Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!aplcen!jhunix!bio_zwbb
From: bio_zwbb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dr. William B. Busa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Spilled on your keyboard? Wash it!
Message-ID: <2478@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU>
Date: 10 Sep 89 20:18:06 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Biology, The Johns Hopkins University
Lines: 39


	Just wanted to share a (perhaps) non-obvious repair procedure
which proved to work *very* well. After spilling a cup of coffee all over
the keyboard of my Compaq (which elicited lots of beeping and pyrotechnic
screen displays) I quickly powered down. My first thought was to drag my
poor machine to the repair shop and brace myself for the cost of a new
keyboard. Further reflection, however, suggested that I really couldn't
make anything worse by trying to clean up the keyboard myself. So I took
the back off the keyboard, unplugged the cord from the pc board within,
and removed the board (plus attached keys) from the keyboard housing. I
then flooded the board with *copious* amounts of **distilled** water until
all traces of coffee were gone. After shaking off as much water as
possible, I then placed the board in a sealed plastic bag with about a
pound of Drierite -- this is a moisture absorbent similar to the granular
silica gel packed in bottles of pills, etc. The next morning my board was
dry and -- lo and behold -- when I plugged it back in, it worked
perfectly. 

	Perhaps others will find this pretty unsurprising, but I was
amazed; not half as amazed, however, as my graduate students who watched
open-mouthed as I stormed into the lab swearing a blue streak and waving a
pc board which I proceeded to inundate. The keys to my success were, I
think:

	(1) Quickly powering down before something fried.

	(2) Using *distilled* water -- tap water would have left salt
deposits on the board, which would have made the situation worse, not
better.

	(3) Using a desiccant to dry the board. Each key has a little
rubber boot around its works, and these ended up holding lots of water. It
would have taken forever to dry them out in room air. If you don't happen
to have access to a lab which stocks desiccant, I bet you could buy it
from a well-stocked pharmacy. Many large cities also have lab-supply
stores which serve the walk-in trade.

	Good luck to anyone who finds himself in need of this!