Spilled Drink Caused My Keyboard to Press the Wrong Keys—Can It Be Fixed?
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MellowPine42
Earlier today I spilled a drink on my keyboard. It seems dry now, and the keyboard still connects normally, but several keys are producing completely wrong inputs. Pressing T appears to trigger Enter and type "qwerty," G activates Caps Lock and types "asdf," and other keys seem to affect groups like "zxcvbn." I'm not sure whether this is caused by a setting or by the spill, and I'd like to know whether the keyboard can be repaired.
Answers
Try leaving it disconnected to dry for much longer before assuming it is permanently broken. Some keyboards recover after several hours or overnight, but liquid damage is not always reversible. Do not keep using it while it may still be damp, since that can make the short worse.
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The pattern of whole groups of keys activating together points to a damaged or contaminated keyboard matrix. If cleaning does not fix it, replacing the keyboard is usually easier and cheaper than repairing the internal membrane or circuit board.
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This is almost certainly liquid damage rather than a keyboard setting. Even after the surface dries, minerals or sticky residue left behind by the drink can connect parts of the keyboard circuit and make several keys trigger at once. Unplug it, and if it is a separate keyboard, take it apart and clean the affected areas carefully with high-percentage isopropyl alcohol. Let everything dry completely before testing it again. Sugary drinks are especially difficult to clean, so replacing the keyboard may be the most practical option.
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MellowPine42: So even though it feels completely dry, the residue inside could still be causing the keys to short together?