# keyboard-spacebar-notworking
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 14, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895 "2002-08-14T20:36:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NewUser1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NewUser1)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/1 "2002-08-14T20:36:10Z")
hey,my-spacebar-isnt-working-at-all-i-dont-think
-the-problem-is-the-keyboard-but-it-could-be-does-
anyone-have-any-ideas/
-come-to-think-of-it-my-shift-isnt-working-either-it-may-be-thekeyboard-any-helpwouldbeaprieciated
completly-not-joking
bill
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/2 "2002-08-14T20:42:59Z")
Well, for the time being you can shift-select a space in somebody else’s post, copy it, and paste it in with a control-v.
You could try turning your keyboard upside down and shaking it vigorously.
And, in the final analysis, they’re only fifteen bucks.
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/3 "2002-08-14T20:48:36Z")
Didja spill something in it?
If you don’t think it was a spill or other foreign substance, I’d unplug it from the CPU, shut down the computer, plug it back in, and then reboot. You can also click Control Panel\>\>Keyboard and check it there.
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### Author:  [@NewUser1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NewUser1)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/4 "2002-08-14T21:33:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Well, for the time being you can shift-select a space in somebody else’s post, copy it, and paste it in with a control-v.
actually-the-shift=isnt-working-either-but=thanks-for=the=sugestions
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### Author:  [@odd-socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/odd-socks)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/5 "2002-08-14T21:58:19Z")
Sometimes debris (too many cookies! ;)) can become lodged under keys. You can either: blow some air over your board; or flip thewhole thing over and shake it, or if that doesn’t work, gently flip the spacebar / shift key off to see if anything’s lodged underneath it. Then pop the keys back on and it should be ok.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/6 "2002-08-14T22:30:32Z")
Or you can just replace the thing for about $10. A keyboard has moving parts and moving parts wear out. Consider it a minor maintenence expense.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/7 "2002-08-14T23:02:31Z")
unplug compuuter from wall for a minute then plug back in. I get weird keyboard things now & then but they correct on restarting.
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### Author:  [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/8 "2002-08-14T23:07:02Z")
You CAN pop the keys off and clean out the crud that has fallen down in the keyboard. I do suggest that you line the keys up on a cookie sheet or something in EXACT ORDER.
A big pile of Q-tips and some rubbing alcohol will clean up the gunk wonderfully. And some spacebars have a wire “spring” that you can LIGHTLY grease with a dab of vaseline.
I de-bugged a keyboard at work LITERALLY. There was a dead worm inside, along with Christmas tinsel, candy wrappers, and loads of sunflower seed hulls.
YUCK!
~VOW
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/9 "2002-08-15T04:05:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*
> \*\*unplug compuuter from wall for a minute then plug back in. I get weird keyboard things now & then but they correct on restarting. \*\*
If it’s a PS/2 type keyboard it wasn’t designed to be hot swapped like this. PS/2 keyboards have their microcontroller wired directly to the microcontroller on the motherboard, with ABSOLUTELY NO BUFFERING in between. It’s a good thing microcontrollers these days have reasonably beefy I/O pins because otherwise you’d see a lot more dead keyboards from this sort of thing (which used to be the case, back in the XT and 286 days).
USB keybaords are designed to be hot swapped. No problem there.
I’m not patient enough (or bored enough) to take apart keyboards and clean out the individual keys and the mebranes underneath. I usually just take the keyboard and stick it in the dishwasher. You’d be surprised how many keyboards can be resurrected from the dead this way. There are a couple of tricks involved.
1. Wrap up the cord so it can’t fall down and get tangled in the moving parts of the dishwasher.
2. Put the keyboard in with the keys facing down.
3. Hi opal!
4. LET THE THING DRY FOR A FEW DAYS BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO USE IT.
5. If your dishwasher has a heat drying cycle, turn it off. Otherwise it may bake the keyboard into uselessness after it’s done washing it. For some reason melted plastic doesn’t function very well on a keyboard.
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### Author:  [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/10 "2002-08-15T04:12:40Z")
Easy fix:
**Buy a new keyboard.** You can get them very cheap at any computer or place like Walmart or Target. Cheap solution with little effort.
I like going for the obvious.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/11 "2002-08-15T04:21:23Z")
**engineer\_comp\_geek** that is the freakiest advice I have seen in ages. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you’re lying, I just think it’s really amusing to fix an electronic item by dunking it in hot water and caustic detergent (or do you not use detergent?).
Don’t all the metal parts corrode later? Or are the contacts all gold anyway?
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/12 "2002-08-15T04:23:32Z")
Man, I hope I haven’t just been seriously whooshed. 🙂
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### Author:  [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/13 "2002-08-15T04:30:19Z")
Keyboards can be washed in the dishwasher but if you have to go several days to let it dry and you don’t have a back up, then why go to all the effort.
1. Walk out door
2. Take car or bus to Wal\*Mart, CompUSA, Target, Office Depot
3. (no Opal here – thats over done people sheesh) walk through store, find keyboards
4. Pick out keyboard you like
5. Take keyboard to casher and pay
6. Walk out store
7. Hop in car or bus
8. Arrive home and plug in new keyboard
9. Initiate keyboard action
10. Know that you just saved yourself about 3 days of waiting for computer keyboard to possibly work
11. Get on the SDMB and say “Hey, a new keyboard, what a novel idea!”
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/14 "2002-08-15T06:56:19Z")
Don’t use detergent.
The metal parts will eventually corrode if they are constantly exposed to water, but one little bath won’t hurt.
I’ve fixed about a dozen keyboards this way, so far without ever ruining one. But, they were already broken to start with so what’s the risk? Of course, YMMV.
Ok techchick, I’m sure dishwashing a keyboard isn’t the best solution for everyone, but it sure beats the heck out of disassembling a keyboard and cleaning it with a Q tip for those of us who are inclined to fix broken things just because we can (insert Tim Taylor grunt here).
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/15 "2002-08-15T07:11:14Z")
\>\> I’m not patient enough (or bored enough) to take apart keyboards and clean out the individual keys and the mebranes underneath
Ok, I _am_ bored enough to do this regularly and, in fact, just did one a couple of days ago. Membrane keyboards tend to get dirt between the contacts and it seems to often start with the lower row. It may have to do with gravity. At any rate, you can easily open the keyboard and clean the contacts with alcohol or oapy water and it will be as good as new.
Or you can get working keyboards at goodwill stores for a buck or two.
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/16 "2002-08-15T07:16:51Z")
**techchick68** , I’m a little confused. It seems like you left out some important information between steps 7 and 8. I can complete step 2, but do I just reverse the steps I took at that point?
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### Author:  [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/17 "2002-08-15T07:47:03Z")
Okay **Achernar**
7a. Drive carefully or in the case of bus transportation watch out for drunken bus passenger…in this case I recommend a book or newspaper so you aren’t bothered by drunk or wacko bus passenger.
I recommend this for 2a. as well.
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/18 "2002-08-15T11:45:51Z")
Man, that’s a lot of steps. You’d be better off throwing it against the wall and seeing if the spacebar gets knocked back into action.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/19 "2002-08-15T12:18:45Z")
I regularly have to open and clean the contacts of my computer keyboards, remote controls, calculators, alarm clocks, etc. They all require regular cleaning.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2002, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyboard-spacebar-notworking/123895/20 "2002-08-15T20:55:38Z")
I have disassembled a lot of keyboards and cleaned them out.
I personally would under no circumstances put a keyboard in a dishwasher. Or use any significant amounts of water.
I also have learned the hard way that pulling off keys, esp. shift and space keys, are a “non-reversible” operation. Even if I get the spring hooks back on, it just won’t work right again.
Getting a can of air duster. (Beware: there are “duster” products that are really cleaning solutions. Read the label.) Stick the tube down low under the edge of the key and let it rip. Move it around. Short bursts. Keep the can itself upright. It can get chilled very rapidly And Hurt You if you do it wrong.
Failing that, take the back off. But first utter this phrase: “This keyboard is now worth $0 to me.” Do a light spray dusting, etc.
BTW, unplugged, powered off, etc.
Who spends $15 for a keyboard? $5 top for me. (And yet I fix my old ones for ecological reasons.)