Acer netbook - a bit of water damage - keyboard not working...question...

Hey guys -

My girlfriend was holding her cat and acer aspire one netbook a few weeks ago, and the cat jumped out and scratched her, so she accidentally dropped the netbook, right into the cat's bowl of water.

I let it dry out and all of course. It actually wouldnt recognize the hard drive until i let it sit longer, and now everything is working fine, EXCEPT the keyboard. Doesn't work at all.

I decided to buy a replacement keyboard - found one for under 15 bucks brand new - and received it in the mail today. I installed it, and still not working.

So obviously, it wasnt the keyboard itself (which i pretty much assumed in the first place, but took a chance at the low risk of only losing 15 bucks).

My question is - how many options on the motherboard could be damaged to the point the keyboard isnt working? Could it be something that could have developed a film that just needs cleaning? Like maybe the port the ribbon cable plugs into, or the leads coming off the port that are soldered to the mobo? Just wondering if maybe someone here has any ideas. Google wasn't much help.

Thanks guys!

 

The only contact the keyboard has with the motherboard is the ribbon cable so that would be the logical place to start. But my guess is that those contacts have been filmed over somehow - I used to use stuff called Electrolube but I should think isopropyl alcohol cleaner would also work. Also the ribbon might not be inserted far enough.

PS I know from experience that the plastic clip which secures the cable is easy to flip off by accident (fortunately it's not that hard to get them back in place but it's a bit fiddly if you have big fingers also u have to figure out which way round it goes!).

 

I would check the socket where the keyboard ribbon goes with a meter for power.

 

Maybe it is still drying out ?

Possibly there is still water in the keyboard cable connector. As you clearly now know where that is and how it works try a blast of air into the ribbon cable recess before carefully reseating the cable and re-locking the cable.

(However - sorry if this is not relevant - if you just pulled the ribbon cable out without un-locking the keyboard socket (90% have a lock clip, hinge or wedge that releases, flips or eases out a bit) then you will have damages the ribbon cable and it wont make contact properly. Open the socket properly, clean out the debris and source a new ribbon cable)

Generally however a keyboard with a connector short or fault that looks like stuck keys etc will make the PC bleep at boot up.

Please try plugging in an external USB keyboard to at least partly eliminate the fault actually being in the keyboard controller on the main board (and possibly restore some usability0

Regarding 'power on the keyboard socket' unless you or Bronsky or ideally both can be sure what you are testing for (with the laptop power on FGS) and have a steady hand and pin sized meter probes I would skip this for now as a slip that ends up shorting the power will write off the motherboard unless board repairs and micro soldering is your trade .

There is no harm in carefully cleaning the cable ends with IPA but unless the 'tinned' part of the cable end is very dirty I would be very surprised if it improved much in this case

 

If you can't trace power with a meter, close up the unit and take it to the local repair guy who can. It's not that hard. A decent repairman can have the keyboard off and the test completed in 10 min. That way you know what you're dealing with.

Bronsky

 

Thanks guys -

I actually am the local repair man haha.

That is why i am baffled. I think you guys might have missed the fact that i purchased a new keyboard, which has a completely new ribbon cable on it, so the ribbon cable itself cannot be damaged

A USB keyboard works, but i'm not sure what you were suggesting that would prove? I would think a USB keyboard is controlled by completely a different controller than what controls the keyboard that connects to the ribbon cable.

As far as a multimeter, i guess the thought just didnt cross my mind to check. While i'm not sure which of the 20+ leads coming off the ribbon connector itself is a the 5v (or whatever live v powers the keyboard), but i suppose i can just check each out and see if any of them are giving me a read.

Ill check that out as soon as i return back home to florida tomorrow. I am up on a networking job up in virginia right now.

Oh, and as far as it not being dried out completely yet, i'm not sure that's a possibility. I mentioned in my OP that it had been a few weeks, but realistically, its probably been closer to a month-month and a half. But I don't really have anything narrow enough to really force enough air through the narrow connector. I usually use a shop vac to blow out desktop cases, but i avoid compressed canned air (air duster) around motherboards at all costs.

Ill let you guys know how to multimeter plays out. Would the leads coming off the connector to the motherboard be the only thing I should test? Or does anyone else know of any other 5v leads that may be powering the keyboard around the connector that could be the culprit?

To be honest, i'd really be surprised if anything shorted. That's why I haven't really bothered to test it. In my experience and to my knowledge, freshwater will not usually short a component unless the laptop is plugged it and/or on while wet. The laptop was off, and i immediately removed the battery when this happened, and didn't not turn it on for over a week of drying.


I guess worst case scenario, beings that i cannot find any sign of water damage whatsoever from any water damage indicators, film, etc on the motherboard, the netbook is still under warranty, and i can try to get away with sending it in and hope acer also does not find any signs, and fixes it.

**EDIT: Here are a couple pictures i just took for you guys in case it helps to see my particular connector.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4

 

Oh ok. Dont have one of these so not sure if the flat cable integral or not

It is more a case of it would be very interesting if the USB keyboard didn't work . . with the KB out of action it was unclear how much you had been able to test the rest of the functionality. Also connecting the external KB would have let you check if the internal trackpad worked ok if not already tested - it usually shares the same MB controller chip so would tell if that had failed totally.

Regarding fresh water . . while not as destructive as salt water, beer etc if somehow manages to interfere with the workings of most electronic devices. Depending on the MB construction there can be multi layers that are porous enough to malfunction for weeks after the surface is dry. you cleaerly did the right thing leaving it to dry off though

Would be surprised if Acer dont have some moisture detecting stickers in there somewhere . .

 

I guess I should have mentioned that she has been using the netbook for the past few weeks since it happened (not the first week-2 weeks after it first happened while it was drying out, though). It works 100% perfect minus the keyboard. Nothing else is even slightly malfunctioning. Trackpad, mouse buttons, internal components, webcam, hard drive, etc all work with no problems whatsoever. Just the keyboard.

The netbook is actually a little strange. I was very careful while opening it, to make sure i was not tearing or tampering with any "void warranty" stickers whatsoever. I was able to disassemble the entire netbook without coming across a single sticker that would give sign that the laptop has been opened. Ive never seen a laptop that does not have a tamper evident sticker. On top of that, i scanned the motherboard and casing over and over and was not able to find a single water damage/moisture detecting sticker/marker/etc whatsoever. No discoloration anywhere, no film, no anything. I have repaired thousands of laptops (no exaggeration whatsoever) over the past 7+ years in the area so i have a least somewhat of an eye for it (in other words, i do know what i'm looking for) unless there is some sort of new technology for detecting moisture that I am unaware of (which is always a possibility).

I am definitely no "know it all" or anything of the like. I just have never been presented with a situation like this, and i'm not afraid that asking for help or ideas will "hurt" my ego like some ridiculous people tend to be, hehe. I'm just baffled. And in the chance that acer does have a way of detecting moisture that I am unaware about, i'm hoping with the help of the NBR community, we can figure this out So thank you everyone so far for the help and ideas!!

 

Just looking at the pictures. Blurry . . . but looks like the "ease the black wedge bit out a mm to release" type and it looks like that is exactly what you have done.

I think some makers have given up on warranty stickers. Dell certainly have on recent ones. Moisture stickers . . well they are usually pretty evident and would absolutely be at least one beneath the keyboard area. Hard to differentiate between water and tropical air though so also going out of fashion a bit (but not on phones where every get out is tried "Oh no . . you breathed moisture into it! WOW)

If you can return it under warranty I would definitely try it. Not enough service information to attempt a board repair so if they swap it I would just be grateful.

Otherwise as I said the trackpad and keyboard will share a controller chip so unless there is a visible fault between the connector and the chip you just have to assume the water upset the CMOS. If you are in the business you could try finding and cleaning round / resoldering / swapping the microcontroller chip (KB926 quite often doing trackpad, Keyboard and BIOS ROM) but I would get a warranty reponse first as we all have that "not the first one looking round here" sense when faced with a "failed repair attempt"