water damage laptop keyboard stuck keys, replace kb?

[meanderer]

My client brought in a laptop that he claimed to have liquid spilled on. Upon first inspection I do not see any water stains, meaning if there was any water it was dried off or cleaned off in some ways.

The client told me that he wasn't able to click or work on anything on the computer. I booted it up and it worked mostly fine except that:

1. the mouse point would sometimes jumps all the way to the right edge of the screen when I use the track pad (very intermittent and not repeatable)
2. a few top row of keys are "linked", for example when I press the e key both e and 3 would be activated or it says 3e. The same happens with r linked with 4, o with 9, i and 8.

I do not see any stains under the keyboard. I plugged in a USB keyboard and mouse set and unplugged the laptop keyboard. the USB parts works perfectly fine.

I am ready to order a replacement keyboard. Since it's over the labor day weekend, I would have to wait a while for parts. I would like to ask the techs here:

1. how likely the KB is the sole problem on the laptop? I think the liquid has seeped into the traces and shorted out the respective lines, causing both keys to activate when in fact only 1 key is pressed.
2. how likely the keyboard controller on the main board is "fried"? Is it possible that the liquid to have damaged the keyboard controller on the main board somehow so it now only works partially like this?

I have not disassemble the entire thing because I don't see a deep extent of damage, should I go ahead and take it apart first?

the laptop in question is a compaq cq60, don't think it really really matters except what part to get.

Thanks for helping.

 

[Logicbytes]

The first thing i would do is pull the battery to not cause any further damage. I would take out the keyboard pop out the keys that are outputting two characters and make sure there is no liquid under the keys. Clean if neeeded, also I would take a hair drier on a low heat setting and dry under the keyboard if there was no accesss to the mobo I would disassemble and make sure everything was fully dry before putting the battery back in and testing the keyboard again.

 

[studiot]

Water damaged KB?

Disconnect and try with usb alt?

Have just looked at a milk-damaged ca60 - graphics processor dead

Water will not cause sticky keys, now Coke? YUK.

 

[meanderer]

I pried out every key, they all looked dry. but still outputting both keys when only 1 is pressed.

 

[TechguyUK]

I had a very similar issue a few months back with an HP laptop. Customer had spilt red wine on it. I swapped the keyboard for a brand new one and cleaned everything as best i could (it was totally dry when i got) but it still had issues with duplicate keyboard scan codes being generated and certain keys turning the speaker or mouse pad on/off (as if a function key was also being pressed).

I ended up concluding that the system board (KB controller ?) had suffered damage in the spillage - client then opted not to progress with the repair due to cost and I ended up with a spare keyboard in my parts bin.

lets us know how you get on - I'd be interested in the outcome on this one.

 

[atlanticjim]

I think that if you have put in a USB Keyboard and a USB mouse and they work that I would replace the keyboard and the upper case (with the trackpad). Of course since this client has admitted that they spilled water on it, I would offer them the repair without warranty and tell them that there is NO WAY to guarantee that the water damage has not effected other components.

 

[studiot]

Note the cq60 KB is one of the easiest to remove - only three screws through the back case in the battery compartment. They have a keyboard symbol embossed into the plastic by them.

 

[Tristan]

Just fixed a laptop with spilled coke syndrome last week. I cleaned up the stiky goo from under the MOBO and replaced the keyboard. The touchpad looked like it was a goner. But after cleaning out a really bad connector for it (looked half shorted out) it worked fine.

Just make sure that you state in writing and let the customer know that your usual warranty isn't applicable due to liquid damage. Coke has a funny way of coming back to haunt you.

 

[meanderer]

Just want to post an update.

I replaced the keyboard and everything is fine again. The damage is not as deep as people here thought I guess.