Erratic Keyboard Function After Cleaning

[mcfly1204]

I have a white MB, and the keys were getting pretty grimy. The cleaning consisted of a little pressure being applied to the keys and trackpad with a cotton ball and some rubbing alcohol. The good new, the keyboard looks great. The bad news, now the keyboard is erratic. For instance, anytime a textbox takes the focus, backslashes are continually typed into the field. Speaking of backslashes, I cannot type on on purpose. To go along with that, a single backslash is entered when i press the following keys: '0', '-', 'p', ';', and '/'. Whenever I type a '?', '|' appears afterwards. In addition, I can not type a capitol 'o', only lowercase. The trackpad seems to function fine. Any thoughts, because I would ap\pr\eciate it.

 

[chscag]

Any chance that some of the alcohol dripped down between the keys you were cleaning? A cotton ball dipped in alcohol will drip if too much alcohol is on it.

 

[mcfly1204]

I was being cautious of that, so I do not think much, if any alcohol got beyond the keyboard.

 

[chscag]

It does sound like some alcohol may have gotten in between the keys. Let it dry out for awhile, and let's see if the keys return to normal. Alcohol usually evaporates fairly quickly but if a tiny bit went down below the key contacts it may take longer to completely dry.

 

[mcfly1204]

I cleaned the keyboard 19 days ago.

 

[chscag]

It should have certainly dried out by now after 19 days. If it was caused by some alcohol leaking between the keys, it may have shorted out some of the contacts. The only way you're going to find out is by swapping out the keyboard for a new one. Check with the folks at iFixit: The free repair manual for the keyboard and instructions to change one out. If they don't have the keyboard in stock try Mac Repair - Mac Parts and Service for Apple Macbook, iPhone, iPad.