I spilled a bit of tea on my laptop now half of the keyboard is not working anymore

[Yoshimitsu]

Hi

 

I was just a little bit of tea and not on the keyboard itself but on the case but a few drops may have landed where the escape key is, anyway shortly after half of the keyboard was not working anymore. Some letters work perfectly others don't work at all, if i press them nothing happens, same with other buttons like shift etc. I kept using the laptopt which may have been a mistake, it is my mothers laptop and i didn't want to upset her.

 

The laptop is turned off now but it's no longer possible to turn the laptop on because that botton is not working anymore either.

 

I could buy a replacement keyboard, do you guys think that would solve the issue or is the motherboard damaged?

 

It's a Xiaomi Mi laptop AIR.

[HanZie82]

Oh yeah hot drinks are the worst. Im sorry.
But you might need to get a new keyboard and power button (if those are seperate).

 

 

When i did this on my Logitech G15 i tought it would be ok. Nope.

Its had a thin plastic film with silver (looking) paint  on it for the electrical traces, and tea and it dissolved and was useless.

 

That can happen or just simple corrosion, because of all the nasty-ness that can be in tea. (Just nasty for devices and such).

Even because of the heat the slot where the keyboard connector goes in could have expanded and the cable slid out.

But short of it, you most likely will need to open up that notebook.
(If you can, take out the battery so nothing more can go wrong)

[Somerandomtechyboi]

6 minutes ago, Yoshimitsu said:

Hi

 

I was just a little bit of tea and not on the keyboard itself but on the case but a few drops may have landed where the escape key is, anyway shortly after half of the keyboard was not working anymore. Some letters work perfectly others don't work at all, if i press them nothing happens, same with other buttons like shift etc. I kept using the laptopt which may have been a mistake, it is my mothers laptop and i didn't want to upset her.

 

The laptop is turned off now but it's no longer possible to turn the laptop on because that botton is not working anymore either.

 

I could buy a replacement keyboard, do you guys think that would solve the issue or is the motherboard damaged?

 

It's a Xiaomi Mi laptop AIR.

Take out the hdd, battery, and dunk the lower part of the laptop in 99% isopropyl alcohol

 

It does seem to fix water damage from my experience, though not sure what else to remove cause for me its simply just take out my mobo and dunk it in isoproyl for a few hours

[Guest]

Looks like this is a unibody laptop, but I am not certain. If the keyboard is not easily removable replacing it would require a complete dissasembly of the computer. It's a little late to say that now, but for the future you should instantly turn the laptop off, take of the back cover and disconnet the battery asap if you spill liquids on it. 

[HanZie82]

8 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Take out the hdd and dunk the lower part of the laptop in 99% isopropyl alcohol

 

It does seem to fix water damage from my experience, though not sure what else to remove cause for me its simply just take out my mobo and dunk it in isoproyl for a few hours

Wow, never really tough of dong this.

Thinking of it, might even work. It evaporates like crazy (so use new bottle else its not 90%+).

But most parts are safe from isopropyl.

Altho i would be scared of thermal compounds and stickers disolving tho!!!

For that reason i would advice AGAINST it.

 

7 minutes ago, Konrad_K said:

Looks like this is a unibody laptop, but I am not certain. If the keyboard is not easily removable replacing it would require a complete dissasembly of the computer. It's a little late to say that now, but for the future you should instantly turn the laptop off, take of the back cover and disconnet the battery asap if you spill liquids on it. 

Yup, with every electrical device i would say thats the way to go.

Remove any power and let dry.

Maybe if the water was nasty water like a river or such, i would rinse it off with tap-water first. So there's less nasty residue to corrode...

[Yoshimitsu]

3 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Take out the hdd, battery, and dunk the lower part of the laptop in 99% isopropyl alcohol

 

It does seem to fix water damage from my experience, though not sure what else to remove cause for me its simply just take out my mobo and dunk it in isoproyl for a few hours

Are you sure about this? Dunking a laptop seems suicidal for the laptop. What do you exactly mean by lower part of the laptop?

[HanZie82]

6 minutes ago, Yoshimitsu said:

Are you sure about this? Dunking a laptop seems suicidal for the laptop. What do you exactly mean by lower part of the laptop?

There might be sketchy parts but most whats in a notebook is safe from Isopropyl.
They even use that to clean filled PCB's.

But there's more in a notebook, I wouldn't take the risk if i only have the one.

[Yoshimitsu]

How do i disconnect this cable tho?

[HanZie82]

For the thin ribbon cables, lift up the dark latch and you can easily get them out.

Pull on the blue tabs, not the ribbon itself, those are very fragile DO NOT BEND.

As for the colored cable, i'm not to sure. It kinda looks semi-permanent. Maybe not added video below.

 

But since those cable are a lot thicker they can bend a little more, not as fragile.

Also it looks like power-cables, maybe you don't even need to take them off at all.

 

 

Maybe this sheds some light on howto remove the battery connector.

 

Ok after checking the video real quick it looks like you need to push where the arrows point.
(you can see small arrows on the plastic pointing as to where you should push it)

[Yoshimitsu]

20 hours ago, HanZie82 said:

For the thin ribbon cables, lift up the dark latch and you can easily get them out.

Pull on the blue tabs, not the ribbon itself, those are very fragile DO NOT BEND.

As for the colored cable, i'm not to sure. It kinda looks semi-permanent. Maybe not added video below.

 

But since those cable are a lot thicker they can bend a little more, not as fragile.

Also it looks like power-cables, maybe you don't even need to take them off at all.

 

 

Maybe this sheds some light on howto remove the battery connector.

 

Ok after checking the video real quick it looks like you need to push where the arrows point.
(you can see small arrows on the plastic pointing as to where you should push it)

Any suggestions how i can take out the keyboard? i took out the motherboard which is still attached to 2 cables that go to the monitor (i think) they look soldered tho but i am not sure, do you know by any chance how to remove those?

Also now that the motherboard is out there is a foil that covers the keyboard from inside i assume it's the rubberdome that conducts the signal because the foil terminates directly into two cables that go into the motherboard at first i thought it might be some esd protection foil but then i notice the two ribbon cables which come directly from the foil in the same material.

 

Any suggestions how i get the whole thing out so i can clean and replace it?

[HanZie82]

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In the red square is the wifi/BT card.

The red arrows point to the antenna connectors.
You can take them of but be really really careful. Use your nails and pull straight up.
Dont use tools that will surely break them.