[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Fix a Laptop's Sticky, Broken Keys here

[mjd420nova]

Risk: The most important part about prying the bezel off is to use a plastic wedge to seperate the two halves. Using a metal srewdriver will create gouges and sharp plastic edges that will snag anything it comes near and look terrible. The replacements can also be procured from Dell but run closer to $20. and are brand new. It is pretty simple like you say. The keyboards are near to unrepairable unless you have the proper tools and not recommended by any but the manufacturer as they have the special fixtures. Coverage under warranties are hard to get as these are mostly not covered anytime past the first ninety days.

[kristianKR]

you are lucky over there in the US. here in denmark(europe) a new keyboard can easy cost 500kr or almost 100dollars. unfair...

[larryoq]

A friend's Dell had keys that didn't work and would stick if you did push one of them down. I was all set to order a new keyboard after inspecting the old one. It looked like maybe someone had spilled soda and allowed it to dry. Anyhow since I planned on buying a new keyboard I decided to try cleaning the old one. At first I was popping off indivicual keys. Later I just stuck the keyboard into some hot water with Dawn dishwashing liquid in it. I was just careful not to get the plug end of the wire wet. Next I rinced the keyboard under running hot water and let it dry in the dish drainer for a couple days. When I hooked everything back up no more sticking keys. After two years it still works fine.

[gamemaniac]

This is the most common problem which every laptop owner have faced or will face in near future. But people can fix their broken or sticky broken keys themselves. They just need a screw driver for it nothing else and little bit of guidance and patience. Even then if you feel that you can't do this then, I would suggest you to take your laptop to laptop repair expert.

[Kinman]

laptop keyboard is not hard to replace once you do your research and be careful

[quackadilly]

As long as you don't use excessive force, anything on a laptop is pretty easy to replace without breaking it.....yes, even the screen.

[Danjeandc]

My laptop started mis-printing the key with quotation marks, i.e. instead of a quotation mark or apostrophe I get a "Space....}". This happens mainly in email (I note it does not happen here. ). I took it for repairs to a Staples store whose computer expert had Microsoft technician status. He said it was a keyboard problem and replaced the entire keyboard for about $100 (parts and labor). Unfortunately I still get the same error. I have to avoid using contracted words (i.e. don't, can't) in email to avoid very odd-appearing words. The Staples computer guy says I can bring my laptop back for further review which I will do but I would be most interested if anyone else has had this problem and if so, whether it was fixed. To me, it seems like a software issue but I have no idea how to fix it.

[Tommyg]

My wife had an older HP laptop that was assigned to the kitchen - one step short of recycling. The keyboard was missing about 3 keys, so I was thinking about sending it to HP for rehab, but i was afraid the cost would be greater than its value. This article make me tackle the problem. Cost? under $15, including shipping, from Ebay. A GREAT idea.

But don't expect any help from the manufacturer. I couldn't find instructions with the computer documentation or on the HP site. In their online chat help, they told me in no uncertain terms DON"T DO IT. That simply made it more of a challange!

In the end it took about an hour to replace the keyboard, but had I known what I was doing the time would have been less then 5 minutes.

[Kinman]

company support usually don't teach you this kind of thing (unless you meet a really nice and knowleagble support). google around on how to disasemable HP laptop, there is a good chance you can find an answer.

[Lee2000]

I purchased a "refurbished" Dell Inspiron laptop that arrived w/o a functioning "delete" key. I called Dell and Dell immediately shipped a replacement keyboard, a plastic scribe and terse instruction about how to replace the keyboard. I put off the task of replacing the keyboard for 3 years until markings for the "i"key, the "a" key and the "l" key were worn away. A users guide for the Inspiron (from Dell) is available online and provided the necessary clues as to how to carry out the replacement task. Gentle and persistent pressure is needed to make the scribe work. Care is necessary to make sure the electrical connection is properly made Note that the connection is secured by a movable pressure bar whose movement though illustrated, is not mentioned in the instructions. The total time for keyboard replacement for me was under 15 minutes.

[daodeltaforce]

Rick Broida should have mentioned in his article that you should always take precautions when touching the electronics in your computer, you need to wear an antistatic wrist band and use an antistatic pad with a ground to prevent potential static discharge to delicate components in your notebook computer.

[kylenstone]

When I was working 60-70 hours a week at as a member of a food-binging, champagne-spraying startup team, I was constantly surprised at how quickly my keyboard would become dirty and sticky. The same went for my mouse: I repeatedly cleaned the glide pads on the bottom with a paper clip.

At a certain point, I smartened up. I started keeping a cleaner work area, moved to a separate part of the office to eat lunch, and washed my hands before sitting down to type. Surprise: no more dirty, sticky keys!

[coastie65]

kristianKR, on 17 June 2009 - 12:46 PM, said:

you are lucky over there in the US. here in denmark(europe) a new keyboard can easy cost 500kr or almost 100dollars. unfair...

That does seem to be a bit pricey. On the other hand, Danish Ham is rather pricey over here in the States.
I went beyond the sticky keys thing. I spilled a Coke on a Commodore 128. The stuff went down inside through the vents. Not only did I have sticky keys, I had a rather sticky MOBO. I used a magnafier with a florescent light. alcohol, and cotton swabs to clean up that mess. I took quite awhile, but everything worked fine when I was done.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 09 September 2009 - 04:19 PM

[SmilingCarcass]

Danjeandc, on 07 July 2009 - 04:57 PM, said:

My laptop started mis-printing the key with quotation marks, i.e. instead of a quotation mark or apostrophe I get a "Space....}". This happens mainly in email (I note it does not happen here. ). I took it for repairs to a Staples store whose computer expert had Microsoft technician status. He said it was a keyboard problem and replaced the entire keyboard for about $100 (parts and labor). Unfortunately I still get the same error. I have to avoid using contracted words (i.e. don't, can't) in email to avoid very odd-appearing words. The Staples computer guy says I can bring my laptop back for further review which I will do but I would be most interested if anyone else has had this problem and if so, whether it was fixed. To me, it seems like a software issue but I have no idea how to fix it.

You might try your keyboard language settings in control panel -> regional and language options and then the keyboard and language tab. I have had a similar problem and found these had been changed - by an update, perhaps?
Anyway, worth a look.
Then there's chkdsk and the system file checker to try correcting software corruption.