Spilled candle wax on an ultrabook keyboard. Advice?

[JUL3]

So my girlfriend just rang, and she's accidentally spilled candle wax on the keyboard of her Asus Ultrabook. She turned it off right away and hasn't yet turned it back on.
I advised her to get a pin and slowly ease off the wax, which she did, but she's concerned that it's gone under the keys and has damaged the computer.

First of all, can someone tell me how bad this might be? Could it have ruined the internal workings of the laptop? (I know it's all hypothetical here, I apologise, we're in two different places and I haven't seen it yet.) I would presume to think that the wax couldn't get beneath the keys, but I just don't know (hence why I'm asking you guys.)

And also, any advice for getting it out? If it were my keyboard I know I could just pop each key out and fish around to get the wax out, but it seems (I don't know for sure though) that those keys don't come off. Does anyone know what the deal is there?

Thanks heaps,
JUL3.

 

[Krynn72]

It is of course possible it damaged some of the internal components, but not likely. Most laptop keyboards have a plastic sheet under them to catch liquid, since this is a common accident. The keyboard itself is probably screwed though. You could take off all the keys and clean away of course, but thats going to take forever, and the keys break easily when pulling them off, and there's a good chance it still wont work afterwards. Just take out the battery right away though, you dont want any electricity going through it at all, to be safe. I say just remove the keyboard from the computer, and see if it got anywhere else, then try cleaning under the keys.

I'm not terribly familiar with the ultrabooks, I imagine they're a pain in the ass to work on though, most slimline stuff is. Good luck.

 

[JUL3]

Okay, thanks Krynn.

I'm not overly experienced with removing keys, I usually stick a pin under them until they pop off, but her Ultrabook has tiny little keys, and no gap underneath to really stick anything under them. Is there a proper way of removing the keys?
Also I'm a fair noob at taking a battery out too (I've never needed to), is there a particular method I should be aware of?

Thanks again.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Usually laptop keyboards come as one big part with a plastic backing and the keys sprung to that. On the underside is a ribbon cable which goes directly into the laptop mobo. It is probably quite likely the wax hasn't got to anything important. Usually removing a keyboard is quite simple, search youtube for a guide to disassemble that model. Usually it involves cracking off the top facier and removing a single screw which should have a keyboard picture next to on (on the underside of the laptop). Lift it out from the top and slide it upwards. It will be easier and safer to clean it that way, but if you're girlfriend isn't confident doing that, the arduous task of removing all the keys might be her only solution (if possible?).

 

[JUL3]

Oh okay, that's really helpful, thanks. It's quite late here now, so she's waiting until tomorrow to take it in to a computer shop, where, hopefully, they'll be able to help. It's still under warranty, so we don't want it to be voided by meddling. But that's really useful as an end-game.

Thanks heaps for your help guys, I'll let you know how we go. Cheers.

 

[Rorschach120]

You could also hang it upside down and hold a hair dryer to it :bounce:

 

[morgs]

I'm sure she candle it.

 

[Higlac]

I don't believe candle wax is conductive, but I may be wrong. I'd say take the keyboard out, put it on an oven rack upside down and bake it on very low heat for a while.

 

[Krynn72]

I don't believe candle wax is conductive, but I may be wrong. I'd say take the keyboard out, put it on an oven rack upside down and bake it on very low heat for a while.

That would probably result in candle wax just building up in the underside cavity of the keys, and thus when dry make the keys not depress.

Asus laptops in general are sons of bitches to open, and if its anything like this dell ultrabook, taking it to a repair shop might be a worthwhile venture. As long as they dont charge you over $100 that is.

!

 

[Raziaar]

Most laptop keyboards have a plastic sheet under them to catch liquid, since this is a common accident.

It's actually called a Wax-Off sheet, because it's such a common accident.

 

[Vegeta897]

Was it a scented candle, at least?

 

[Krynn72]

It's actually called a Wax-Off sheet, because it's such a common accident.

We call it the jizz catcher.

 

[JUL3]

Haha, yeah it was a scented candle actually. Her laptop will likely smell of lavender from here on out.

She got it all out and it's working again, didn't even need to take it to a store. It turns out the keys are relatively easy to pop off, they just need the right trick.

Thanks heaps for your help guys.

 

[Rorschach120]

I'm sure she candle it.

I took me a week to seewutudidthere.

Nice.