Broken laptop keyboards from cleaning

[Duranis]

So I have a few laptops here were pressing 1 key gets a different result or 2 character output.

 

Most likely it's due to them being cleaned/wiped down between users and I'm sure I have seen it mentioned on here a few times already but can't find the posts now.

 

How are people fixing this? Just a strip down and clean with Iso or is there any other tricks?

[3s-gtech]

I'd be interested if anyone has had any luck with cleaning. Thankfully, our laptops have avoided this punishment (through being locked away) but I've lost more than one Apple aluminium keyboard to it.

[DavR]

Depends on the keyboard, but in my experience, once they've gone, they've gone.

 

We went through a stack of Lenovo 300e keyboards last term due to teachers cleaning them with a wet spray and cloth. Luckily we blagged most of that under warranty though. Alcohol wipes only after that!

[Zourous]

Once they malfunction that's it. Did this myself once with some Mac keyboards (of all types!) using keyboard cleaning fluid. My mistake was using too much fluid, but my defense was they were grubby. Had to replace the keyboards and just use them for spare keys.

[Oaktech]

Once they've gone they've gone: it's usually the resistance path for the key that has changed/gone or the contact material has been washed away by cleaning.

 

A few times I've had issues that were resolved by repeatedly pressing the faulty keys because they had a lack of use of lockdown and had become oxidised or something, because use cleared the fault.

[synaesthesia]

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE USE ALCOHOL FOR CLEANING MEMBRANE LAPTOP KEYBOARDS

The contacts in membrane keyboards are made of a carbonised plastic/rubber material for conductivity, and alcohol can take it right off. This may differ between keyboard manufacturers depending on if they use carbonised rubbers or the membrane sheets, both are very susceptible.

 

(Edited for laptop keyboards - desktops are usually OK as there is the body of the keyboard stopping ingress but laptops are straight to the bones)

Edited May 25, 2021 by synaesthesia

[DavR]

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE USE ALCOHOL FOR CLEANING MEMBRANE KEYBOARDS

The contacts in membrane keyboards are made of a carbonised plastic/rubber material for conductivity, and alcohol can take it right off. This may differ between keyboard manufacturers depending on if they use carbonised rubbers or the membrane sheets, both are very susceptible.

 

That being the case, what would you use?

 

Any "wet" cleaning solution is going to short out the contacts and generally make a mess. We've had no more keyboard failures since switching to alcohol wipes, one would assume the alcohol only touches the top surface and evaporates.

[Duranis]

Once they've gone they've gone: it's usually the resistance path for the key that has changed/gone or the contact material has been washed away by cleaning.

 

Hmmm that unfortunately makes a lot of sense for the faults I'm seeing. Looks like the traces between two keys are shorting so you press 1 key and it sends a signal down both traces. I was hoping it was just crud built up but, yeah, looks like I need to replace them.

 

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE USE ALCOHOL FOR CLEANING MEMBRANE LAPTOP KEYBOARDS

 

Good to know. Any recommendations on what to use? I have used ISO on a bunch of electronics in the past but they where generally older and more robust.

 

 

Now I need to find replacement keyboards. Annoyingly I don't seem to be able to just replace the keyboard module as they are held in with plastic rivets. Could "maybe" glue them in but that seems a bit of a bodge and I doubt it would hold up well over time with the typical school use. I miss the days when things weren't specifically designed to be irreparable.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Duranis

[flyinghaggis]

We've lost quite a few laptop keyboards since they started disinfecting them post-covid. However, we've noticed that they seem to be using anti-bacterial wipes, rather than just alcohol, which often leave a residue so thought that might be the culprit rather than the alcohol.

 

As others have said I'd have assumed an alcohol based wipe would evaporate quickly and avoid any issues?

 

@synaesthesia Do you have links to any articles/guides advising not to use alcohol cleaners on laptop keyboards?

Edited May 25, 2021 by flyinghaggis

[synaesthesia]

Indeed, anything wet generally isn't good and iso's biggest plus is that it evaporates extremely quickly. A very light misting works very well and that's all I would recommend.

We use "Durable Superclean Foam" for general cleaning but always leave the devices to dry fully, and we don't wipe machines down between use other than with a dry wipe.

 

No guides I know of re alcohol - it's something I'm aware of after destroying a classical computer keyboard by not realising about the carbon alcohol thing

Edited May 25, 2021 by synaesthesia

[Duranis]

Just had a thought. Seeing as I have a bunch of messed up keyboards now I might as well test a few cleaning solutions on them and see if any are obvious no-no's. Might not show anything as it could be a "degrades over time" issue rather than happening all in one go but worth a look. Will post results if they show anything interesting.

[DavR]

Now I need to find replacement keyboards. Annoyingly I don't seem to be able to just replace the keyboard module as they are held in with plastic rivets. Could "maybe" glue them in but that seems a bit of a bodge and I doubt it would hold up well over time with the typical school use. I miss the days when things weren't specifically designed to be irreparable.

I've noticed a worrying trend, especially when it comes to the smaller devices such as Chromebooks, where to replace the keyboard, you have to replace the entire top panel with it. Hasn't been the case for our Dell units, but might well be for the Lenovos.

[Ratcliffepg]

We have replaced 4 x Dell Chromebooks keyboards this week.... something cleaned them with hand sanitizer.....