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Hi all,
My mom has a MBP 13" 2020 M1 laptop, on which she must've spilled something with sugar in it.
The keyboard is now a crunchy sticky mess, and nearly impossible to type on. (Typing makes loud crunching sounds, and both shift keys get stuck down and have to be pried back up much of the time.) [1]
When I searched around for how to clean up such a mess, all I could find was Apple's advice to blow air along the edges of the keys while holding the keyboard at a 70? angle. I did this once, and it seemed to have helped a little. Now things are awful, again, so I tried blasting air, again, to no avail.
I could take the computer to an Apple store/Apple authorized dealer, but my mom lives in East Nowhere, New Hampshire, and the nearest authorized Apple repair place is 1 1/2 hours away (seriously, I just looked it up ... the second-closest is 2 hours away).
Does anyone have experience removing the keys on a 'Magic Keyboard' [2]? Videos linked from iFixit make the keys look like rather delicate things to work on. If they are delicate, I'll puzzle out how to get the computer fixed without a zillion hours driving and waiting. Otherwise I feel like I should start popping the keycaps off and cleaning them.
Thanks for any advice,
Bill
[1] Worst of all is typing passwords, because the Gods of the Computer World usually won't let you see what is being typed. My mom obviously gets frustrated, and sometimes gets locked out of accounts.
[2] Magic as in 'possessed'
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You hope the liquid didn¡¯t make it to the motherboard. If so, it¡¯s time to buy a new computer. If it is ONLY the keyboard affected, then the machine can be disassembled and the keyboard washed thoroughly with warm clean water. I have saved several corded keyboards by running them through a soapless, heatless dishwasher cycle. It is possible that something similar can be done with a laptop keyboard that is separated from its enclosure. Jonathan On Dec 21, 2022, at 6:31 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Hi all,
My mom has a MBP 13" 2020 M1 laptop, on which she must've spilled something with sugar in it.
The keyboard is now a crunchy sticky mess, and nearly impossible to type on. (Typing makes loud crunching sounds, and both shift keys get stuck down and have to be pried back up much of the time.) [1]
When I searched around for how to clean up such a mess, all I could find was Apple's advice to blow air along the edges of the keys while holding the keyboard at a 70? angle. I did this once, and it seemed to have helped a little. Now things are awful, again, so I tried blasting air, again, to no avail.
I could take the computer to an Apple store/Apple authorized dealer, but my mom lives in East Nowhere, New Hampshire, and the nearest authorized Apple repair place is 1 1/2 hours away (seriously, I just looked it up ... the second-closest is 2 hours away).
Does anyone have experience removing the keys on a 'Magic Keyboard' [2]? Videos linked from iFixit make the keys look like rather delicate things to work on. If they are delicate, I'll puzzle out how to get the computer fixed without a zillion hours driving and waiting. Otherwise I feel like I should start popping the keycaps off and cleaning them.
Thanks for any advice,
Bill
[1] Worst of all is typing passwords, because the Gods of the Computer World usually won't let you see what is being typed. My mom obviously gets frustrated, and sometimes gets locked out of accounts.
[2] Magic as in 'possessed'
¡ª Jonathan Fletcher Workplace Innovation Facilitator Fletcher Data Consulting, LLC A Claris Business Partner jonathan@... www.fletcherdata.com 502-509-7137 Kentuckiana¡¯s FileMaker Developers Group Next meeting: Tuesday, January 24th, 12:30 to 3:00-ish We¡¯re now online! ? Register at kyfmp.com/reg/ for a link
|
On Dec 21, 2022, at 18:38, Jonathan Fletcher <lists@...> wrote:
You hope the liquid didn¡¯t make it to the motherboard. If so, it¡¯s time to buy a new computer. The computer works fine. The keys just crunch, are hard to press down, and stick. So... not sure that there are problems inside. Of course, maybe some could come up later. If it is ONLY the keyboard affected, then the machine can be disassembled and the keyboard washed thoroughly with warm clean water. I have saved several corded keyboards by running them through a soapless, heatless dishwasher cycle. It is possible that something similar can be done with a laptop keyboard that is separated from its enclosure. Eek. I looked at some teardown videos, and they look really difficult. BUT, I did find a better video about getting the keycaps (and only the keycaps) off. I'll put it here, in case anyone else ever wants to look at it, and (possibly) comment back after buying some playing cards and toothpicks. Bill
Jonathan
On Dec 21, 2022, at 6:31 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Hi all,
My mom has a MBP 13" 2020 M1 laptop, on which she must've spilled something with sugar in it.
The keyboard is now a crunchy sticky mess, and nearly impossible to type on. (Typing makes loud crunching sounds, and both shift keys get stuck down and have to be pried back up much of the time.) [1]
When I searched around for how to clean up such a mess, all I could find was Apple's advice to blow air along the edges of the keys while holding the keyboard at a 70? angle. I did this once, and it seemed to have helped a little. Now things are awful, again, so I tried blasting air, again, to no avail.
I could take the computer to an Apple store/Apple authorized dealer, but my mom lives in East Nowhere, New Hampshire, and the nearest authorized Apple repair place is 1 1/2 hours away (seriously, I just looked it up ... the second-closest is 2 hours away).
Does anyone have experience removing the keys on a 'Magic Keyboard' [2]? Videos linked from iFixit make the keys look like rather delicate things to work on. If they are delicate, I'll puzzle out how to get the computer fixed without a zillion hours driving and waiting. Otherwise I feel like I should start popping the keycaps off and cleaning them.
Thanks for any advice,
Bill
[1] Worst of all is typing passwords, because the Gods of the Computer World usually won't let you see what is being typed. My mom obviously gets frustrated, and sometimes gets locked out of accounts.
[2] Magic as in 'possessed'
¡ª
Jonathan Fletcher
Workplace Innovation Facilitator
Fletcher Data Consulting, LLC
A Claris Business Partner
jonathan@...
www.fletcherdata.com
502-509-7137
Kentuckiana¡¯s FileMaker Developers Group
Next meeting: Tuesday, January 24th, 12:30 to 3:00-ish
We¡¯re now online! ? Register at kyfmp.com/reg/ for a link
|
Very interesting. Thanks Bill. Hope you get your mother¡¯s computer fixed.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Dec 21, 2022, at 7:04 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
On Dec 21, 2022, at 18:38, Jonathan Fletcher <lists@...> wrote:
You hope the liquid didn¡¯t make it to the motherboard. If so, it¡¯s time to buy a new computer. The computer works fine. The keys just crunch, are hard to press down, and stick. So... not sure that there are problems inside. Of course, maybe some could come up later.
If it is ONLY the keyboard affected, then the machine can be disassembled and the keyboard washed thoroughly with warm clean water. I have saved several corded keyboards by running them through a soapless, heatless dishwasher cycle. It is possible that something similar can be done with a laptop keyboard that is separated from its enclosure. Eek. I looked at some teardown videos, and they look really difficult. BUT, I did find a better video about getting the keycaps (and only the keycaps) off. I'll put it here, in case anyone else ever wants to look at it, and (possibly) comment back after buying some playing cards and toothpicks.
Bill
Jonathan
On Dec 21, 2022, at 6:31 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Hi all,
My mom has a MBP 13" 2020 M1 laptop, on which she must've spilled something with sugar in it.
The keyboard is now a crunchy sticky mess, and nearly impossible to type on. (Typing makes loud crunching sounds, and both shift keys get stuck down and have to be pried back up much of the time.) [1]
When I searched around for how to clean up such a mess, all I could find was Apple's advice to blow air along the edges of the keys while holding the keyboard at a 70? angle. I did this once, and it seemed to have helped a little. Now things are awful, again, so I tried blasting air, again, to no avail.
I could take the computer to an Apple store/Apple authorized dealer, but my mom lives in East Nowhere, New Hampshire, and the nearest authorized Apple repair place is 1 1/2 hours away (seriously, I just looked it up ... the second-closest is 2 hours away).
Does anyone have experience removing the keys on a 'Magic Keyboard' [2]? Videos linked from iFixit make the keys look like rather delicate things to work on. If they are delicate, I'll puzzle out how to get the computer fixed without a zillion hours driving and waiting. Otherwise I feel like I should start popping the keycaps off and cleaning them.
Thanks for any advice,
Bill
[1] Worst of all is typing passwords, because the Gods of the Computer World usually won't let you see what is being typed. My mom obviously gets frustrated, and sometimes gets locked out of accounts.
[2] Magic as in 'possessed'
¡ª
Jonathan Fletcher
Workplace Innovation Facilitator
Fletcher Data Consulting, LLC
A Claris Business Partner
jonathan@...
www.fletcherdata.com
502-509-7137
Kentuckiana¡¯s FileMaker Developers Group
Next meeting: Tuesday, January 24th, 12:30 to 3:00-ish
We¡¯re now online! ? Register at kyfmp.com/reg/ for a link
|
Here's something that didn't come up on the video.... It's impossible to shut of an M1 laptop. Apple has made it so that even shutting down the computer doesn't really shut it down. It fakes being shut off, and starts when the lid is opened and a key is touched. Really annoying and useless when trying to fix a keyboard.
All I can do, I guess, is try to drain the battery of the computer first. Of course, I cannot login to the computer to get onto some energy-wasting site (ahem, CBSSports), because the keys stick so badly, and I have to use a shift key in my password.
I'm really starting to think of Apple as an Italian Design company, where everything is so over-engineered and where form is far more important than function. Status is worth more than ability. Arrrgh.
Bill
not at all happy
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Dec 21, 2022, at 20:04, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
On Dec 21, 2022, at 18:38, Jonathan Fletcher <lists@...> wrote:
You hope the liquid didn¡¯t make it to the motherboard. If so, it¡¯s time to buy a new computer. The computer works fine. The keys just crunch, are hard to press down, and stick. So... not sure that there are problems inside. Of course, maybe some could come up later.
If it is ONLY the keyboard affected, then the machine can be disassembled and the keyboard washed thoroughly with warm clean water. I have saved several corded keyboards by running them through a soapless, heatless dishwasher cycle. It is possible that something similar can be done with a laptop keyboard that is separated from its enclosure. Eek. I looked at some teardown videos, and they look really difficult. BUT, I did find a better video about getting the keycaps (and only the keycaps) off. I'll put it here, in case anyone else ever wants to look at it, and (possibly) comment back after buying some playing cards and toothpicks.
Bill
Jonathan
On Dec 21, 2022, at 6:31 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Hi all,
My mom has a MBP 13" 2020 M1 laptop, on which she must've spilled something with sugar in it.
The keyboard is now a crunchy sticky mess, and nearly impossible to type on. (Typing makes loud crunching sounds, and both shift keys get stuck down and have to be pried back up much of the time.) [1]
When I searched around for how to clean up such a mess, all I could find was Apple's advice to blow air along the edges of the keys while holding the keyboard at a 70? angle. I did this once, and it seemed to have helped a little. Now things are awful, again, so I tried blasting air, again, to no avail.
I could take the computer to an Apple store/Apple authorized dealer, but my mom lives in East Nowhere, New Hampshire, and the nearest authorized Apple repair place is 1 1/2 hours away (seriously, I just looked it up ... the second-closest is 2 hours away).
Does anyone have experience removing the keys on a 'Magic Keyboard' [2]? Videos linked from iFixit make the keys look like rather delicate things to work on. If they are delicate, I'll puzzle out how to get the computer fixed without a zillion hours driving and waiting. Otherwise I feel like I should start popping the keycaps off and cleaning them.
Thanks for any advice,
Bill
[1] Worst of all is typing passwords, because the Gods of the Computer World usually won't let you see what is being typed. My mom obviously gets frustrated, and sometimes gets locked out of accounts.
[2] Magic as in 'possessed'
¡ª
Jonathan Fletcher
Workplace Innovation Facilitator
Fletcher Data Consulting, LLC
A Claris Business Partner
jonathan@...
www.fletcherdata.com
502-509-7137
Kentuckiana¡¯s FileMaker Developers Group
Next meeting: Tuesday, January 24th, 12:30 to 3:00-ish
We¡¯re now online! ? Register at kyfmp.com/reg/ for a link
|
Just to close things out, I did fix my mom's laptop keyboard. There are some notes for anyone wanting to do this in the future:
Following the video [1], I did manage to take all the keycaps off and clean things up. Cleaning the keycaps was simple: as the video said, just dump them in warm water, swirl them around for a little while, then put them on a towel and dry them off. Cleaning the butterfly switches took more effort. (They were gunky, too.) The video shows a quick brush with a toothbrush wetted with isopropyl alcohol. It took me more than a quick brush on multiple keys. I did figure out that you can test each butterfly switch to see if it is clean by pulling up (gently) on the butterfly switch with the toothpick, and seeing if it falls back down. If it eases itself down like it has a shock absorber, it needs more cleaning. You should also test the butterfly switches again after the isopropyl alcohol has dried, as the alcohol can act as a lubricant and give a false sense of success. You can also clean the joints in the butterfly switches by pulling them up (open) with the toothpick and then brushing the joints gently.
Also: putting the space bar and shift keys back was tricky and slow. All the rest were quick.
It took me roughly 3.5 hours to get the keyboard working well, but I was slow working on each first-time task, because breaking the keyboard would have been a disaster. Now I think I could do the job in 1.5 hours.
Cheers,
Bill
[1]
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Dec 21, 2022, at 22:21, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Here's something that didn't come up on the video.... It's impossible to shut of an M1 laptop. Apple has made it so that even shutting down the computer doesn't really shut it down. It fakes being shut off, and starts when the lid is opened and a key is touched. Really annoying and useless when trying to fix a keyboard.
All I can do, I guess, is try to drain the battery of the computer first. Of course, I cannot login to the computer to get onto some energy-wasting site (ahem, CBSSports), because the keys stick so badly, and I have to use a shift key in my password.
I'm really starting to think of Apple as an Italian Design company, where everything is so over-engineered and where form is far more important than function. Status is worth more than ability. Arrrgh.
Bill
not at all happy
On Dec 21, 2022, at 20:04, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
On Dec 21, 2022, at 18:38, Jonathan Fletcher <lists@...> wrote:
You hope the liquid didn¡¯t make it to the motherboard. If so, it¡¯s time to buy a new computer. The computer works fine. The keys just crunch, are hard to press down, and stick. So... not sure that there are problems inside. Of course, maybe some could come up later.
If it is ONLY the keyboard affected, then the machine can be disassembled and the keyboard washed thoroughly with warm clean water. I have saved several corded keyboards by running them through a soapless, heatless dishwasher cycle. It is possible that something similar can be done with a laptop keyboard that is separated from its enclosure. Eek. I looked at some teardown videos, and they look really difficult. BUT, I did find a better video about getting the keycaps (and only the keycaps) off. I'll put it here, in case anyone else ever wants to look at it, and (possibly) comment back after buying some playing cards and toothpicks.
Bill
Jonathan
On Dec 21, 2022, at 6:31 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Hi all,
My mom has a MBP 13" 2020 M1 laptop, on which she must've spilled something with sugar in it.
The keyboard is now a crunchy sticky mess, and nearly impossible to type on. (Typing makes loud crunching sounds, and both shift keys get stuck down and have to be pried back up much of the time.) [1]
When I searched around for how to clean up such a mess, all I could find was Apple's advice to blow air along the edges of the keys while holding the keyboard at a 70? angle. I did this once, and it seemed to have helped a little. Now things are awful, again, so I tried blasting air, again, to no avail.
I could take the computer to an Apple store/Apple authorized dealer, but my mom lives in East Nowhere, New Hampshire, and the nearest authorized Apple repair place is 1 1/2 hours away (seriously, I just looked it up ... the second-closest is 2 hours away).
Does anyone have experience removing the keys on a 'Magic Keyboard' [2]? Videos linked from iFixit make the keys look like rather delicate things to work on. If they are delicate, I'll puzzle out how to get the computer fixed without a zillion hours driving and waiting. Otherwise I feel like I should start popping the keycaps off and cleaning them.
Thanks for any advice,
Bill
[1] Worst of all is typing passwords, because the Gods of the Computer World usually won't let you see what is being typed. My mom obviously gets frustrated, and sometimes gets locked out of accounts.
[2] Magic as in 'possessed'
¡ª
Jonathan Fletcher
Workplace Innovation Facilitator
Fletcher Data Consulting, LLC
A Claris Business Partner
jonathan@...
www.fletcherdata.com
502-509-7137
Kentuckiana¡¯s FileMaker Developers Group
Next meeting: Tuesday, January 24th, 12:30 to 3:00-ish
We¡¯re now online! ? Register at kyfmp.com/reg/ for a link
|
Yay, Bill! Thanks for sharing your experience with us all! Jonathan On Dec 23, 2022, at 6:54 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Just to close things out, I did fix my mom's laptop keyboard. There are some notes for anyone wanting to do this in the future:
Following the video [1], I did manage to take all the keycaps off and clean things up. Cleaning the keycaps was simple: as the video said, just dump them in warm water, swirl them around for a little while, then put them on a towel and dry them off. Cleaning the butterfly switches took more effort. (They were gunky, too.) The video shows a quick brush with a toothbrush wetted with isopropyl alcohol. It took me more than a quick brush on multiple keys. I did figure out that you can test each butterfly switch to see if it is clean by pulling up (gently) on the butterfly switch with the toothpick, and seeing if it falls back down. If it eases itself down like it has a shock absorber, it needs more cleaning. You should also test the butterfly switches again after the isopropyl alcohol has dried, as the alcohol can act as a lubricant and give a false sense of success. You can also clean the joints in the butterfly switches by pulling them up (open) with the toothpick and then brushing the joints gently.
Also: putting the space bar and shift keys back was tricky and slow. All the rest were quick.
It took me roughly 3.5 hours to get the keyboard working well, but I was slow working on each first-time task, because breaking the keyboard would have been a disaster. Now I think I could do the job in 1.5 hours.
Cheers,
Bill
[1]
On Dec 21, 2022, at 22:21, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Here's something that didn't come up on the video.... It's impossible to shut of an M1 laptop. Apple has made it so that even shutting down the computer doesn't really shut it down. It fakes being shut off, and starts when the lid is opened and a key is touched. Really annoying and useless when trying to fix a keyboard.
All I can do, I guess, is try to drain the battery of the computer first. Of course, I cannot login to the computer to get onto some energy-wasting site (ahem, CBSSports), because the keys stick so badly, and I have to use a shift key in my password.
I'm really starting to think of Apple as an Italian Design company, where everything is so over-engineered and where form is far more important than function. Status is worth more than ability. Arrrgh.
Bill
not at all happy
On Dec 21, 2022, at 20:04, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
On Dec 21, 2022, at 18:38, Jonathan Fletcher <lists@...> wrote:
You hope the liquid didn¡¯t make it to the motherboard. If so, it¡¯s time to buy a new computer. The computer works fine. The keys just crunch, are hard to press down, and stick. So... not sure that there are problems inside. Of course, maybe some could come up later.
If it is ONLY the keyboard affected, then the machine can be disassembled and the keyboard washed thoroughly with warm clean water. I have saved several corded keyboards by running them through a soapless, heatless dishwasher cycle. It is possible that something similar can be done with a laptop keyboard that is separated from its enclosure. Eek. I looked at some teardown videos, and they look really difficult. BUT, I did find a better video about getting the keycaps (and only the keycaps) off. I'll put it here, in case anyone else ever wants to look at it, and (possibly) comment back after buying some playing cards and toothpicks.
Bill
Jonathan
On Dec 21, 2022, at 6:31 PM, Bill Rising via groups.io <brising@...> wrote:
Hi all,
My mom has a MBP 13" 2020 M1 laptop, on which she must've spilled something with sugar in it.
The keyboard is now a crunchy sticky mess, and nearly impossible to type on. (Typing makes loud crunching sounds, and both shift keys get stuck down and have to be pried back up much of the time.) [1]
When I searched around for how to clean up such a mess, all I could find was Apple's advice to blow air along the edges of the keys while holding the keyboard at a 70? angle. I did this once, and it seemed to have helped a little. Now things are awful, again, so I tried blasting air, again, to no avail.
I could take the computer to an Apple store/Apple authorized dealer, but my mom lives in East Nowhere, New Hampshire, and the nearest authorized Apple repair place is 1 1/2 hours away (seriously, I just looked it up ... the second-closest is 2 hours away).
Does anyone have experience removing the keys on a 'Magic Keyboard' [2]? Videos linked from iFixit make the keys look like rather delicate things to work on. If they are delicate, I'll puzzle out how to get the computer fixed without a zillion hours driving and waiting. Otherwise I feel like I should start popping the keycaps off and cleaning them.
Thanks for any advice,
Bill
[1] Worst of all is typing passwords, because the Gods of the Computer World usually won't let you see what is being typed. My mom obviously gets frustrated, and sometimes gets locked out of accounts.
[2] Magic as in 'possessed'
¡ª
Jonathan Fletcher
Workplace Innovation Facilitator
Fletcher Data Consulting, LLC
A Claris Business Partner
jonathan@...
www.fletcherdata.com
502-509-7137
Kentuckiana¡¯s FileMaker Developers Group
Next meeting: Tuesday, January 24th, 12:30 to 3:00-ish
We¡¯re now online! ? Register at kyfmp.com/reg/ for a link
¡ª Jonathan Fletcher Workplace Innovation Facilitator Fletcher Data Consulting, LLC A Claris Business Partner jonathan@... www.fletcherdata.com 502-509-7137 Kentuckiana¡¯s FileMaker Developers Group Next meeting: Tuesday, January 24th, 12:30 to 3:00-ish We¡¯re now online! ? Register at kyfmp.com/reg/ for a link
|
