Re-assembling a Microsoft Natural Keyboard

I decided to take my keyboard apart and give it a good cleaning, due to the fact that there was a chia pet growing under the keys. I got it apart just fine, and cleaned the keys and the cover. However, after I put it back together and plugged it back in, it didn't work. Here's how I reassembled

- Put the cover face-down on the table, with something on each end to prop it up, to give room for the keys to hang down when I set them in.

- Set the 3 panels of keys into the cover

- Lined the 3 pieces of rubber up appropriately

Then, I put the base of the keyboard on the table, open side up.

- Put the little circuit board back in its position below the spacebar, green side and contacts down.

- Laid the 2 plastic sheets with circuitry into place. I don't remember how these sheets should contact the circuit board, so I put the tab from one sheet under the circuit board, and the other above it. That looks like it makes the most sense to me, in order for the contacts to meet. If I plug my keyboard in at this point, the computer goes nuts, as if I'm mashing keys randomly.

- Put the pieces together and screw it shut. Everything fits together nicely and easily, so I think everything is lined up.

Am I doing something wrong? Is the keyboard fried?

Nevermind... fixed it!

I didn't reply because I wouldn't have been much help. I despise those keyboards! P I have disassembled and cleaned a lot of regular keyboards though.

Generally, (and seriously) you can put most keyboards in a dishwasher, key-side down, and let them air dry. Once they dry, they'll be fine.

And of course the ol' alcohol bath is a quick & easy way to clean them without disassembly.

My Logitech MX3000 keyboard is disgusting but I tried to take the bastard apart and he's having none of it, it's really nasty.

What can I use with nary a dishwasher in sight?

[quotef0b246dea1="theysayjump"]My Logitech MX3000 keyboard is disgusting but I tried to take the bastard apart and he's having none of it, it's really nasty.

What can I use with nary a dishwasher in sight?[/quotef0b246dea1]
It will come apart, you just don't have the mojo. P

But again, alcohol bath. Go to a Wal-Mart (or Sam's, Costco, etc) or a pharmacy and buy the purest isopropyl alcohol you can find. Avoid the common 70% isopropyl, it has too much skin moisturizer in it that will leave a residue. Wal-Mart here sells 90+% isopropyl, and I've seen as high as 99%. Get a pan or other container large enough to contain the keyboard, and pour enough alcohol over it to submerge it. Be sure to remove the batteries first, of course. Leave it submerged overnight or longer, occasionally swishing it around to break loose the crud. You'll see all sorts of disgusting crap float out of it. Then remove it, shake out the excess alcohol, and then leave it to air out for a day or two so the alcohol inside can completely evaporate.

While not as thorough a cleaning as a disassembly would allow, and it takes at least a couple days to be able to use it again, it's easy and surprisingly effective. I've also used it to rescue electronics that have been dunked in water (even a Tivo remote that fell into a big bowl of salsa). The alcohol not only cleans, but displaces water and other liquids and then evaporates quickly.