TZ-195N: Spilled Coke on Keyboard, Need help getting keys unstuck

So I'm flying from St. Louis to Chicago O'Hare and just as I ordered that coke I knew I shouldn't have, we hit pretty good turbulence. In something out of a high school physics text book question scenario, the plane dropped something like 20 feet instantly, my cup was in my hand, I was strapped to the seat via seat belt, and the coke was hovering in mid air in front of my face for a brief second. The coke hit the overhead above me, and then rained down on me, the guy next to me and all over the keyboard of my brand new (2 week old) VAIO.

I was at a point of very low battery anyways, so I turned it off and dryed it off as best as I could. There was coke inside the connector area when I pulled the battery off. When I tried to turn it back on, the green power light would come on but nothing would happen on the screen. Needless to say I was extremely upset and angry last night on my way to the hotel. The guy sitting next to me on the plane (who also got a good portion of the coke on him), recommended I turn it over and dry it out for the night. So I did that by opening the screen up all the way and this morning I plugged it into the AC power cord and it started up.

So that was absolutely awesome to see. However, now I've got some sticky keys on this things and I can't see a way to pop these keys off to clean them. Can anyone help me out here?

 

I would have left it to dry for at least a week before turning it back on.

I just finished cleaning out a friends SONY FE who spillt a very thick medicine type liquid onto his keyboard. Had to take the whole thing completely apart and clean it out manually. Inside was corrosion on the chip metal connecters on the mainboard and other metal parts. Your probably going to have to dissasemble the TZ to clean out the keys properly. I had to pull out and clean each keyboard key one by one to get it fully clean and not stick.

Since its coke some of the the sticky resdue will remain inside the TZ if it seeped in. Depending on how Coke (and you shouldn`t be drinking/eating near a laptop anyways -> get keyboard protector) you spilt you can probably clean it yourself or get sony to do it for $$$. I would say your on borrowed time and very lucky it still works.

 

If you're not worried about voiding warranty (which you probably did by spilling Coke in the first place), see if you can remove the entire keyboard assembly. Then go to a drugstore and buy the highest percentage alcohol you can. Don't get the ordinary 70% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol -- you want as close to pure alcohol as you can get, like 91% or 99%. I know Wal-Mart here sells 91%, but if you can find higher, get it. The lower percentage stuff has moisturizers in it for use on skin so you don't dry out as much, and that leaves a whitish film behind.

Get a shallow pan or basin that the keyboard will fit in, and pour enough alcohol to completely submerge the keyboard. Depending on the size of the dish, it might take a lot of alcohol (more than a bottle, if you bought a small bottle, but alcohol is cheap).

Let it soak overnight at least. The alcohol is a mild solvent that will dissolve and loosen the soda residue and most other organic residue (like crumbs). If your keyboard was dirty, you'll find all sorts of gunk floating in the alcohol the next day. Then remove it from the alcohol, shake out the excess liquid, and let it sit for another few hours to evaporate the rest of the alcohol. You might blow dry it with compressed air to speed things up. Reinstall and give it a try.

I've used this trick more times than I can remember to recover electronics like cellphones, cordless phones, and TV remotes. It also works for devices that have fallen in water provided you got the battery out before major electrical damage occurred. The alcohol displaces water, then evaporates quickly, leaving the device totally dry. In every case I can remember, it worked and the device was saved.

*DISCLAIMER* Although I've had great luck with using alcohol baths to recover a variety of electronic devices from dunks and spills, of course I take no responsibility for whatever might happen with yours. Unless it works, in which case I take PayPal. Seriously though, I can't imagine it not being fine, but the risk is yours!

 

I'm so happy I trolled this post. Gona print this out and put it in the file "omg it's ruined, not". Rep added dmorris68! Sticky that!

 

Well, Dr. Strangelove, welcome to the club. In my case, an Iberia flight attendant spilled red wine on my brand-new TZ90. The keys got sticky and while the computer worked fine, I decided to ship it back to Japan via Dynamism to fix the keyboard and a bad VGA port.

Iberia is supposed to pay for the damages. I have yet to get them to respond to me, but I will get compensated one way or the other.

I now use a CooSkin keyboard cover on my TZ198 and I'm loving the fact that I have to wear a rubber around flight attendants!

 

Try dmorris68 solution, it will work. And let that be a lesson....NEVER have liquids next to expensive electronics! Esp on a plane where you can experiece turbulance!

I got my SZ61WN/C exactly a week ago, and one of my mates came round an put his can of coke next to it, I instantly asked him to place it else where just incase it did get spilled! So that I wouldn't have to post this exact thread on here!