I have an A4TECH X7 PS2 Keyboard in which (in attempts of cleaning) have lightly brushed it with soap and water solution everywhere. I left it to dry overnight under really hot weather. Then found it to be working extremely well with absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Into the future we go and the keyboard now after several days (without spilling liquids or harming it in any way), has several keys not working. Incl: Esc, Tab, Q, `, Z, and 1. (Which were obviously typed in by the On-Screen Keyboard Utility).

So like any sane person would do I gave it several more days sunbath. To come to the surprise that it works again (Cheered at the top of my lungs), only for the keys to inconsistently press and hold (in some games that you'd need to hold Q for example) and later on a few secs later the keys have stopped, then revived, then stopped once more.

What to do? I'm sure this is no water problem since I've left it probably 4 days and it still has tendencies.

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2 Answers

This probably is an issue with water...

Many keyboards have a two plastic layers with conductive traces and pads on them, separated by a third plastic layer with holes under each key (to allow contact). When you then press the key, the two outer layers come into contact with each other, and complete the circuit - a very small movement. See picture below.

It sounds like you used quite a bit of water to 'wash' your keyboard... which isn't really an advisable method. It is highly probable that the water has crept into this three-layer stack (possibly in part due to capillary action).

Unfortunately once the water is in, it is very tricky to get out without separating the layers and gently wiping / drying them. It is quite likely that even leaving the keyboard in the sun for a long time will not get all of the water out.

The presence of water can make it appear that the keys are 'always pressed' (and may then be ignored by the keyboard's controller), and it's also possible that the water could act as a catalyst for corrosion.

I would recommend that you take the keyboard apart, and remove any water (it's not a tricky thing to do... just be careful that you don't tear any of the layers).

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I mentioned that the keyboard's controller may ignore keys that are 'always pressed'... Due to the way that the keys are wired, this can have additional (and unexpected) behaviours, such as preventing other keys from working. Look into Key Rollover for more info.

2

You should never use any aqueous solution to clean your keyboard. As Attie says, there is probably water lurking between the layers.

To recover from this, you could try rinsing the keyboard with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and allowing it to dry thoroughly. The alcohol forms a low-boiling azeotrope with water, and will remove the last bits of water as it evaporates.

The technique in Attie's answer could save your keyboard, but you might try this one first since it doesn't require disassembly.

Edit: Most OTC rubbing alcohol is cut with water (often as much as 30%). Those won't help. Buy pure, or nearly pure, alcohol.

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