Thinkpads Forum

Okay this is a sort of weird problem. I have a thinkpad T500 and I wanted to try and clean the keyboard. I found a video of a guy with a thinkpad T61 on youtube who cleaned his keyboard by removing it from the laptop, squirting rubbing alcohol on it, and mashing the buttons. He then dried it, and put it back in the laptop. I assumed this would also work for the T500, so I did it. When I first put it back, it seemed to work, but then the keys started sticking - as in when i pressed the "y" key, the "u" and "h" letters were also typed. I assumed this meant that it wasnt fully dried so i have it some time. Note that the trackpoint rubber nub mouse still worked, and so did the clicking buttons, as well as the power and volume buttons (I think). After some more time passed the keys stopped working completely, but the other buttons and mouse still worked as I stated earlier. I went to sleep thinking it should dry more, but I woke up to the computer shutting itself down. I pressed the power button and tried to start it several times and it made loud beeping noises and took me to BIOS, where i could not do anything because the keys wouldnt work. I disconnected the keyboard and reconnected it and the same thing occurred. I then connected a USB keyboard and mouse. I connceted the thinkpad keyboard, pressed power on, and quickly removed it again, and this way ive got the computer to work and am using the USB keyboard and mouse. The computer works completely fine on its own! I did a test where i connected the thinkpad keyboard when the computer was up and running, and it simply turns the computer off after about 10 seconds of being plugged in. I have ordered a new thinkpad keyboard and am waiting for it to arrive. Do you guys think the problem is the old keyboard or do you think maybe the keyboard connector thing on the motherboard got messed up somehow (god forbid)? Let me know what you think!
Thank You

Chances are the keyboard is still not dry or something short circuited inside it.

I doubt it's the connector on the board.

Try baking the keyboard in the oven on very low heat (maybe 50C) for about half an hour - it may speed up the drying process. Or leave it in a dry place for 72 hours. Or just order a new keyboard.

I wouldn't use any liquid on a keyboard because it can get between layers of film and interfere with contact. Rubbing alcohol also has lots of water in it. For cleaning electronics, I only use aerosol sprays designed for electronics or denatured alcohol.