12-18-2011, 01:07 PM

Hi This afternoon I spilt coffee over the right hand side of my Ibook G4 keyboard while I was using it. I pulled the power cable out and also the battery, and ran off to the kitchen for paper towels, pulled the keyboard out and dabbed as much coffee up as I could. Unplugged the airport card, and removed the metal cover that sits under it. Didn't seem to have any Nescafe in there, so put it all back together, and turned machine on its right hand side, like you do with a drowning person. Some dribbles came out. Put battery back in, switched on... and have found that trackpad/mouse arrow won't work. So nipped down to local shop, bought a cheap mac compatible usb mouse, which works OK, and have now found that the Enter/Return key won't work. Does anyone know if there is an alternate key sequence I can use to execute the command that Press Return normally does ?. I'm using the Ibook right now. As its pretty old, I guess it's not really worth trying to repair. However, if i can get it sort of useable, that gives me a chance for a leisurely consideration of my options, rather than an immediate purchase of something else. Thank you

12-18-2011, 01:14 PM

You could set up alternative keys, but like my MacBook which nearly died last week after a coffee spill (don't laugh forum members, I shouldn't have held a paper coffee cup in my mouth - well, go on laugh anyway!), if you can detach the keyboard from the machine....

Installing iBook G4 14" 933 MHz-1.33 GHz Keyboard - iFixit

You can give it a good wash in mildly warm lightly soapy water. Give it a good day in a warm place to dry out and it should work fine, certainly fixed the power button on my keyboard - which was why I thought my MacBook had indeed died as a result of my coffee foolishness