Keyboard doesn't like orange marmalade

[soup]

do-dah do-dah

spacebar sticking - won't release

all the live long day

gonna stick all night gonna stick all day

will it dry up and release?

somebody help me, please.

---

Arghh. The last time I took apart a keyboard to clean it, ended up having to get a new one.

This one is a microsoft ergonomic model, and was (for us) fairly expensive, really can't afford the what? 40-50 bucks to get a new one right now.

Does anybody have any keyboard cleaning tips? - besides not dropping glops of orange marmalade down into the keys?

[RoyGBiv]

1. Alcohol ...

And when you're done with that, get some rubbing alcohol for the keyboard. :-)

Seriously, isopropyl alcohol, cue-tips, and vast quantities of patience are the only things that have been successful for me. The problem is that the liquid may have destroyed some of the contacts, and no amount of cleaning will help. If sticking is the only problem, try the alcohol on a cue-tip, carefully cleaning the parts, wiping it down with a lint-free cloth, and let it dry completely before plugging it back in. You can try this without taking the keys apart of nothing dripped down into it. Otherwise, you'll need to take it apart, one key at a time.

[bemildred]

2. Spray gunk might be of use too.

And I find turning it upside down and banging it on
the desk from time to time, to dislodge food crumbs
and such, is an important maintenance procedure.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Banging ...

Banging things is my #1 maintenance routine for most electronic devices. It doesn't always work, but it invariably makes me feel better. :-)

As an aside, I remember when one could "fix" a bad television signal by hitting the TV on the side. I miss low-tech sometimes.

Seriously, though, that's a good idea. Random crap falling into a keyboard creates most problems we have with them. Occasionally emptying this out keeps it from sitting in there, turning into some sort of strange muck, and frying the thing.

[bemildred]

4. It helps to terrorize them a bit.

Once you put the fear of God into them, you can
often fix problems by your mere presence. I have
often fixed apparently intractable problems without
having any real idea of what I did. :-)

[hobbit709]

5. First thing I learned way back in electronics school

sometimes you need the 8-lb sledge fine tuning adjust. Actually we used to clean keyboards by taking them apart, removing the keycaps, sloshing the board in warm water with mild dishwashing soap, rinsing them and letting them air-dry before reassembling them. Worked every time-water doesn't hurt the board as long as no electricity is applied while wet.

[soup]

10. Turns out the 8lb. fine tuning sledge wasn't needed this time,

just an 8 gallon garbage bag for the most likely toxic dust bits - bread crumb - cat hair- and what the heck is THAT? - sludge that came out of there. Unbelievable.

Couldn't find the alcohol or q-tips (think my son may have taken them for cleaning his baby's umbilical cord stubbie), so I took a note from 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' and employed Windex.

Took out all the screws, gingerly pried open one edge, turned the keyboard on end and proceeded to literally pound-bounce the crap out of it. Found the spare car keys, 3 mismatched socks, a bird's nest, 6 pens, 4 pencils, a roll of duct tape, a salt shaker and the remote control for the dvd player. ;) Sadly, almost 2 years of bookmarks that were lost when I downloaded and installed the new Firefox weren't in there, though. :(

Really did not want to take it totally apart, so poked around under there by the spacebar with the corner of a Joker cut in strips and wrapped in a Windex damp paper towel. Odds out, it's only a temporary fix and I just shoved the marmalade somewhere else under there, but the spacebar works now.

Worse comes to worse, and I'll try the sloshing in water and dish soap. Thank you for that. For now though, it's working.

[soup]

11. Doh! Just realized

I coulda used baby wipes instead of paper towel. They don't shred...
(note to self for future reference)

Eh, whatever works.

[soup]

8. solder ball.

Ah, the good old days. Tried the standing it on end and bangining it thing, but it's still the same. Didn't even displace the glop of marmalade to under a different key. It's just stuck.

Gonna go for it after I tell ya'all thank you for the help.

[soup]

7. Aha!

Maybe if I drop toast crumbs down into it, the marmalade will stick to the toast, then I can bang it upside down and have breakfast all over again. LOL

Since it's still sticking this evening, wanted to thank you all for the responses before I take it apart. It may never be the same...

[soup]

6. shoulda read your posht and not jusht the title

Now I'm sho drunk that the shticking sheemsh appropriate. It'sh jusht my keyboard shlurring along with me. :crazy: :D

Thanks for the alcohol and q-tip idea, it may come in handy in the future. Unfortunately, a piece of orange rind must have slid down between the space bar and the ALT key, and I'm afraid it is going to have to be taken apart to get to it.

[RoyGBiv]

9. Good luck ...

And that sucks. The space bar is the worst key to try to clean. Harder to get out and back in than the others.

BTW, meant to mention that I love your rhyme. Gotta have a sense of humor about these things, or they'll make us crazy.


And, I recommend a shot of tequila. :-)