyboards.

Electrical contact cleaner or get creative and buy a new one.

keybag.jpg
 
Is it a laptop keyboard or a desktop keyboard?

If it's a desktop keyboard pry a key off could brake it. What I have done in the past is undo all screws on the back. look for the ones under the sticker.

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Gentle separate the case. Making sure not to move or damage the anything. On the under side of the inside of the keys.

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Each key has little tabs that need to be squeezed together and the key should just pop out.

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If anything on this side of the insides is damaged the keyboard is dead. Make sure that everything is lined up with the little nubs. Put the top back on and screw it back together. Test it and discover that you've put the keys in up side down. :( Shout and swear. :x Then give up and buy a new one.

I think keyboards are the same way as most printer. It's cheaper to buy a new one than fix the old one.
 

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Thia is all starting to sound very very complicated....especially the prospect of standing at my local petrol station trying not to blow my dismantled keyboard across the forecourt. :lol: :lol:
 
try a dishwasher

no- seriously

i used to run the IT dept for a chain of UK based internet cafe's and they were always based in side existing coffee shops. We used to unplug the keyboards and shove them in the dishwasher.

let them dry out nice, and all is well ;)
 
i mean of course i accept no responsibility if you kill your keyboard :)

but then you can get a decent keyboard for £10 these days, so no great loss. But if its that bad that its annoying you, then why not give it a try.

just be sure to let it dry out thoroughly, and if it breaks.... see above :)
 
I'm thinking now of washing it in the sink and giving it a good swirl round. Or I could try levering off one of the many keys that I've never used just to see what happens......I mean what does 'pause-break mean?????
If I give it the sink treatment, I'll try the hair dryer on it afterwards. Have to wait 'til a weekend morning to try any of these though, so I can dash off to Merry Hell (if you'm from Black Country you'll know what I mean) to replace it if necessary.
 
Allegedly built so you can just drive there, park, and shop......maybe it works if your car has a 3cm square footprint....and you know how to park. :roll:
 
soapalchemist said:
I'm thinking now of washing it in the sink and giving it a good swirl round. Or I could try levering off one of the many keys that I've never used just to see what happens......I mean what does 'pause-break mean?????
If I give it the sink treatment, I'll try the hair dryer on it afterwards. Have to wait 'til a weekend morning to try any of these though, so I can dash off to Merry Hell (if you'm from Black Country you'll know what I mean) to replace it if necessary.
Click to expand...

When the computer is booting through the BIOS screen pressing the pause/break button halts the boot process, it was more useful on legacy systems for debug purposes. When in an application that is becoming non responsive, usually because it is trying to connect to a resource and it is taking forever holding down Ctrl and pressing pause/break tells the application to quit the current task. This is especially useful in Lotus Notes.

In Win XP onwards pressing the windows key and pause break brings up the system properties. Don't know if you really wanted to know that but it is one of the useless bits of info I carry around in my head. Now if I could just remember the things that make money :lol:
 
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