PowerBook: cookie crumb problem

Fidelio · #1 November 24th, 2005, 04:24 PM

A few weeks ago, I ate some cookies while watching Seinfeld episodes on my PowerBook... Unfortunately some of the crumbs got stuck under the keys so that I can hardly press these keys now. I tried to suck them away with a vacuum cleaner and then I demounted the keyboard. But the problem is, that all the keys are connected on some kind of elastic pad. And even if you demount the keyboard, you still can't reach the spaces in the middle of the keyboard...

If you have any ideas please let me know.

Lt Major Burns · #2 November 25th, 2005, 06:54 AM

canned air? (oxygen in an aerosol, to spray high pressured air into small gaps to remove stuff like that) you can get it at most hardware stores.

symphonix · #3 November 25th, 2005, 08:46 AM

Is it the backlit keyboard? If not, then you should be able to remove the keys without damaging by carefully and gently popping them off from the left or right side. Start at the end of the top row and work progressively across and outward. You might want to skip the really large keys, such as Enter and the space bar, as these are pretty fiddly to fit. The keys can be clicked back on after you have finished cleaning. Be sure to take your time.

dmetzcher · #4 November 26th, 2005, 02:22 AM

The guy at the Apple store had to remove my spacebar before and used a small, plastic tool that's flat on one end like a flathead screwdriver. It's called a spudger, and it's designed so that you can pry apart plastic parts (like the cases of iBooks and such) without damaging them. If you want to be extra careful, you can pick one of these up.

Fidelio · #5 November 26th, 2005, 10:05 AM

I tried to pry up some of the keys to make the shift button work again. The good news is: it really does work again now. The bad news is: the keys are connected to the keyboard mat through a very damagable mechanism of extremely sensitive plastic parts.
That's why three of those plastic thingies are damaged now so that I can't reattach the space bar as well as the F3 and F4 keys. You cannot believe how pissed off I am - I paid about 1600 € for a higher end laptop and now it's a pain in the ass to use it because of some shitty badly designed plastic parts that cost a fraction of a cent.
But
1) I won't send it to Apple because it's my only PC and I need it every day.
2) I won't pay over a 100 $ to replace this keyboard with another one of the same kind

However, I like the design of this third-party drop-in replacement keyboard:
http://www.fingerworks.com/MacNTouch_product.html

Because
- you can't get particles or liquids into the keyboard
- you don't have the sensitive plastic part mechanism

But unfortunately the company stopped business and I'm hesitant to buy a used one from ebay.

Any ideas?