I did a dumb and now some keys aren't working.

Hi everyone, I have 2 issues here. Issue 1 has to do with fans. Issue 2 is the keyboard.

I have been enjoying my M15X which I have had since November 2010, but recently have been having problems mostly with the fans not working or something. (It gets up to 85 celsius when just idling on the desktop and if I dare to play any video game, it gets to 95 or higher, at which point it auto shuts off. I have a fan control program "HWiNFO64" where I crank the fans up to 6000RPM because they otherwise will be Fan 1 at 4200 and Fan 2 at 4700, always, no matter how hot it gets they don't respond by increasing their own speed. I have opened up the case and dusted it out a little but that doesn't seem to be the issue... I am hesitating to take it in to the nearest place because they said "Even though the fan only costs $15, it will cost you at least $200 in labor & check-in to fix". So I am considering maybe just buying a cooling pack or something...

Anyways, the biggest problem right now is that I was clumsy the other day and spilled water all over the keyboard. I have learned my lesson to now not leave drinks near it where I can knock them over easily. The computer was plugged in to AC power but turned off, and was open. The water was almost a full glass and I would say at least 4 cups of filtered water got all over the keyboard. I immediately unplugged it and dried it off with a paper towel, removed the battery, turned upside down and left it alone for a couple days. First time I turned it on it sat at the Alienhead logo for a while, then went to a blank screen and made horrible high volume beeps constantly. I looked online and someone with a similar symptom said it was a stuck key. Left it alone for another couple days, and it now works! Hurray! All the LED lights are white but one of the front vents is purple.. poor thing.. it looks like it has a black eye.

Except that most of the left side keys are not working. Left shift, caps lock, ctrl, fn, windows, alt, a, d, f, c, x, z, w... etc. None of them are working.

I currently have a crappy cheap walmart USB keyboard plugged in, but would really like my laptop to continue to be a *lap*top!

Is it possible to buy an Alienware keyboard and replace it directly on the laptop? if keys aren't working would that even help at all? Or do I need to take it in and have them mess with circuitry or something? Do websites sell Alienware M15X keyboards? Is it possible for a 19 year old chick who is software savvy but not very hardware savvy to replace the keyboard herself or would that be a bad idea?

Thanks for any help. The keyboard issue is my biggest concern right now. The temps are easy to watch and I can just turn it off and let it calm down for a while.. but the keys are not possible to get around and I don't enjoy using this USB keyboard.

 

Well, I'm not one to offer any technical advice, but I do know that you can get the keyboard replaced... One of my friends who used to have an M15X (before he sold it) did the same kind of thing... except it was a can of Red bull... The entire left side was stuck... Anyway, he just called Dell up and they replaced it for him...

Sorry I can't of more help.

 

Well for your temps issue i would suggest a repaste and here is a link to replace your keyboard. I would recommend that you search youtube for the m15x teardown videos, it should help with the keyboard replacement. Just look over the videos to get familiar with the process. And hopefully this gets your issues fixed. If you need further help or question, feel free to ask