I an't type! Help!

April 29, 2010 9:17 PM

My keyboard magically stopped letting me type the letter 'c'. Any help?

I have an Apple keyboard (about a year old, kept in great shape). I sat down today and I suddenly can't type the letter 'c'. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, and it repeated typing 'c' infinitely (ccccccccccccccc...). After pressing any other key, the repeating 'c's stop and it returns to not working at all.

All the others keys work fine. There's nothing caught in the keyboard itself (it took the plastic part off and it looks fine). I tried in on another computer, and it does the identical thing.

Anyone have any ideas at all?

posted by Kippersoft to Technology (11 answers total)

Have you considered giving the side of your desk a whack with it? Odds are overwhelming it is a mechanical issue and a good jar might do it some good.
posted by codswallop at 9:21 PM on April 29, 2010

Maybe there is something under the key, like a bread crumb?
posted by Duffington at 9:25 PM on April 29, 2010

Response by poster: Yup. Sore knuckles and a dented desk, but no 'c'.
posted by Kippersoft at 9:26 PM on April 29, 2010

Nice tag.

Do you mean you took apart the keyboard itself or just took off the key? On my old logitech keyboard I would have to take it apart (unscrew the back and everything) once and a while because stuff would get between the rubber mat and the contact circuits and shaking wouldn't do any good (or it would but it would make a different key stop working).

Given what is happening with the repeated cccccccc it sounds like the key contact might be shorted out, though, rather than blocked. Maybe some moisture or something? Or did something just deteriorate in an odd way?

Another idea: it could maybe be a faulty internal wire connection too.
posted by ropeladder at 9:40 PM on April 29, 2010

Response by poster: Definitely not a crumb or anything. (I pulled the key apart and cleaned it well.)

I guess it's good to know this isn't a completely isolated incident, but I really shouldn't need to buy a new keyboard just to get all the consonants.


(Update: tried it with a Windows PC now and it did the same thing... definitely the keyboard itself.)
posted by Kippersoft at 9:42 PM on April 29, 2010

Response by poster: I just took off the key. It's the aluminum keyboard which is glued and apparently can't be taken apart (at least not in a way that can be put back together).
posted by Kippersoft at 9:50 PM on April 29, 2010

I love those compressed air things you buy at OfficeMax & Staples for trying to remove microscopic Mystery Crud when it makes my keyboard wonky. I know you already took it apart, but it's still *GOOD* odds you've got some kind of mechanical jam, even if you can't spot the culprit.
posted by Ys at 10:11 PM on April 29, 2010

If there's nothing physically stuck, you probably got some liquid in there. Try taking it apart and cleaning it.
posted by wongcorgi at 11:18 PM on April 29, 2010

Try putting it in a dishwasher on a normal cycle. You'll have to let it dry for a couple of days afterwards, but that might clear it up. It's fixed a couple of keyboards at work that have been stickified from spilled coffee, coke, etc.
posted by Magnakai at 2:23 AM on April 30, 2010

Response by poster: So the key magically fixed itself. I tried the keyboard this morning and it's working fine. No idea how it fixed itself.

The only possible thing I can think of is some rubbing alcohol got in there when I was cleaning it (even though I only used a very sightly damp rag of only rubbing alcohol, waited a while for it to dry, and all the keys worked fine afterward) and it took the night to dry again.

Thanks for the tips everyone... hopefully if someone else is baffled by a similar problem, they can find some suggestions here.
posted by Kippersoft at 9:56 AM on April 30, 2010

Just use the letter K in place of it. How kool and kreative is that?!
posted by foxy at 8:08 PM on April 30, 2010