How to clean a sticky keyboard on a T420 after an ice tea spill?

Hi guys,

My friend recently spilled ice tea on her T420, and she's complaining about how sticky and stiff the keyboard is. I'm not an expert in cleaning keyboards, so do any of you have any suggestions? She says that about half a can of Arizona was spilled (though I somehow doubt that).

Thank you in advance.

 

I think the best bet is remove the keyboard, and go through it with a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol.

 

Will a cotton swab fit, though? The keys on the current generation's keyboards are really closely packed.

 

If it's really bad, it is possible to remove the entire keyboard, wash it carefully in water, dry it off, and then let it air dry for at least an entire day before testing it out again.

 

The keyboard itself is functional, just stiff and sticky, or at least that's what I got from her talking to me. Should I add anything to the water, or is just normal tap water good?

 

luke warm water should dissolve the sugar and its residues, don't add anything as they may cause seepage under protective cover and cause corrosion. Use a hair dryer put it on cold air and blast out any water, then let it sit for one day in well ventilated area.

 

The cotton swab trick requires removing the keycaps, which is a hassle.

I'd say lukewarm running water or multiple rinses. Just soaking it will probably just redeposit some proportion of the stuff once it evaporates.

Did you check the internals to see if any of the liquid made it in and left deposits?

 

Thanks for the response lead_org. What are the chances of shorting something in the keyboard by washing it, just wondering? I don't want to potentially kill a functional keyboard as it can be expensive and time consuming to replace (and time isn't a luxury that we can afford much of as university students).

Edit:
I have not seen the laptop in person even once. It has been 2 days since the spill and it's functional stuff. I plan on checking the internals for deposits when I see the laptop on the weekend.

 

It's absolutely essential that the keyboard is totally dry.

Water + Electronics = Meh (ignoring corrosion and other factors)
Water + Electronics + Power = Bad

 

Yes, I understand that much as I'm a first year Electrical and Computer Engineering student.

Though, I'm wondering if there is a chance that it'll just die from being washed (and then properly air dried for 24hrs).

 

as long as no electrical currents run through the thing then it should be okay provided you dry it properly, deionsed water are used during the manufacturing processes for electrical circuitry boards to clean off residues.

On a side note, purified deionised water is a poor electrical conductor, while tap water with its mineral contents do conduct electricity.

 

So should I get some deionized water and heat it up a little (though, putting it in a pot would surely cause ions to dissolve from the pot into the water) or am I just being paranoid?

 

most deionsed water comes in bottle right? Get a pot of water heat it up, and then dunk the bottle of deionsed water into that heated pool of water... heat transfer will bring the deionsed water up to the desired temperature.

 

Ok I'll try that.

But just to make sure, in the event that I can't find any deionized water, washing it with tap water then letting it dry probably won't kill it, right?

 

If it were me, i'd get the jug of DI for a few bucks, heat it up using Lead's method above, and give it a good rinse with that. Blow it out, let it dry for 2 days, and try it out.

Of course, you could just buy a replacement on ebay for $25 and save the hassle and downtime.

No, it shouldn't kill it, as long as it is allowed to completely dry out. DO NOT think that a decent blowing out and 20 minutes sitting around is good enough.

Its not really expensive ($25) or time consuming to replace. You are removing the KB to clean it, correct?

FYI, the keyboard in your W520 is most likely the same exact part.

 

just rinse and dry it should be okay...

 

The machine isn't mine, so I personally don't mind the downtime. If anything, she'll sleep better without the laptop there as a distraction. Of course, I plan on letting it sit and dry for 24hrs. By the way, this may be a silly question, but which way do I let it sit? Keys face up or keys face down (or perhaps sideways...)?

 

face up of course... because this is where you are rinsing. Also you may want to blast the keyboard with a hair dryer after the rinsing to quicken up the drying process.

 

I've removed the keyboard from my W520 before. It takes <5 minutes, yes, but waiting for one to ship takes a long time. Again, the T420 isn't mine. I've tried to get my friend to order a replacement keyboard, but she doesn't want to unless the keyboard dies on her.

Thank you. I'll try this over the weekend when I have some spare time.

 

If you want to be extra careful, during the 24hr drying prop the keyboard up on its side or end, and have a standard desk fan blow over it. Doesn't need to be on high or anything like that. The current of air will greatly enhance the drying process.
Also, don't forget the remove the trackpoint nub.

 

I washed and dried my T400's keyboard a little over a year ago
it never worked right after that

I'm thinking it was all that gunk deposited around the contact areas that dissolved and coated the contacts. I had to press really hard on some of the keys afterwards to get them to register.

So I did what I should have done from the getgo: I bought a $40 keyboard (identical) from ebay.

 

I had a bad coffee spill on my T61p. I dumped about a full cup of coffee through it. I lifted the computer up, letting the coffee drain through, while pleading to someone to pull the battery out.

At home, I took the keyboard cover and keyboard off, and took the optical drive out. There were just a few drops of coffee by the near the right USB port that never quite reached it. I flushed the coffee out of the keyboard and optical drive with distilled water. Never ever use tap water, as the minerals conduct electricity. I put the parts over an electric fan for 5 hours while the computer was out in the San Jose Summer Sun, and when I started it, it worked!

There is a sad but humorous epilog: after another year, the computer died from the nVidia packaging issue. I sent it in, and they claimed that the computer failed from water. Lenovo was nice enough to fix it, and when I got it back the WiFi didn't work, so I sent it it, and when I got it back, the indicator lights didn't work, and the GPU tends to overheat now whereas it never did before. It's getting on in years, and so, I am going to replace it.