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Post: Answer to "Keyboard Replacement"
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Voters: oldturkey03 (Admin Decided)

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Question

Keyboard Replacement

I had a light spill on the keyboard a while ago, everything seems to be working fine, apart form some sticky keys, even after I cleaned them, and the 't' and 'i' keys stopped working...

Can I just buy a keyboard & replace the old one or do I have to buy the whole topcase?

Also, the teardown shows how to disassemble everything down to the logic board, is there anything 'difficult' after that in the replacement process?

For example, could I replace it with this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...

thanks

EDIT:

Thanks, but wow, 300 bucks.

Could there be a way to fix those two keys somehow?

The spill was only on the top right part & only reached a few of those top left keys, i & t stopped working a couple of days after.

Maybe? Please..?

again, Thanks

I'm using an external keyboard, you wouldn't believe how often the letters t & i come up...

The spill was about 3 months ago, and it was...sunny D.

I don't put drinks on the same table as my electronics, but I can't say that about my friends, who happen to damage just about every piece of technology in my house...'accidentally'.

I let it dry for a day, & I opened it up to see if there was any further damage. Didn't look like it. No sticky stuff on the logic board or anything else as far as I can tell.

My mac has been having that sleeping problem, that I know many people have been experiencing, but I don't think that could be related. Either way, I didn't get the extended warranty, and I don't have much faith in the regular mac warranty since I'm the one to always void warranties. I'm just new to the whole apple world so I need some pointers. But thanks a bunch for your help.


Answer

Hi! I read this and just wanted to mention, the keyboard/power button assembly is available on eBay for about $50, and it is in fact possible to do a swap -- I just did it. I wouldn't recommend it if you can find a way to avoid it, because it's a very laborious procedure and you have to peel off the two layers of keyboard illumination from the back of the keyboard, and then remove about 40 of the tiniest screws you've ever seen (which are spread across the back of the keyboard, connecting it to the topcase), but it is possible, and will save you about $250.

I have a feeling Apple doesn't sell the keyboard/power button assembly as a separate part from the topcase, which may give the impression that the procedure is not possible to do, however like I mentioned it's available on eBay. At first I was worried that the keyboard was permanently embedded inside the topcase like the white A1181 MacBook, but that is not the case, and after removing those 40 or so screws, it does come out.