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Repair guides and support for wireless and wired Apple keyboards.

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Water spilled on keyboard and now rows of random keys arent working

A few days ago i accidentally spilled water on my on my keyboard. It did not appear to be alot of water at the time but now it seems like it has been soaked as about an hour or two later keys stopped responding.and i noticed water dripping off my keyboard when i lifted it. i tried to dry it off but it has not improved after about a day and 3 quarters. it appeared to have shorted out certain keys and some around it as columns of keys. it it possible it will fix its self by drying out? or if you think its possible that it can be fixed at all (by an apple genius or me )

Thanks : )

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18 Comments

I have the same problem except buttons on my keyboard randomly activate without anything

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After I spilled water on it , blow dried it. And I come back like 4 hrs later and some of the letters don't work, and every two minutes airplane mode turns on and off. its driving me insane I cant do any work

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I spilled a whole bottle on m computer and the whole key board is not working I told my parents its just a bad computer and to get a new one if I do not find a solution soon I will be in ver big trouble

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All my keys on my key board dont work but I cant find a video on how to fix it whithout taking apart the computer

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yeah guys i have a lot of those problems too. Im waiting to see if it will fix if it dries out but for now im using the touchscreen keyboard on my laptop. Lots of computers dont have tc so probably the best thing to do is unfortunatly us a usb keyboard. It would be a lot of work to switch out your key board! Good luck on this case tho hopefully u find a way around it or a solution.

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Chosen Solution

A new one from Apple is $49. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB110L...

A tech is going to charge probably $60 to look at it. Here's my teardown of the wireless keyboard and as you can see, there's very little in it that could possibly be repaired: Apple Wireless Keyboard (A1255) Teardown

After you get your new keyboard, spend $1.99 and get a cover: http://www.amazon.com/Topcase-silicone-k...

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4 Comments:

Will a bath in desinfectant or medical alcohole render a working A1243 defective?

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i left my laptop dry by itself for a month now the only keys that dont work properly are f2 f3 asdfujnb and the numbpad

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Needs a serous update do to the passage of time, (this comment 2021)

1.) this is a USB Keyboard

2.) finding a keyboard this old online is a real risk, Expect nothing less than $100 at amazon.com . Many photos and complainants of damaged junk being sold, the one I bought is are delivered in terrible condition.

3.) Water damage is beyond the for the average DIY as I understand. I wasted a lot of time trying to to false hope.

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After spilling tea on my aluminum wired Apple keyboard (and wiping it down with cleaning spray), all my keys were doing crazy things so I put the keyboard upside down on a heating pad on high for 1-2 hours and it works fine now!

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I had the same problem with a USB keyboard, even if there had been very little liquid poured on it. All the keys stopped working, but I decided to try something, as the keyboard seemed dead anyway. It has now spent about a week on a radiator (a thermometer shows between 20 and 25°C (68-77 F°)) , and today some of the keys are responding again. It does a little "clk-clk" sound at the beginning, as if the keys had been glued or something, but they work. I read somewhere that the problem occurred because liquid was trapped between to layers that make contact under the keys, so it could take a while before the whole stuff was completely dry again. But it seems like warming up gently the damaged keyboard can help.

PS: I hope you will excuse my $@$*!& English; I'm French and don't write very often in English. ;)

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3 Comments:

I have been waiting about 18 months. All keys work but z-? and the spacebar - yay.

I've currently leaned it against the wall vertically. Back in 18 months.

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I was just cleaning it with a soft damp cloth. Never drop any water. But now the keys QWER are not working. Sad.

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i spilled a little bit of water on my keyboard then i wiped the water off then went to sleep i woke up and the keys are not working just the mouse and i don't know what to do!

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If you spill any liquid onto the Apple Aluminum Wired Keyboard, you have a ZERO chance of taking it apart successfully, due to the fact that if by some miracle you were able to use a hair drier to heat the bottom white plastic and pry it off of the aggressive adhesive from the spacebar to function-key side without bending the metal sheet fasted to the plastic bottom or the opposing metal sheet and aluminum keyboard frame, you will find that the upper metal frame holding all the keys is spot-welded to the aluminum frame with 147 individual spot welds.

The only way to possibly resurrect this keyboard is to soak it with vigorous agitation immersed in 2-3 changes of STEAM DISTILLED water (not reverse osmosis or filtered water that still contains salts). Drain off the water, carefully swing the keyboard around outside to centrifuge out as much of the distilled water as possible, and then set it on something warm with the keys side up for a day or two to completely dry it out. This way you rinse out all conductive salts, and dry out all moisture, which could cause oxidation and conductive corrosion. Even better if you have a friend who works in a lab, put it in a vacuum drying oven at very low heat overnight or in a freeze drier overnight. Good Luck.

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9 Comments:

So I accidentally spilled a tiny bit of water and keys wouldnt type I was wondering what to do to fix it

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that is the most ridiculous answer I have read to date on here...yeah just got get your buddy at the local lab to hook it up to the centrifuge LMAO! very helpful!

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I didn't say to put it in a centrifuge. To be more - clear one should swing it around in a large circle to help drive the water out by centrifugal force.

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your best bet is going to be if you can get it apart and clean it, its possible its permanently damaged but its also possible theres corrosion bridging contacts witch could be cleaned if it comes apart

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you can't take it apart without destroying it, look at the teardown.

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