Thinkpads Forum

I recently had a spill on my keyboard. It was gatorade so I removed the keyboard so that I could rinse it with distilled water. After it dried I plugged it back in but a curious thing happened.
Two rows (two rows only) were no longer functioning. Thew qwerty and the asdf rows no longer worked while the number keys and zxc work fine. Very odd.

Anyone have any ideas on how to correct this?

I would love to avoid dropping $40 on a replacement keyboard!

Count yourself among the lucky if it's only $40 for a keyboard. You could try a Linux disc to confirm it's a hardware issue.

I dont' consider myself among the lucky at all. The keyboard was saved in time and rinsed. It SHOULD be fully functional.

Has anyone seen this problem before? Half the keys dying?

If the only lost the keyboard you are lucky. Typically in these situations, you lose the keyboard and the motherboard, which is much more expensive.

I agree with the others - a keyboard is small money. However, if you clean and rinse it thoroughly again, including the connector, and let it dry for a sufficiently long time (a day or two), there is a small chance it will recover completely.