Cleaning a mechanical keyboard should be done regularly, but it can be challenging. A mechanical keyboard gathers dust, debris, and even food particles, but what happens if your mechanical keyboard is not working after cleaning it?
A mechanical keyboard can stop working after cleaning if you clean it with water. Shaking or banging the keyboard roughly to clean it can cause parts to become loose. Using a corrosive cleaning agent will create rust and permanently damage the keyboard.
Where mechanical keyboards are concerned, gentle actions are best. If you have the right tools to clean a mechanical keyboard, you should have no issue, but let’s look at why it could stop working after cleaning.
Mechanical Keyboard Not Working After Cleaning
There are ways you can clean your keyboard, but some of the methods can end up in your keyboard needing to be fixed or replaced.
If you clean it with water, it may not be completely dry and cause the keys not to work or may have caused damage to the electrical components.
To fix or prevent this problem, you should let your keys dry for at least 24 hours before putting them back onto the keyboard. If you have already put them onto your keyboard, unplug them.
Clean them off with some isopropanol, and ensure they are completely dry before turning them back on again.
How To Properly Clean My Keyboard
Knowing how to clean your keyboard correctly is essential, so you don’t accidentally damage it. Here are some ways to get your keyboard clean.
- Don’t deliberately get it dirty. Don’t eat near your keyboard while working. Inevitably crumbs can fall into the keys.
- Keep drinks at arm’s length to avoid liquid spills or droplets splashing onto the keys. If you are using a laptop, keep it closed when not in use to minimize dust.
- Don’t shake your laptop to get crumbs loose. Instead, you can get rid of crumbs and other remains by gently turning your laptop/keyboard to the side and lightly tapping it.
Prevent shaking them, or you may cause damage to the hardware. Instead, use some tape or the sticky end of a post-it note on the crumbs that are harder to get off.
- Get an Air can. Canned air or a dust removal spray can significantly help. In addition, quick cleaning agents are available at office supply stores, auto part dealers, and retail stores.
You can easily blow dust and debris from between your keys.
- Clean with cotton swabs between the keys: They can be a bit moist with some gentle cleaner or dry. Wipe slowly and carefully between the keys with Isopropyl alcohol to remove the dust.
You will want to do this every 1 to 3 months depending on how much you use the keyboard and how quick it is to gather dust.
Check your owner’s manual for the model-specific keyboard cleaning instructions to ensure you don’t damage the keyboard.
How To Fix A Water-Damaged Keyboard
Should you accidentally spill liquids onto your keyboard or try to clean it with water, it may cause some damage to the keyboard if not dried properly.
There are do’s and don’t’s when it comes to making sure your keyboard dries appropriately. Here are tips on how to fix your water-damaged keyboard:
- Unplug your keyboard: The first thing to should do is unplug the keyboard from your computer. If you have a wireless keyboard, remove the batteries from the keyboard.
It may sound easy to do, but at the moment, you may panic and not know what to do.
Unplugging your keyboard prevents the water from causing an electrical short and mixing with the other parts of your PC’s technology.
- Please don’t put it in rice: When researching how to save technology from water damage, a rice bowl is trendy to see. While many people think this works, it’s advised not to use rice.
Since, in most cases, using rice will help to introduce moist particles into the mix.
- Get a water-resistant option: If you can’t fix your keyboard and need a new one get a water-resistant one. It’ll save you the trouble of dealing with this mess in the future.
Conclusion
If your mechanical keyboard is not working after cleaning, follow the suggested steps to eliminate apparent issues. If that still does not fix it, let a technician take a look.