WOUGNET Member:

I have a burning problem which needs immediate support! I was cleaning my laptop and I sprayed Foam Clean directly on it. Some keys like the backspace, f, g, and h are now no longer working. What can I do?

TechSupport:

While the keys on a keyboard are made of plastic, which is waterproof, underneath them is an array of electrical circuits that are not waterproof. Therefore, you should only use a dry cloth or a blower to clean the keyboard or any other part of your laptop. Where it is very dirty, you can use a damp cloth after you have squeezed out all the water. Never apply liquid or foam directly onto any electrical device like a Computer, TV, Radio, Phone, Hair Drier, etc, even if the device is switched off/disconnected from power.

Otherwise, you have a few solutions available to you. The easiest is to leave the laptop switched off until it completely dries. Be patient, because once the liquid/foam gets into the small spaces in the computer, it may even take more that a week to dry properly. Usually, when the machine dries, it may start working properly again. However, if this doesn't happen, you have 3 other options:

1. Take you computer to a trained technician that will open it up, clean and dry it properly and repair any damage.

2. If the damage cannot be repaired, you can replace your laptop keyboard. A replacement keyboard can be bought in the computer shops in Kampala or if you don't find the right one for your type/model of laptop, you can buy one from abroad.

3. You can use an external keyboard, such as the one for a desktop computer. You can connect one either through the USB or Serial port of your laptop.

Hope this helps.

This Tech Tip was compiled by the WOUGNET Technical Support Team. It was adapted from a technical support request from a WOUGNET member.