17" titanium powerbook....spill.

Yeah, i know. The words "spill" and "powerbook" (or mac book) create an immediate frown.

I've had the computer for over a year and as clumsy as i am, this is the first time i've ever spilled anything on it. It was a bit of coffee, just on the keyboard section, mainly in the middle. (Thankfully most of it got on ME)

Immediately I turned the computer upside down and shook it a little. I then dried it off and examined it carefully. I swore i could see liquid droplets between a couple of keys. Everything was working fine, but (very) stupidly i took off the H and N keys to clear out the drops with a q-tip. There was nothing in there except a little dust. What I thought were drops was just glare. I replaced the keys and went about my business for 5 minutes or so...all keys were working fine. Then, suddenly, the H and N keys were not working. And they are STILL not working
I realized a bit later that the backlight was spotty behind keys - working for some and not for others. This is not a big deal to me, but the non-functioning keys are super annoying, obviously.

So my question is, will I need the whole keyboard replaced, or is there a way to fix just those keys?

I'm also praying that everything will be ok with the "rest" of the computer....this happened around 8 am, at 10 it was fine, then I went to work and closed the computer. Hopefully when I get home and start it up, I'll have no problems. Cross your fingers.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Powerbook spill and bad keys!

Not sure how handy you are, but a sure way to fix it is this. You'll have to take off the keyboard (a few screws to it), there are instructions on the .mac site.
then you'll need a can of compressed air and some electronics contact cleaner (see links below for the product). You should spray the heck out of the key board, be nice if you were able to take off all the keys to do this. Might as well do it all wile your at it. Don't use all the compressed air and don't use it to close or it will freeze the keyboard, not sure what the temp tolerances are for it! Then you want to soak it with the contact cleaner. The contact cleaner has a brush on it to rub it in so use it. Well, don't actually really soak it, just spray it on the key contacts. Then let sit a little while 5 minutes then wipe off and spray with compressed air again to get all the contact cleaner off. Use a good paper towel to dry it, just dab it here and there to suck up the cleaner. It is ok to leave a little cleaner on the keyboard if you can't get it all off. Just get as much as you can. The when done, put it back to gether and you will be fine.

Can't find the links right now, but Radio shack has both the cleaner and the spray.

DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! I guess I should say that for some reason.