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[gimlet]

I spill stuff in keyboards all the time - let it dry for a few days and it should be fine.   Some people claim you can put 'em in the dishwasher, if the water's not too hot.  This wimp takes out the sensitive bits first: http://www.howtogeek.com/65915/how-to-clean-your-filthy-keyboard-in-the-dishwasher-without-ruining-it/

[Sappho]

I don't own a dishwasher. I guess I'll just cross my fingers and hope it works by tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise I may just buy another keyboard so I can get some stuff done. I can't work with this keyboard for more than a few minutes.

Is there any chance I ruined anything by opening it up?

[gimlet]

Probably not permanently, but it is kinda easy to put it back together with stuff misaligned - does it feel like that?

[Sappho]

I'm not sure. Simply plugging in the keyboard screws up the whole system. None of the keys work. I plug in the keyboard and a whole lot of something gets inputted, but actually pressing a key doesn't do anything at all.

EDIT: If I plug in the keyboard then unplug it, the system is messed up and needs to be restarted. Clicking a link opens it in a new tab. Clicking a folder on the computer opens up a new window. This behavior continues even without the keyboard plugged in. I tried opening a notepad document and typing, and most of the buttons did nothing. some buttons caused it to either tab in or go to a new line. No text, though. Maybe I should just buy a new one... It's not expensive, though it's a shame to waste it if I can fix it... : /

[MaximumZero]

That means that something is making contact with the keys on the inside. You may have to wait for it to dry and get at it with an alcohol swab. The layers of plastic peel apart pretty easily, just don't pull the power cord out of them.

[Sappho]

Okay, I've got it open. I peeled apart the plastic a bit, and yeah, there's still a little bit of moisture in there. Will it be enough to leave it open until it dries and put it back together, or do I really have to clean it out? Also, you can't buy rubbing alcohol here, it's illegal. They use colloidal silver for disinfection (and I don't have any). Is there anything else I can use to clean it out? Is it likely to be a problem of the coffee itself, in which case using water and letting it dry again might be enough, or does it really have to be cleaned with something else?

In any case, I have to go to work in about 20 minutes, so all I have time for now is to open it up, try to put it somewhere the cat can't get to it, and hope that drying it out while I'm working will be enough... If it doesn't work when I get home I can try something else.

Thanks!

[Baffler]

Can anyone help me with changing my windows registry? I'm trying to enable hexadecimal input for the purpose of typing unicode characters (beyond the default Alt + Number ASCII characters). I've never done this before, and I really don't want to fuck anything up. I know where it should be (HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Input Method), but I'm not seeing what I need to change.

[Thief^]

If you don't see a EnableHexNumpad key (on the right) when you have "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Input Method" selected, then right-click in the empty space and choose "new"->"String value", name it "EnableHexNumpad" and set it to "1" (no quotes). Then log out / back in (or reboot) to make it take effect.

That's all there is to it.

[Baffler]

Here goes nothin'...

It works! Thanks man.

[Sappho]

Hrm... The good news is, the keyboard no longer shorts out. The bad news is, the keys are a little wonky now. I can actually see just looking at it, some are higher/lower than others. Presumably those little rubber cups are not perfectly aligned. But I don't know how I can possibly align them perfectly. Even after painstakingly lining them all up, when I put the back cover on it smushes them all down, and I have to screw in 17 screws, during which process they get pushed around even more. Any tips here? Some of the keys don't press properly when I push them down, and one of those keys is the space bar, which is kind of a problem. : /

EDIT: Nevermind, I seem to have gotten it. The trick was to prop up the edges of the keyboard on some empty tomato paste cans (secured with blu tak so they wouldn't slide around), so all the keys were hanging down (like they're unpressed). All the little rubber cups dropped nicely into the holes, and I was able to screw the back on without any further problems. Everything seems to work okay now.

Hooray! I spilled coffee all over my keyboard and then I saved it!

EDIT2: My computer desk is going to smell like coffee forever!

[Thief^]

Congrats!
I filled mine with Apple juice last time, that was a pain to clean...

[MaximumZero]

Also, you can't buy rubbing alcohol here, it's illegal.

Wait, wut? What the hell?

[Sappho]

So is witch hazel. I don't actually know why... You can buy booze pretty much anywhere.

[Sinistar]

Well that's interesting.

So just a couple of hours ago, YouTube was working perfectly fine for me. But as of few minutes ago, anything YT related (first page, search resault, bookmarked video ANYTHING), crashes my Pale Moon plugin container. I am at a loss here as to what's wrong because in these past hours I didn't even use Pale Moon. And I've updated all the plugins as soon as these troubles began, to no result. AND Firefox works perfectly fine. 

 

edit:
Hmmm, never mind, seems like cold booting the pc did the trick. Sigh, I am sure there is some rational explanation to this, but sometimes some things make me think computers are in fact run by tiny magical creatures and spirits, who follow their own rules which only by coincidence align with the wishes of us mortals. Most of the time.

[Gentlefish]

Well that's interesting.

So just a couple of hours ago, YouTube was working perfectly fine for me. But as of few minutes ago, anything YT related (first page, search resault, bookmarked video ANYTHING), crashes my Pale Moon plugin container. I am at a loss here as to what's wrong because in these past hours I didn't even use Pale Moon. And I've updated all the plugins as soon as these troubles began, to no result. AND Firefox works perfectly fine. 

 

edit:
Hmmm, never mind, seems like cold booting the pc did the trick. Sigh, I am sure there is some rational explanation to this, but sometimes some things make me think computers are in fact run by tiny magical creatures and spirits, who follow their own rules which only by coincidence align with the wishes of us mortals. Most of the time.

Every program you run is handled by an elf. Fun fact. Also actually a true fact.