What makes my keyboard work? Is it the Motherboard?

blue_monkey_2

My daughter has spilt water on her Acer One Netbook. I posted a message about this last week as the left mouse button was 'stuck' someone suggested I disabled the mouse pad and use a mouse, and this worked great.

However, since doing that we have found that a few of the buttons do not work - the delete button for one.

What part is it that makes the keyboard work on these netbooks, I have emailed a few sellers of parts for these but not a single one has got back to me.

I called someone who repairs PC's when the mousepad was not working and he said it was the motherboard straightaway - however, we did get the mouse working so I've lost confidence in him doing it.

Can someone that knows about computers advise some more, please. Thank you.

scheming_gypsy

with laptops the keyboard is connected to the motherboard by a ribbon cable. If you have a problem with the keyboard the easiest way to try and resolve it is to buy a new keyboard and fit it yourself. Although it depends on where the fault is, yes the motherboard controls it and makes it work but it's removable and replaceable if it's the actual keyboard that's at fault.

cit_k

Fault could lie on either the motherboard, or the keyboard (or rarely software).
Cheapest option is to try a keyboard, if it does not fix the problem, its likely to be the motherboard.

Laptops generally (but may not have) also tend to have the touchpad connected to the motherboard via a cable.

closed

remove battery, power, and keyboard and make sure it is dried out properly, there may be some water lurking in the ribbon cable/membrane/innards, but it should have dried out after so long.

Eric_Pisch

you could test it with a cheap usb keyboard

blue_monkey_2

Thanks everyone for the input - that is most helpful. I will speak to my husband and ask him to take it apart tonight.

Eric, thanks, this is what we did with the mouse and plugged a USB one in. Can you tell me how I 'disable' the keyboard please. I found the mouse/pointers - is it in the same place?

Now I have to get into the back of 'the cupboard' and get the keyboard...... I might be a while, it is where I harbour 'my stuff for selling on eBay'. LOL.

NeverAgain_2

When I spilt a tiny amount of Coke on my laptop it shorted something underneath.

I'm no expert, but I took the whisper of smoke which emerged from between the keys as a strong sign all was not well, which it wasn't.

Little did I know when I bought that bottle of Coke it would cost me a new laptop.

WhiteChristmas

Handy guide to dismantling the AAOne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EfzckyZMTk

Word of warning - when I did my wife's, I found the retaining bar on the ribbon cable connector for the keyboard to be very, very fragile. Be gentle with it.

Was the spillage really water? Water usually dries out from keyboards without problems - it's the dried coffee/cola residues that cause the problems. That said, if it's just the odd key that's on the blink, it's very likely to be a keyboard rather than motherboard problem.

blue_monkey_2

NeverAgain wrote: »

When I spilt a tiny amount of Coke on my laptop it shorted something underneath.

I'm no expert, but I took the whisper of smoke which emerged from between the keys as a strong sign all was not well, which it wasn't.

Little did I know when I bought that bottle of Coke it would cost me a new laptop.

Well, she isn't getting a new laptop!

If she gets anything it'll be a new motherboard or 2nd hand one for her birthday and Xmas present. She thought it was funny that it was broken and we told her it would cost a lot of money to fix - she just assumed that she could use one of the others in the house whenever she wanted and that would be the end of that. I have said she will not be unless it is something specifically for homework for school. Only then can she use one of the others as she has broken something expensive because she did not listen to the rules we imposed for using it and treated it like a cheap toy. I've lost count of the number of times it has been left balancing somewhere to get dropped on the floor. And then a few days ago she dropped her brothers because she left it on the edge of the chair.

It wasn't so funny last night when she wanted to use her brothers to play on and I said no. Maybe she will look after it better next time but I am not getting her a brand new one again as she will not look after it. We got these from Tesco when they were heavily reduced so we only paid about £100 for it new but that is not the point really.

blue_monkey_2

WhiteChristmas wrote: »

Handy guide to dismantling the AAOne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EfzckyZMTk

Word of warning - when I did my wife's, I found the retaining bar on the ribbon cable connector for the keyboard to be very, very fragile. Be gentle with it.

Was the spillage really water? Water usually dries out from keyboards without problems - it's the dried coffee/cola residues that cause the problems. That said, if it's just the odd key that's on the blink, it's very likely to be a keyboard rather than motherboard problem.

Thanks for this, yes, I'll have a look later on this morning and see just how many keys are affected. She used it for a while before finding that one of the keys did not work so I'd assume it was just the odd key.

It was water (thankfully - in a way), we put it in the airing cupboard for a couple of weeks and found the left mouse button was 'stuck' but it still clicked, I managed to disable that and she had a USB mouse.

A job for my hubby then - he will be pleased.

closed

could always use the on screen keyboard, osk.exe