Acer Laptop keyboard problem 3

[G0AOZ]

Not sure if this ought to be classed under "Peripheral Issues", so forgive me if I'm wrong to post it here...

Acer Travelmate 661LMi, with XP Pro. User has just spent money on new hard drive, DVD, more memory. His darling daughter tipped nice sticky orange juice all over keyboard whilst it was switched on! This of course worked its way through onto the motherboard...

Completely dismantled, washed sticky goo off motherboard, dried out thoroughly and reassembled. Machine now displays on an external monitor, but only a few light flashes from the laptop's own screen during intial boot up. Since the screen itself wasn't hit by the offending liquid, my thoughts are that the output circuitry from the video chip specifically going to the laptop's screen has taken a hit.

Keyboard is the main problem though. Only half a dozen keys actually work. Acer say they don't supply replacements for this model any longer. Tried several independent suppliers/repairers, but no one can be bothered to call me back, so must assume this path is not open... So, plugged in an external USB keyboard, and all ok. However, external keyboard has no <Fn> special function key on it. Anyone any idea how to reproduce that on a basic external keyboard?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[kestrel1]

Are you sure that the laptops keyboard was correctly re-connected after the clean-up? If the cable is slightly off it could cause problems.

 

[G0AOZ]

Thanks kestrel1. No, paid particular attention to this filmstrip type connector, as I was caught out once in the past! Keyboard's had a real good soaking with that liquid, so hardly surprising most of the keys don't work now.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[kestrel1]

Worth a thought. I have had that happen to me in the past.
Not ben able to find anything of use with regard to the FN key though. I will have another look & post back if I find anything.

 

[wahnula]

Roger,

I am a veteran of cleaning keyboards after bar spills (the musical type but similar). My first step was power down, disassemble and SOAK in deionized water, if unavailable I would get distilled water and soak all components. It takes a LONG time to dry out so maybe you were just too impatient.

Look at it this way...you are trying to put the offending substance in solution with the water so its presence is insignificant. At first, its presence was 100%. After first wash, maybe you got it down to 20-30%. You need to wet, rinse repeat and wait for everything to dry, sometimes days.

I remember saving a $50,000 Fairlight synthesizer (a 2-liter Coke was the weapon, shaken and sprayed) by putting Distilled Water in a pressure sprayer from Home Depot and thoroughly dousing it. There was a WOOD cabinet too so a little help from hairdryer got it up for the next nights show, after an all-night wet-rinse-repeat.

Also avoid abrasion many contacts don't like that. Keep spraying, you might need a squeeze bottle to get it in all the areas. This goo, if left unremoved, will cause future problems...trust me on this one.

Tony

 

[kestrel1]

Sounds like very good advice & one to remember.

 

[G0AOZ]

Tony, thanks for that, very interesting... I had wondered if a keyboard would cope with being immersed in water. So far all I have done is wash the gunk off the motherboard, but I'm sure what happened there is the liquid has shorted out components and/or pcb tracks and caused the demise of the circuitry to the internal screen. Remember, it was switched on when it went for its early bath. It's my belief the screen itself is probably ok...

I have looked very closely at a couple of the key "stems". There appears to be what I can only describe as a minature sink plunger which "squashes down" when the key is depressed. There seem to be two tiny holes in the base of each sink plunger which presumably lets the air out upon depression of the key. I imagine that the liquid has probably penetrated inside the sink plungers and is now solidifying.

So, presumably leaving the keyboard to soak in sterile or distilled water might allow this gunk to loosen and dissolve. Occasional tapping of each key whilst submerged may speed up the process perhaps. What do you think...?

A star for your help so far Tony!

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[kestrel1]

If you are in the UK you could try:

http://laptopbits.co.uk/Database_files/Acer_Travelmate_Keyboards.htm

There is a 660 keyboard, I don't know if it would be the same as the 661.
I bet you are in the US though.

 

[G0AOZ]

Good call Kestrel1! Yes, I am in the U.K., and this laptop is within the 660 series - just the specific derivation is 661LMi. I'll call 'em on Monday to check stock, and tell my user the cost.

Have a star!

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[kestrel1]

glad to be of some help. Thanks for the star.

 

[wahnula]

And as for the dunking absolutely yes in fact this used to be the first step w/ Motorola & Southern Bell techs, douse everything in DI then scour with a toothbrush, rinse and LET DRY. My buddy in the 70's had that job and said the majority of his repairs was just that. If there were unsealed pots involved they would follow up with Cramoline to lube after the rinse.

While I'm on nostalgia lane, I lost a lot of the functionality of my 24-channel stage mixer when well-intentioned friends threw a whipped cream pie at me for my birthday, I ducked and it hit the board. By the time I could get to it it was too late, all the sugar & milk had worked its way into assign buttons, volume faders, pan pots etc.,

Time is ALWAYS of the essence when stuff like this happens.

Tony

 

[BadBigBen]

Thanks for the tips there wahnula, I also used the method there before to remove liquid detergent from a AUDIO CD Player, after rinsing I used WD-40 to get rid of the rest of the water that was still present...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."