May 2005

Last Monday, I spilled beer on my keyboard and received the Dishwasher advice from two very tech-savvy people.

Today, I can report that not only will the keyboard come out clean, but it will probably work once it dries completely. Every key on the keyboard works and feels just right – the Caps Lock light even works! This ‘hack’ is not for the weakhearted, and I would probably avoid putting a $100+ keyboard in the dishwasher. But if you don’t have any other options, it’s a pretty good bet.

Exactly what I did:

• disconnected my USB keyboard from my computer
• dumped out the spilled beverage
• placed keyboard in dishwasher (normal cycle)
• added soap to the reservoir (I used Electrasol)
• closed the dishwasher and turned it on
• I was advised to AVOID USING the heated dry cycle – 20 minutes too late
• removed keyboard from dishwasher once the cycle was complete
• popped ALL the keys off to allow the keyboard to completely dry (either draw, write down where the keys go, or take a picture so you can put ‘em all back in the right place)
• leaned my keyboard vertically against a wall and allowed it to dry for 5 days
• replaced all the keys, plugged the keyboard back in and tested every key to make sure it worked

I had to live without a keyboard for FIVE days and it wasn’t easy. Typing consisted of double-clicking the Roman character set in OS X’s Character Palette – letter by letter. Not easy, especially since there is no Enter Key or Space. So, I got creative with right-click menus and Copy/Paste.

Right now, I can hear geek-owned dishwashers across the land powering up.

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