Series 7 Keyboard issues

Hey!

So I figured I would run through all my options and try here before just fessing up the dough and sending my laptop to a service center.

Long story short, I got some liquid in my laptop's key board and it caused about a 3rd of the keys to stop working.

Nothing extreme, like pouring a glass of water on it, or anything like that. It started with a mist of cranberry juice I choked on during a game of League Of Legends, to a paper towel with windex on it. From my very limited experience with hardware I feel like that shouldn't do anything, but I also coughed cranberry juice over the only think that makes me happy.

It is a Series 7 chronos, serial number 700Z5C or Z5B, which ever has the better processor. I can't read the bottom of the laptop to tell you the truth.

About a quarter of the keys are afflicted and not functional.

I put a fan directly on the keys to attempt to dry them out to no avail, it is also worth noting that the keys went dead about 4 hours after any contact with liquid.

I am by no means a hardware expert and I mess with linux much more than windows. You can't pour water on a webserver miles away.

I heard something about a high percentage isopropyl alcohol content possibly cleaning it out, but I don't know how I would quite administer it, and would a can of dusting spray be worth attempting?

I am not really confident pulling the keys and it doesn't look like it's possible to change the board out myself.

Anyway, I hope that is enough information, and I really do appreciate any help or guidance I can get. I am aware that I am a bit of an idiot for coughing cranberry juice on my laptop.

Thank you!

 

Cranberry juice. Ouch. Sweet and sticky, a paradise for possible shorts and/or corrosion.
First thing you should do is carefully remove the keyboard and make sure there isn't any juice on the motherboard or other components. Wouldn't want something extra to not work, yea?
Now, DISCLAIMER:
I do not endorse nor am I sure of the validity of the following statements, they're conjectural information from the internet and you'd be much better served contacting a service professional:

Some people report using Acetone and Trychloroethylene for cleaning computer components. I have no idea if this is good advice or disastruous. Either way, if it's just the keyboard that is now affected by the spill, that's good, but cleaning it will still be a huge hassle and there's no guarantee it will work.

You'd want to remove all the keys to be able to view the keyboard layout directly, try and clean it, then put them back together and hope it works.
What's your warranty on that machine? Does it protect you from accidental spills?

If I were you, I'd just carefully remove the keyboard doing my best to not spill any leftover liquid deeper into the machine. Use dry paper towels to be sure. Then buy and throw a new keyboard in there, or see if your warranty covers it.

 

I believe the keyboard is integrated with the palm rest / keyboard surround. If you can dismantle it that far then my method would be to soak in warm water with some liquid detergent and scrub with a brush (but difficult to get under the keys). After that rinse in clean water and allow to dry.

However, sugary drinks are among the worst to clear up, in which case you'll either need to contact a Samsung service centre or get a replacement from samsungparts.com (who also sell the service manual).

John

 

Update to this issue,

I pulled up one of the keys that was having the issue in attempts to see what was causing it, and it doesn't actually seem to be an issue with the Juice being inside the keys.

There is no liquid in the keys themselves that I can see or feel, and none of them are sticky any longer, they simply don't function. The V and M keys also started working again about a day after I made this post in the first place as well.

This makes me feel that the issue may be with the keyboard connection to the rest of the computer itself, does anyone have any experience with such? Or does that sound plausible.

If so how would one go about addressing that?

Also I did go ahead an email a service center and they never got back to me, which is rather obnoxious since they don't want me to throw money at them :|

Anyway, I'm down to do about anything at this point, the only thing stopping me from ripping it apart and doing it all myself is the lack of a screwdriver. Thank you!

 

Dried cranberry juice is probably sufficiently conductive to mess up the electronics and can interfere with the detection of which keys are pressed.

What did you say to the service center? I would get back to them with the specific request for the keyboard to be replaced.

John