How do I fix sticky keys?

[The Fonz]

A buddy of mine spilled beer on my laptop keyboard, now some of the keys are sticking pretty badly. I tried popping them off and wiping the keyboard with a damp cloth, but that only temporarily fixed the problem, the keys were sticking again a couple hours later (actual sticking worse).

I know I'm not the first person to do this, so how can I fix it?

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Stop spending so much time on NSFW-type sites...

[I wanna be like Miikka]

PM Fotze, he has plenty of experience fixing stick keys.

[llama64]

If the keyboard is just a simple one (with out any LCD screens and whatnot), just pop it in the dishwasher with a tiny bit of detergent and let it dry for a day or two. Should be good as new by the end.

[The Fonz]

How do I remove the cable tape strip connecting the keyboard to the laptop? I don't want to wreck it...

[Buff]

This is going to sound weird but it worked for me. Run it under some water. I spilled hot chocolate on my keyboard at work, we saw that it had "drain holes" so I ran it under warm water. Let it dry for a couple of days and the keyboard worked.

I see that llama has reported a similar solution. Back in school I had to take a hardware class, in this class the teacher jokingly said to put the keyboards in dishwashers to clean them. Two guys tried it to experiment. One keyboard was ruined, the other worked but only for about a month. I've heard other successful keyboard in dishwasher stories though.

[Hack&Lube]

Hey guys, he has a laptop. A lot of the solutions posted won't be easy for somebody with a laptop.

Usually for the cable strip there is a little brown latch or something else you pull or push up that unlocks the ribbon strip. If you can't get the ribbon out, you could pull off the individual keys and wash with rubbing alochol but the sticky part is probably on the spring/contact.

[CubicleGeek]

I spilt apple juice all over my desktop keyboard last year and i just let it dry and kept using it. Eventually the gunk dries and chips off with use. It took months though.

[Gozer]

If you can pop off the keys (I know you can with a desktop keyboard) then pop off all the relevant keys and wash them by hand. Wipe down the remnants of the keyboard, replace the keys (you may want to have a website up to reference) and you're good to go.

I spilled chocolate milk all over my keyboard in a gaming stoner-haze and the whole keyboard would depress if I touched a single key. It was pretty cool (at least while high).
I did the above with no ill-effects.

[The Fonz]

Well I took off all of the keys and scrubbed with Qtips last night, it seems to have worked. Except for my BackSpace key, it still sucks pretty bad.

Oh well, I guess I'll just quit fixing my spelling mistakes. The grammar police are going to be all over me from now on...

[ricosuave]

dont use tap water, try and get distilled if you can

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

dont use tap water, try and get distilled if you can

Oops...too late. And my keys are starting to fudge up again...

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Oops...too late. And my keys are starting to fudge up again...

Did you clean the "tray" under they keys?

[The Fonz]

Well they aren't toooo bad....I guess I'll just keep typing away and hope the sticking problem gets better with time.

Atleast my buddy got me a case of beer, so now I'm not so mad about it.

[FanIn80]

Ha! Fozzie beat me to it...