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I have an ASUS g75VW laptop that I bought a couple months ago.

A few days ago I accidentally spilled a glass of water on the keyboard when I was cleaning up my desk (I about had a heart attack). I immediately shut the computer down, unplugged the charger and battery, grabbed every towel I could find and threw them on the keyboard. I then turned the laptop upside down and went at it with a blow dryer on medium heat (which I have been reading is a bad idea) for about a half hour.

I let it sit for a couple hours, then fired it back up. It actually worked perfectly fine, no apparent damage at all.

I'm studying Computer Programming at a University right now, and I'm also a teaching assistant, so between grading programs and writing my own I spend a TON of time on that laptop. In the couple days that followed the accident I used it a lot, about 8-9 total hours per day. During this time it was working perfectly, until last night.

Heres the problem:
The keyboard has started to enter keys by itself. It's favorite seems to be the left arrow key, which it likes to hit every 20-30 seconds or so. On rare occasion it will enter some random character when I'm typing.

I installed a keymapper and disabled the left arrow key entirely as a test, so it no longer works when I myself hit the left arrow key. Oddly enough, it will still automatically scroll left despite having the key disabled.

Does anyone have any ideas about what my be going wrong? Did I not the let the keyboard dry for long enough so the connection to the motherboard is shorting?

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    If it's still scrolling left with the key disabled, then it's probably not the keyboard.
    – MBraedley
    Feb 27, 2013 at 18:30
  • It takes about a week to dry out a keyboard. If the water was relatively pure it will probably be OK after it dries, but if the water had, eg, lemon juice in it then you may end up with a dead keyboard (cola is the worst case).
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Dec 12, 2014 at 3:32
  • possible duplicate of My keyboard is typing by itself, could there be a ghost in it?
    – bwDraco
    Mar 3, 2015 at 5:27
  • @DragonLord - this one has a known cause (liquid spill), which makes it a little different. There are also a number similar questions related to fixing a keyboard after a spill. Might be a better fit there.
    – fixer1234
    Mar 3, 2015 at 21:01
  • We don't have a good, definitive Q&A for a water spill, but this one has some additional suggestions: superuser.com/questions/469317/…
    – fixer1234
    Mar 4, 2015 at 8:01

3 Answers 3

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You can carefully pop the keys off the keyboard to check for residual water. Most laptop keyboard will have a this plastic sheeting that is visible after popping the keys off. If you see condensation under or on the sheeting then you will need to dry it out more.

When I have done this in the past, I will turn the laptop upside down and let it sit unused for several says to let things dry out before turning it back on. Patience is key. Letting it sit for only a couple of hours is not sufficient.

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There will still be water inside of the keyboard as there are nooks and crannies the water would have entered. I know regular keyboards have a plastic film that the keys press to send the signal to the machine. This film is usually 2 or 3 layers thick and it's a nuisance because liquids tend to go between the sheets where you can't drain/dry. I would recommend (if you are competent) stripping the keyboard down and drying it manually.

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Trying to strip it down and let it dry might be a futile effort, as the water will act a a solvent/carrier and any dirt debris that was on the keyboard to begin with will work its way into the layers of the keyboard.

It would be easier just to replace the keyboard with a new one, purchase from ebay.

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