Keyboard spill

[r50cheapskate]

I tried a search on various keyboard keywords here, but none seemed relevant. I managed to spill a small bit of beer on my keyboard. I immediately did as much damage control as possible, but the keys got stickier over the last few weeks. Upon taking a few keys off for cleaning, some of them broke (mostly the metal brackets rather than the plastic keys). Thankfully, I started with less important keys and stopped before killing it.

My question is, is it hard to replace a keyboard and is Lenovo the best place to order a replacement? When a tech was here to replace the bezel (a few months ago, under now-expired warranty), it looked like an easy assembly. Also, would replacing the keyboard replace the Trackpoint that broke off a while ago and I've not dared touch since?

[thePCxp]

Its not hard to replace the keyboard and when you get the new keyboard, there is going to be a new Trackpoint cap. (I once had to replace the keyboard on my ThinkPad because I spilled something and the Fn key didn't work).

[r50cheapskate]

That's what I thought. To be clear, it's not the little eraserhead that broke, but rather the square plastic part it sits on. Anyway, I did some checking. The new keyboard is only $50 (which still sucks, but it was my fault after all). I'm totally keeping the old one for spare parts.

[tfflivemb2]

Replacing the keyboard should be pretty easy. It was easy to remove the one on my R40.

Just in case you don't have it, here is the link to the Hardware Maintenance Manual index. (not sure if you have an R50 or an R50e, or I would have posted the exact link).