Spilled liquid. Some keys dead. Will replacing laptop keyboard help?

[EvilHamster]

Hi all. I have a laptop who had a run-in with a bit of liquid. I am not saying it was the liquids fault, but it was clearly in the way.

All the blame game aside, some keys refuse to work, no matter how had I press them. As even the trusty 'hit it till it's fixed' did not help, I am thinking that replacing the keyboard might do the trick.

But how can I determine (without many expensive and professional tools) if its the keyboard or the motherboard which is broken.

I have not opened it yet, as I am not close by, and it was apparently too big to be sent as an attachment, so yeah, if one of them is burned out and black, I will know it. But if that fails, is there any other way of telling? (Other than buying a new keyboard and just trying it).

For example, out of experience, which one is it more likely to be?
Cheers.

 

[Solandri]

It's usually the keyboard which goes bad, and replacing it fixes it. However, you should first try removing the keyboard and airing it out (blow dry it if you can). A lot of times the problem is just residual liquid sitting between the rubber dome membrane and PCB, where it can't dry out because there's no air circulation.

You can plug an external USB keyboard into the laptop to make sure the motherboard is OK and everything works except the original keyboard.

 

[EvilHamster]

Cheers Solandri,

I feel silly for not coming up with it myself, but I suppose that is the easiest thing to do. I will try an external keyboard and see if that does the trick. But let me ask an other silly question, since I am kinda on a roll here:

If I connect an external keyboard, will it not go through a different circuit connection on the motherboard? Or will it only be so superficially, and the "real" path will remain the same. I am not sure how different an internal and external keyboard are connected on a Laptop.

Cheers, and thanks for the answer. I suppose I still might try and replacing the keyboard with a new one.