Apple keyboard malfunctioning

Hello there

I bought a USB Apple Keyboard years ago but I never actually used it a lot, it was always in its box and whenever I used it I'd clean it with cotton and alcohol and maintain its white appearance and avoid it from becoming yellowish.

The thing is, I've recently started noticing a weird problem with it. I usually connect it to either my MacBook Pro or Sony Vaio and use it as the main keyboard, and it works perfectly fine for about ten minutes but then it starts pressing the Alt button its own. Of course when the ALT button is held, a lot of things are screwed as in opening and closing windows, typing, and such and therefore it becomes unusable. Even when I unplug the keyboard, the computer would still act as though the ALT is behind held and I'd have to log off and back on or reboot it so it would function probably.

At first I thought maybe it was an issue with my Vaio (which was highly unlikely anyway) and then I purchased a Genius keyboard and it never made those problems.

The Apple Keyboard came with a USB extension cable so it would be longer which I am using, could that be the issue? I have honestly not tried connecting it without the extension cable and trying (stupid, I know, I just thought of it), but I will and will let you know how it goes. In all honesty, though, I have a feeling it is the keyboard itself and was wondering if that would be a paperweight or if there are any troubleshooting steps I could perform? I know it's not too expensive, but then again I am never buying another Apple Keyboard in the near future and I hate to see something I paid good money for (it costs double and almost triples its price over here in Egypt than abroad) go to waste like that.

Thanks guys

Update: I just plugged it in without the extension cable and the problem happened immediately (seems like it gets worse by time, lol). If you'd press the TAB button, for instance, it'd switch between windows (meaning the ALT button is being held). Is there any way to remove the ALT buttons on the keyboard, for instance, and clean them and what is underneath them?

Doubt any of this is the problem - but I'd check them all out - link.

Then google "replace key Apple keyboard" - plenty of tutorials for taking off and putting keys back on out there.

Thanks for your reply. I came across a couple of videos and I am going to give it a shot now.

I know this is a pretty old thread but I forgot about that keyboard until I came across it yesterday and of course it still does have that extremely annoying problem. I took out a lot of keys (especially the ones malfunctioning) and cleaned and reinstalled them but for some reason it is still happening. Do you think this could be more of an electrical problem than a physical one caused by dirt for instance? Should I just throw this keyboard away? Thanks.

To me what is sounds like is some of the Alcohol got in there on the thin board and did damage. Seen that happen and with that thin metal Keyboard it does not take much.