PC playing up.

[Matt]

Keyboard repair is often possible but for it to be economically worthwhile you need
1 a quite expensive keyboard
2 your time to be worth very little.

https://www.casetac.com/index.php?route ... anguage=en

Cheap new keyboard, problem solved

Of course if it's on a laptop then replacing a keyboard can be as time consuming as repairing it but there's still no guarantees.

[Tony Williams]

I stopped relying on laptops for most purposes after mine failed to recover from an application of white wine.

This kind of thing must happen a lot, I was surprised that the manufacturers don't include a liquid-proof membrane between the keys and the innards. I suppose they're quite happy to see the extra business generated by the need to buy replacement laptops.

[Tinkerbell]

Maybe I can claim on the house insurance.....I am surprised that I have never thrown wine over it actually.

[Zep]

Most modern keyboards, laptop and separate, are designed to be proof against most spillages (the worst is warm cola - sugar and acid!).

Laptop keyboards can indeed be cleaned and work like new, but this needs to be done carefully. The first step is to find out if and how the keyboard comes off. In some models, removing the keyboard is necessary to add more memory, replace hard disks, etc, so they should be easy enough. Often they are screwed through from the back.

Next, the keyboard itself will be made of plastic with the keys clicked on top. These can usually be removed for cleaning, but I highly recommend taking a photo of the keyboard first so you can put all the keys back in the right place afterwards.

Next, when you clean, use distilled water and a cotton-bud only (pros use a very fine high-speed water jet). You will be surprised at the gunk that can be removed! Let it dry thoroughly before reassembly.

Last, reassemble carefully. Remember that pic of the key layout you took? Now is the time to refer to it...you DID take a pic, didn't you?

[Tinkerbell]

Most modern keyboards, laptop and separate, are designed to be proof against most spillages (the worst is warm cola - sugar and acid!).

Laptop keyboards can indeed be cleaned and work like new, but this needs to be done carefully. The first step is to find out if and how the keyboard comes off. In some models, removing the keyboard is necessary to add more memory, replace hard disks, etc, so they should be easy enough. Often they are screwed through from the back.

Next, the keyboard itself will be made of plastic with the keys clicked on top. These can usually be removed for cleaning, but I highly recommend taking a photo of the keyboard first so you can put all the keys back in the right place afterwards.

Next, when you clean, use distilled water and a cotton-bud only (pros use a very fine high-speed water jet). You will be surprised at the gunk that can be removed! Let it dry thoroughly before reassembly.

Last, reassemble carefully. Remember that pic of the key layout you took? Now is the time to refer to it...you DID take a pic, didn't you?

Thanks, Zep. I have located some screws underneath but not sure if I dare...maybe I can live without a pee :)

[Zep]

Most modern keyboards, laptop and separate, are designed to be proof against most spillages (the worst is warm cola - sugar and acid!).

Laptop keyboards can indeed be cleaned and work like new, but this needs to be done carefully. The first step is to find out if and how the keyboard comes off. In some models, removing the keyboard is necessary to add more memory, replace hard disks, etc, so they should be easy enough. Often they are screwed through from the back.

Next, the keyboard itself will be made of plastic with the keys clicked on top. These can usually be removed for cleaning, but I highly recommend taking a photo of the keyboard first so you can put all the keys back in the right place afterwards.

Next, when you clean, use distilled water and a cotton-bud only (pros use a very fine high-speed water jet). You will be surprised at the gunk that can be removed! Let it dry thoroughly before reassembly.

Last, reassemble carefully. Remember that pic of the key layout you took? Now is the time to refer to it...you DID take a pic, didn't you?

Thanks, Ze. I have located some screws underneath but not sure if I dare...maybe I can live without a pee

RTFM - Read the fine manual! ;-)

[Asthmatic Camel]

Most laptop keyboards are fairly easy to replace, (I fix them for people sometimes), and there are stacks of youtube videos showing how. If you've never done it before, take a pic or make a drawing of every step you take for reference, and tape every screw next to the hole it came from. Make sure the machine is unplugged and the battery is removed and earth yourself by touching something like a metal radiator pipe before taking the case apart and you should be fine. You can normally find replacements on eBay for around £20, depending on the machine. The only fiddly bit is connecting the keyboard ribbon to the motherboard, (check those youtube vids to see how the connectors work). Toothpicks are a handy, non-metallic makeshift tool for flipping them open and closed.

[Tony Williams]

In my case, the problem wasn't the keyboard as such - the liquid went straight through to the innards and thoroughly corrupted them. Of course, this had to happen the morning I went on holiday for a couple of weeks, and by the time I got back it was too late.

Some years later I managed to spill something on my Mac's keyboard but this time I first held it upside down and shook it to get any loose liquid out, then applied a hair dryer to it for a while. It was fine after that.

[Asthmatic Camel]

Ouch! Once liquid's got through to the motherboard you're looking at serious money for quite a tricky repair. Unless you enjoy messing around with them, (I do), it's usually not worth the effort; get a new one and sell the old one for spares. I wouldn't know about Macs as I'm a tightarse and won't pay their prices.

[Ketchup]

I came across this link by sheer accident, but might explain why so many people seem to be experiencing big problems with their computers just recently. (A friend of mine's crashed and completely packed up few weeks ago and she didn't know why ... wasn't that old either. She's got a brand new one now).

I suppose it depends on whether you have your comp set to update windows automatically, or not. 'Not' seems the safest bet, going by the problems reported in this latest update error issue:
(Check out the comments)

From PC Advisor site ("Expert advice you can trust")

Microsoft is telling users to uninstall its August update for Windows. Here's how to uninstall the Windows update

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/windo ... ou-should/

[Tony Williams]

I'm pleased to say that my internet connection is back to rude health (no, nothing to do with porn

This is only after weeks of hassle, though. Brace yourselves:

The phone line checked out OK (according to BT) so I decided that the most likely source of my woes was the router, which was something like ten years old. So I bought a new router, but couldn't make it connect without entering a username and password from my ISP.

Unfortunately, when I contacted what I thought was my ISP they had no record of my existence. Some more digging revealed that the monthly sum I used to pay for this service hadn't been collected for some years, during which time my original ISP had been bought up - twice over.

So I decided to get a new ISP, and that it would be simpler to get a combined deal from BT who already provided my phone. Everything when swimmingly until BT informed me that there was a "tag" on my phone line preventing its use by any ISP other than the one which had placed the tag there, and I needed a MAC code from my ISP to remove the tag. So I asked them to check the identity of my ISP and discovered to my amazement that it was a company I had stopped using long ago, and which had since been taken over (two or three times).

So I got in touch with the current owners of the old ISP and discovered (you can see this coming) that they had no record of me so they couldn't give me a MAC number. A perfect Catch-22.


Desperate appeals to BT followed as I drove my way through layer after layer of their bureaucracy, explaining again and again what the problem was and trying to control my temper as each person blithely said "oh, you just need a MAC number from your old ISP". This finally bore fruit when (purely by making myself such a damn nuisance that people kept passing me up the chain) I managed to get through to their Holy of Holies, the lair of the Chosen Ones, the Keepers of the Flame, Those Who Cannot Be Contacted directly by phone or email - you have to be passed on to them by the Gatekeepers.

The Chosen One who picked up my case (actually, a nice chap called Graham - Christian names only, obviously, and possibly false) examined my problem and advised me that the only solution was to terminate my phone line, reinstate it (requiring a new number), then change the number back to the old one (if someone else hadn't grabbed it first) and then install the BT broadband link.

So I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers and said unto him, "yea, so it shall be done".

And lo and behold it was done, all that had been promised, very promptly and efficiently

However - when I returned from several days abroad (during which time the broadband had been activitated) I received an error message when I tried to connect to the internet with my old router (which I thought I'd better try first since it was still working, however badly). So I plugged in the new router instead and was, once more, asked for my ISP's user name and password. I tried to check the right BT number to call by using my iPad (which has a phone link) only to discover that something had happened to the mobile phone coverage and I couldn't connect at all. :a2

At this point I started mentally calculating what size of sack I would need to carry all of my computing-and-internet related gubbins down to the reservoir and chuck it into the deepest point. However, as a final despairing effort I tried BT's general helpline which put me through to India, where an initially puzzled gentleman (he told me it should be plug-and-play) made some enquiries and came back with the requisite information. I didn't let him end the call until I had tried it - and it worked!

IT WORKED!!!

...and is now much faster than it's ever been.

[bindeweede]

That is quite a saga, Tony. Glad it has been sorted satisfactorily.

You might be interested in this site - you can monitor the daily changes in your up and down speeds.

http://www.speedtest.net/

[Matt]

IT WORKED!!!

...and is now much faster than it's ever been.

So if anyone has similar problems, all they have to do is replace their router, their phone line and their ISP.

Reminds me I'm moving house next month.

[Tony Williams]

So if anyone has similar problems,

Judging by BT's baffled/incredulous response at all levels, my problems were somewhat unusual

[Zep]

So if anyone has similar problems,

Judging by BT's baffled/incredulous response at all levels, my problems were somewhat unusual

Suggestion: Take up pigeon-racing. They may turn out to be faster than your next carrier...