780 broken keyboard help

[ablewis]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and I hope some one can help: I have a mobilepro 780 I love (I'm a historian and its great for archive research). On a recent trip, a can of seltzer water punctured in my bag, soaking the neoprene case holding my 780. It obviously got wet, but I'm not sure how badly. At first it didn't work, but slowly over the next 24 hours it recovered some what--the screen started working again, it booted up. Now it seems to work fine except for the keyboard. Most keys work fine, but some either don't work at all or spit out the wrong character when hit. I really want to fix the my machine, but don't want to spend so much money it would be better to buy a new machine. So my questions are this: Is it possible to that the water just shorted the keyboard or does this problem suggest a lager logic board problem? Can just the keyboard be replaced relatively cheaply or is it integrated in a way that can't be done easily? Finally, can anyone suggest places other than NEC that service the mobilepro or is that my only option?

Thanks for your help

Andy Lewis
ablewis@fas.harvard.edu

[Pilot]

With it just being water that spilled, you're probably much better off than like spilling a can of soda on it! Have you taken apart the keyboard and cleaned the contacts on the circuit board? It sounds like you just have some water still in there that is causing more than one key to activate when you press just one button. The other thing you can try if you don't feel like being adventurous and taking it apart is to a blow dryer. I'd be willing to bet that once you get everything dry, your keyboard problems will go away. I doubt it's anything permanent.

I can tell you how to take apart a MobilePro 750c (done it numerous times for little repairs/maintenance), but the MP780 is a little different. I would just remove all screws from the buttom and then carefully pry up the keyboard frame with a flat head screwdriver. That should give you access to the circuit board under the keypad, and allow you to make sure everything is dry.

[drovar]

I had the same problem. I spilled water on my 780 (While it was plugged in and turned on no less) and was getting wrong or multiple characters from certain keys, though I didn't have any problems with the screen. I let it dry out for a week, same thing. Put it away and forgot about it.

6 months and one move across the state later I pulled the NEC out of a box in my closet and plugged it in on a whim. Works fine. I'm guessing once water got inside it took a long time for the system to dry out.

NEC wanted $80 (non-refundable but applied to any repair bill) just to look at it. So I'd say let your NEC sit for a couple weeks longer and see if that changes things.