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Laptop Keyboard issues

I spilled water on my keyboard,and its not working.I bought a external one,and now the internal one keeps typing a's.Anyway to disable the internal keyboard?Also my Computer is a Toshiba Qosmio F20 Model Number PQF20U-AAAAF

March 21, 2011

4 Comments • Newest first

ultracheese

Don't take it to the shop; they'll charge you a ton. You can buy a replacement keyboard online for like $20, and if you can work a screwdriver, you can replace it yourself.

Reply March 22, 2011 - edited
boredmmo

I see the problem has stopped,but i''l take it too the shop anyway.

Reply March 22, 2011 - edited
BobR

That could be a real problem. What's happened is the liquid has gotten between the sheets of plastic that make up the electrical contacts on each key and are shorting it out, making the computer think the key is being held down.

First thing to try, open "Device Manager". How you do that varies slightly depending on what version of Windows you have. On my computer I right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties", then click the "Hardware" tab and click the "Device Manager" button (Windows XP).

Once in Device Manager, look down the list and find "Keyboards", then double-click it to open that line. It should display the built-in keyboard and the USB keyboard. RIGHT-click on the built-in keyboard and then select "Uninstall". That should disable the built-in keyboard, but the problem with that is that Windows will likely discover the keyboard and re-install the driver the next time you restart the computer.

If that happens, try to carefully pry the keytop off of that key and see if you can pull up the part the keycap was connected do. That might relieve any pressure on the contact points and might stop the key.

If that doesn't work, then yes, you could try opening up the case and unplug the ribbon cable that runs from the keyboard to the motherboard. I wouldn't actually take the keyboard out because that would leave the top open to dust and debris. Simply unplugging the cable will disconnect the keyboard and stop the key from spamming. The trouble with that is that opening up and more importantly, getting it correctly put back together again can be pretty tricky with some laptops. You wouldn't want to make it any worse than it already is.

The best way would be to take it in for service and have the keyboard replaced.

Reply March 21, 2011 - edited
ultracheese

You could physically remove it.

Reply March 21, 2011 - edited