Cleaning the keyboard - how to?

[zodiac]

Hey,

after a few years of use the underneath of my keyboard accumulated a fair amount of dust, bread crumbs and whatsoever. And I want to clean it.

Is there a easy way to remove the keyboard buttons as a whole? Or are they individually attached? Will removing the keyboard void the warranty? As far as I recall its a CRU, right?

All the best,
Martin

[Tasurinchi]

To remove dirt under the keyboard what I did a few times was to remove the keyboard from the laptop (follow the instructions from the HMM, which can be downloaded here) and wash it under the kitchen's sink. Be careful that the electronic doesn't get wet.

Let it dry for 24 hour or so and attach it again to the Thinkpad. It will be so clean as when it was new

[zodiac]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Do I actually get to the part below the keys that way? Or do you just get whole keyboard including fluid collector?

Is my warranty affected by removing the keyboard in any way?

[Tasurinchi]

The water stream would definitely clean everything on top and below the keys. But I have no clue if you loose the warranty by removing it.

You could also try some compressed air or even a hair dryer (no hot air!). But in my experience the compressed air does little if there's lot of dirt.

Hope this helps...

[Harryc]

Is my warranty affected by removing the keyboard in any way?

Only if you break something ... which is very unlikely since it's only a few screws and a ribbon cable to be removed.

[bgalakazam]

I took out the keyboard and then used compressed air. I wouldn't want to risk with water. Compressed air worked just fine.

[Tasurinchi]

It sounds bad but it's an easy task, just don't submerge the keyboard in water. I've cleaned three X4x, a T43p and a T60 keyboards with this method with no issues at all. You have to be patient and let them dry though...

[IvanAndreevich]

Why not just pop all the keys off one by one and then vacuum or use compressed air?

[Tasurinchi]

Why not just pop all the keys off one by one and then vacuum or use compressed air?

I'm too lazy for that. Normally I wash the kb at night, go to sleep, go to work, come back and tadaaaaa! Ready to reinstall