Last night a cup of coffee was knocked over onto my Seimans-Fujitsul aptop keyboard.

I grabbed it and turned it over amost immediately and wiped it dry, I then left it overnight to dry out.

This morning I switched on and got a picture on the screen but as soon as it tried to move on a warning signal was given.

Can anyone please advise me on the best course of action in getting it sorted?

Unplug and leave it in an upside down "V" shape and put a fan on it, perhaps overnight was not long enough.

Also gentle shake would probably help.

if you had sugar or milk in the coffee it's possible that it's gumming up various keys as well

if it is, remove the keyboard and immerse it in cold water, for a few minutes, rinse and repeat several times, then leave it on a towel on a radiator for at least 24 hour preferably 48 and with luck the keyboard should work

I've recovered desktop PC keyboards using this technique but not tried it on a laptop so use this at your own risk

I've dried the computer out using an hair dryer and the computer works but there is an alarm sounding as if a button is stuck but I cannot identify this.

Any suggestions anyone?

This may sound silly, but if the coffee had sugar in it the chances of the keyboard working correctly again are worse. Anyway, disconnect the keyboard, run clean water through it to wash out the coffee and allow it a few days to dry out before reconnecting it. Incidently, that some of the keys work indicates this keyboard can be salvaged. When none work it's an indication that the circuitry in it was fried.

Thanks everyone for help but unfortunately it has had to go.

Probably the most expensive cup of coffee I shall ever have.

PopT

Dude...sucks so much. I have spilt sugary tea on expensive wireless keyboards before and had to chuck em, just lucky ive never done it to a laptop.

I hate to tell you this now, but the fact that you switched it on the next morning could be what killed it. I did the same to a mobile once, after drunkenly going swimming with it in my pocket :S

I turned it on after an overnight drying, and putting power through it when it was still wet inside fried the circuitry.

If it ever happens again, make sure you dry it for at least 48 hours. Let's hope it doesn't! Sorry for your loss.

Maybe you have already, but contact your home insurers, this is accidental damage, they gave me £400 for a dropped laptop !!!

Heres what i would do:

If you feel you are able remove fixings holding you keypad in and remove it completely

Go to local pc shop and get a good foam cleaner, i use this a lot and its great for breaking up sugary deposits.
With a bit of luck this should sort it. lets hope its not done any damage to hardware underneath :(

Good News and Bad News

Received a call from the Insurance's computer repairers today.

Good News is it requires a new keyboard and the computer is repairable.

Bad News is I had to pay the £100 Insurance Excess before they will repair it.

I mug of coffee= £100

Computer users please take note as you think it will never happen to you but it does and it costs.

Blummin eck! How much would it be if you didn't go through your insurance?

I wouldn't have thought a keyboard, even for a specific brand, would have been more than £40, and fitting it shouldn't take them long.. But then again, I've never bought one so I wouldn't know for sure.

I did the same thing with a can of larger, left it upside down for a few days and the only problem i had was sticky keys.

My bird was drinking sweet tea whilst using her iBook on (of all the stupid places) her lap and her daft dog jumped up and, well, you can guess. It wasn't just the keyboard that got buggered either - the trackpad and button also getting shafted - they being temperamental to the point that it was virtually unusable. So, short-term she had to use an external keyboard and mouse - hardly making it portable - though the fact she'd also worn out the battery through mis-use meant she was always tied to a power point too. I was able to pick up a new keyboard for £30 and a secondhand top case (which includes the trackpad and button but not the keyboard) for next to nothing on eBay - items she's paid for - though she's holding out on getting a new battery (which aren't cheap) in the hope I buy her a MacBook for her birthday.

You used a hair drier?? that's the worse thing you could have done because of A) the heat and B) they create static, which can damage the components in the laptop.

Fluids almost always cause severe damage to laptops, if you are lucky just the keyboard will need replacing. The golden rule is to immediately remove the battery and power supply, do not be tempted to turn on as this will do the damage. Take or send to a laptop repair company that repairs motherboards so they can deconstruct and fully flush the fluid from underneath the chips etc. So if you are in luck the laptop may be saved try http://www.trilogicuk.co.uk for laptop repair help.