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Water got in, keys not working

Hi. I've got a Compaq wired keyboard, 5 years old...Recently, I spilled water on it...I immediately stripped it down and placed the plastic connection sheet before a heater to dry it. Now it's completely dry but a few of it's keys are not working. They are the bottom row of alphabets [Z,X,C,V,B,N,M] and Insert, Home and Page Up above the arrow keys.

Is this repairable or is it time to get a new one ? Can I use something like a millimeter to check the connections ??

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Assuming you didn't physically damage anything, then the most likely problem is that one of the contacts on the plastic sheet is not making proper contact with the connector on circuit board that contains the IC.

Now, there are many ways that keyboards can be constructed, but typically there's a connector where the plastic sheet plugs into. Make sure that it's clamped down on to the plastic appropriately. In some models I've seen a little piece of foam that's sandwiched over the connector; make sure that's in place if it's there.

If you're 100% sure that the connector is fine, then it's possible that the plastic circuit has a break in it. This can be repaired with a conductive ink pen or brush, assuming you find the break. You should be able to touch different points with multimeter probes to find the break (set the meter to beep when the probes are touched together).

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Sounds like a bunch of shorts, you'd probably have to rewire those areas.

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But how do I check which areas have to be rewired ? And how am I supposed to rewire them ? Do I have to solder regular electricity wires ?

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Not sure sorry, but you'll probably have to take it apart, and knowing first which areas don't work, replace the wiring of the sensors. Varies from keyboard to keyboard though.

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