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Laptop keyboard row not working after water spill

httq - Sep 28, 2023 at 10:56 PM
HelpiOS Posts 14291 Registration date Friday October 30, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen April 12, 2024 - Sep 30, 2023 at 12:06 PM

I have Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 that I spilled some water on last week. I waited a few days then tested it out and found that the keyboard was typing q1 w2 e3 r4 instead of q w e r for the entire row and a few keys are also not working.

I tested with an external keyboard and it worked fine so I thought I would need to replace the keyboard. Now the new keyboard is also having similar issues, although fewer keys are affected. 

I uninstalled the driver and tested on both Windows and Ubuntu (dual boot) to verify that it's not a software problem. 

Here's the keys not working on the new keyboard: q w e r t u y i p 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 turn into q1 w2 e3 so on. The column 9 o l . doesn't work at all.

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2 responses

Answer 1 / 2
HelpiOS Posts 14291 Registration date Friday October 30, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen April 12, 2024 1,891
Sep 29, 2023 at 08:59 AM

Hi,

I'm afraid that some water penetrated the motherboard... Check your motherboard for oxidation and try cleaning the keyboard connector carefully. Then make sure to reconnect properly the keyboard ribbon cable into the connector.

Good luck
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Answer 2 / 2
httq Posts 1 Registration date Thursday September 28, 2023 Status Member Last seen September 29, 2023
Sep 29, 2023 at 01:55 PM

Thank you for the reply. When I took the laptop apart I didn't see any visible water residue so I'm not sure if that's what you mean by oxidation. I would appreciate some pointers to how I can check that.

The keyboard is connected to a sub card, which in turn connects to the motherboard, so the problem could also be there, although I didn't see any signs of water damage either. 

I will check it out again with an external keyboard 
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HelpiOS Posts 14291 Registration date Friday October 30, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen April 12, 2024 1,891
Sep 30, 2023 at 12:06 PM

Inspect the motherboard (and other components) closely for any damage caused by water, like corrosion, rust or signs of discoloration. Pay attention in particular to the connectors as they are more vulnerable to corrosion.

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