Macbook 2010 Unibody (Some) Keys Not Working

Hello there.

The other day I squirted contact solution underneath my Macbook White 2010 model to help solve a squeaky space bar problem. This fixed the problem, however about a half hour after my keyboard started acting bizarre. It started with my number keys also activating the key below it whenever I pressed it (ex. I'd hit the one key the q key would hit, I'd hit the 2 key the w key would hit etc.). This soon stopped and not long after a bunch of my keys stopped working. My left command, x, s, w, 2, brightness up, esc, and tab key will not register. I have formatted my hard drive, reinstalled Snow Leopard, and updated it all up (I had Lion prior), and the same problem persists. I took off some keys and noticed nothing amiss (the day after I squirted the solvent), and then went and unscrewed my bottom panel to see if anything was obviously wrong. I noticed a little bit of moisture on the top right corner of the battery.. I quickly dried this off. But other than this I don't know what to do. It's obviously a hardware problem and I've already looked into replacing the keyboard but it will be incredibly costly and I just don't have the money right now. I don't know exactly how these keyboards work but it can't be a coincidence that a row of keys doesn't work like that.

If ANYONE can offer ANY suggestions as to what I should do from here I would be ever so grateful. I have a feeling this will require me to replace the keyboard... and if that's the case some links to where I could get some help with that would be spectacular.

Thanks a bunch guys!

That's what's known as a self inflicting wound. Never squirt anything on the keyboard except dry compressed air from a blower or can. If you're lucky, replacing the keyboard will solve it. Just hope no contact cleaner (which by the way is conductive) got on your logic board. You might also want to read through our Sticky notice regarding spills which is at the top of this forum.

You may be able to buy a new keyboard from iFixit: The free repair manual. They also have step by step instructions on to do the work yourself. If they don't have the keyboard try Mac Repair - Mac Parts and Service for Apple Macbook, iPhone, iPad.