Macbook keyboard cleaning. Do-it-yourself repair of sticky and sticky MacBook Air buttons
After failing to solve the real problems that owners of their premium laptops face, Apple finally admitted that modern laptops macbook suffer from difficult sticky keyboard issues.
Due to the design of the butterfly key mechanism, billed as a start-up improvement, it appears to be much more susceptible to dirt ingress and therefore malfunction compared to more traditional scissor mechanism keys, most likely. In the article you will find a link to the official instructions, and not only.
The Internet announced the release first MacBook with butterfly switch design back in March 2015. Switches debuted on the thin and light MacBook, Apple previously said it was "reinventing the laptop", in otherwise notable in that it includes only one physical I/O port (USB Type-C), which is used as a charging port. Apple told MacBook attendees at the launch that the butterfly switch mechanism helped it smooth out the laptop's keyboard component by 34%.
As stated in the introduction, butterfly switches have evolved over the past three years and have been featured in a growing list of new laptops (at least 9 models) and have earned a reputation for poor reliability. For keys that have been described as providing greater accuracy and four times greater stability, this can only be described as a failure.
In June, Apple released an accompanying article with instructions on how to clean the keyboards of its laptops equipped with butterfly pushbutton switches. The challenge involved rotating your MacBook while blowing compressed air through the keyboard under different angles. If the home remedy didn't work, Apple advised affected customers to visit Apple Store and ask for help. However, the report claims that such a trivial sounding repair on non-warranty machines can cost upwards of $700.
In a change of promise, after prolonged consumer-based pressure and a series of lawsuits, Apple has released details of its MacBook and Keyboard Maintenance Program. Macbook Pro. You can read the full post here, but the bottom line now is "A service authorized to repair MacBooks and MacBook Pros will replace keyboards, free of charge." Depending on the verdict of an Apple engineer, and the condition of your keyboard, he may change one or more keys, and if replacing some does not help, perhaps all.
If you're unsure if you're affected by the MacBook's butterfly switch situation, then here are some of the symptoms that show up as letters or symbols being unexpectedly re-pressed, letters or symbols not showing, and/or the key(s) feel " sticky” or do not respond in a consistent manner.
These models are eligible,/affected and related to MacBooks and may be eligible for warranty repair:
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016)
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
MacBook Pro (15" 2017)
It will be very interesting to see what keyboard design will be used on future portables. Mac computers, and whether they will use a butterfly switch. And if they get stuck in some way as a result of dirt/dust getting in, or just flip out as a practical design. His efforts with the "second generation butterfly mechanism" introduced on the new MacBook Pro laptops in October 2016 did not seem to help in this regard (these laptops are included in the repair list). free service above).
If you still encounter a similar situation, but not on a MacBook, but with a simple computer or laptop keyboard, I recommend reading this topic "".
Under the keys in your computer, there is probably dust, crumbs, pieces of food, hair and other debris. Even the most tidy Mac users can't keep their keyboards clean.
Buttons on Apple computers well-fitted, the holes in the body have a minimum clearance, but even this is enough to regularly collect a batch of garbage.
Why Clean Your Keyboard
Firstly, it is useful from a hygienic point of view. Computer keys are the first hotbed of germs and bacteria in the house after the toilet. It’s not every time I wash my hands before typing something, and if it’s a laptop, it will still collect dirt from the office, cafe and travel bag.
Secondly, dirt and dust can cause the buttons to stick. Contacts on the board may become clogged and respond to pressing not the first time.
Thirdly, clean keyboard looks aesthetically pleasing. The Mac looks like new.
How often to clean your keyboard
It all depends on your desire and how you use your Mac. Home computers are recommended to be cleaned at least once every three months. Portable laptops should be cleaned every 30 days.
How to clean your keyboard
Cleaning the keyboard is divided into two stages: external and internal. External cleaning of the keys can be carried out as they become dirty or at the request of the user. It is aimed only at removing dirt from the surface of the keys and will not affect the operation of the device.
Internal cleaning is aimed at removing dirt and debris under the buttons. This procedure must be carried out regularly to avoid contamination and sticking of the buttons.
External cleaning
For external cleaning, it is not necessary to turn off the computer or unplug the external keyboard. You can use the KeyboardCleanTool for Mac utility. This free utility locks keys and prevents false presses during cleaning.
Don't forget to grant permission to the app along the way Settings - Security & Privacy - Accessibility(administrator password required).
After blocking, we arm ourselves with microfiber, cotton swabs or discs. They must be slightly moistened with water or an alcohol-containing substance. You can use special wet wipes to clean the keyboard and display.
Attention! The liquid should not drain from a rag, cotton wool or napkin. If you're worried about wetting, it's best to play it safe and turn off the computer's power.
Thoroughly wipe all buttons from the front and along the ends. Don't forget to wipe down the keyboard itself, the bottom and the feet (for external devices).
How to clean your keyboard from the inside
This is a painstaking and laborious process. Be patient and have at your disposal up to an hour of time. To get started, take a picture of the location of the buttons on your smartphone, so that you don’t painfully remember the layout later.
Be sure to clean the inside while the computer is powered off.
Use a toothpick or plastic tool to pry top corner keys and carefully pry the mount out of the groove (do not use screwdrivers or knives as they may damage the keys).
Now grab the entire button and unfasten the mount from the second slot.
Attention! Excessive use of brute force can break the keys. Be careful.
If the fastening mechanism remains on the keyboard, unfasten it and secure it to the key.
When all the buttons are removed, you can clean the debris with a vacuum cleaner. Remaining dirt and particles should be removed with a lint-free, slightly damp cloth.
Wipe the buttons themselves with wet wipes or an eraser.
We put clean buttons in place. We put the key with the fastened mount in place and press it around the entire perimeter until it clicks. We press several times and make sure that all the fasteners are in the right grooves.
Here's a cheat sheet if you forgot to take a picture of your keyboard:
Wait for the keyboard to dry completely before turning on the computer.
Do not forget to regularly monitor the condition of the keys and clean them. Do it right now - and tomorrow you will say Thanks yourself for it.
Buttons sometimes stick not only on new MacBooks but also on old ones. Usually, it is advised to disassemble the keyboard for cleaning, but in practice this only leads to breakdowns - Mikk has already proven this.
We will tell you how to clean the keyboard without vandalism in a couple of proven ways, if the buttons on it are already stuck or are just about to be assembled.
Five minutes once a week and the buttons on my 2017 MacBook Pro work like clockwork. Yours will be no worse.
Why the keys on the MacBook periodically stick The keys begin to stick just because of the fact that foreign particles get under them. There are no other options, and buttons, even with a broken mechanism, do not behave this way.
If something gets under the button, it prevents it from being pressed, and it seems to you that it simply stuck to the base. Therefore, they say that the key is "stuck".
The problem began to be actively written in 2015. The world saw a 12-inch MacBook with a Butterfly-type keyboard. The new mechanism turned out to be much smaller in size, so cleanliness turned out to be more critical for it than for the usual Scissors.
In 2017, the Butterfly was updated to the 2nd generation, the problem began to appear less often, but remained.
However, the services say that they are regularly accessed not only by owners of new MacBooks, but also by old ones. Why? Leftover food and dust. Yes, these are the most frequent guests of your keyboard, who are happy to find secluded places under the keys and prevent them from being pressed.
If you eat near your MacBook, you have already experienced or will experience this problem in the near future.
If you don’t eat near the MacBook, dust still falls on it, so you still can’t hide from sticking. Bits of skin and sweat. Microscopic parts of your body to a lesser extent, but can also cause sticky keys.
To minimize the effect, do not forget to maintain hygiene - just wash your hands with soap more often. Tea and water with sugar. Liquids with sugar are critical for the keyboard. In this case, it will not be possible to fully get rid of sticking even after cleaning.
Even before the new year, I spilled tea with sugar on the keyboard of my MacBook - there was a minimum of liquid, it was quickly removed at the nearest service, but I did not manage to save the keyboard.
The only correct solution was to replace the keyboard. This is what I did.
How Apple advises cleaning laptop keyboards Apple hasn't officially acknowledged the MacBook's sticky keys problem. Yes, and it was pointless to do this, because this can be avoided by banal accuracy.
But big flow criticism of the company forced it to update the "Butterfly", which has become more practical - this is a step towards users.
And last year, the manufacturer released a guide to cleaning the keyboard from dirt using compressed air.
Yes, Apple offers to simply blow out food debris and other foreign objects from under the keys with a special balloon.
By the way, you can easily find one in any modern electronics store or order it online. Issue price - 200-400 rubles. Step 1. Hold your MacBook so that its keyboard is at a 75-degree angle to you—no need to stand it upright. Step 2. Blow out the entire keyboard or just the most problematic keys first from left to right and then from right to left. Step 3. Place your MacBook on its right side and do the same. Step 4: Place your MacBook on its left side and repeat the procedure.
Please note that when using a compressed air cylinder, a small amount of liquid may be released from it. It is harmless, just wipe it off the keyboard with a tissue.
Our Way to Clean Your MacBook Keyboard from the Pharmacy You can use more than just compressed air to blow dirt off your MacBook keyboard. You can simply blow on the buttons with your mouth, but this is not as effective.
It is better to use an enema-syringe of the "Pear" type from the nearest pharmacy for purge. Do not laugh - the method is quite working. Roma Yuryev tested it on himself a couple of years ago.
Blow air out of the device so that it gets under the keys. The faster you squeeze the rubber part of the device, the more efficient the process will go. Which syringe to choose? I took the smallest version with a plastic tip for clog prevention, which I do once a week.
If the blockage is serious, it is better to pay attention to the larger option. With it, it will be easier to create a powerful jet of air.
How to avoid problems with sticking of the keyboard by 100%
But working on a MacBook with them is inconvenient to the point of horror. I do not recommend this option.
It is better to thoroughly blow the laptop buttons from dust with a syringe or compressed air from a cylinder at least once every one to two weeks. Then you are unlikely to encounter sticking.
And if you can not cope with the problem yourself, go to the service. Do not try to disassemble the keyboard - do not repeat the mistakes of others.
There are times when need to remove individual keyboard buttons Macbook Air or Pro. Most often this happens when liquid is spilled on the keyboard or solid particles get under the buttons, which in turn leads to sticking (viscous pressing) or jamming of individual MacBook keys. Today we will learn how to eliminate troubles of this kind with our own hands.
The most common case is when a sweet liquid is spilled onto the keyboard (tea with sugar, compote, Pinocchio, etc.). To restore functionality in this case, it is necessary to remove the jamming keys and clean the fastening mechanism under them.
Each button on the MacBook keyboard is attached to a miniature mechanism. It resembles a "scissors" mechanism and consists of two tiny plastic rectangles inserted into each other and connected to each other by a central hinge (see picture below). It is this mechanism that is responsible for the smooth movement of your MacBook's keyboard buttons.
So, if the buttons are stuck or not pressed at all, then something is interfering with them. Let's take them off and see what's going on. This procedure is not difficult, but requires accuracy and attention.
To dismantle the buttons, we need a tool to lift the edge of the button itself (it can be a small flat screwdriver, a plastic spatula, etc.) and something flat and thin (like tweezers) to detach the mechanism.
There are many videos on the Internet on this topic, but be careful when following the advice you are given. So in one of the videos, the “craftsman” removes the buttons of any keyboards only by lifting the right corner of the button. Try this method with a MacBook and your keyboard will lose a couple of "teeth".
I want to warn you right away, the fastening of the Air and Pro buttons is slightly different and a different technique is used for removal.
In order to remove the MacBook Air keyboard buttons, you need to.
Step 1
It is necessary to lift the lower edge of the button with a plastic spatula (flat screwdriver). Don't be afraid to lift the bottom edge, but don't overdo it either. The plastic mechanism is quite pliable and easily allows the bottom edge to rise 1.5 - 2mm above the aluminum case.
STEP 2
Horizontally push the tweezers into the gap formed on the right, and gently press down. In this way, you will release the lower right corner of the button from engagement with the mechanism.
If the button is not fully released, insert the tweezers from the left side, move a little towards the bottom edge and push down slightly. Both lower corners are free.
STEP 3
After you have removed the button, examine the mechanism on possible reasons inoperability. Is it possible to fix the problem (clean off sweet jam or remove hard crumbs) without removing the mechanism?
If not, then remove the plastic mechanism. To do this, we perform a tricky maneuver: we insert the blade of a clerical knife into the gap between the parts of the mechanism (as shown in the figures above), push the plastic parts of the mechanism apart and bring the edge of the inner part up.
We do the same on the other side. Thus, the parts of the mechanism come out of interengagement and are easy to remove from the mounts on the body.
STEP 4
To restore the button, put the scissors mechanism in its place and press it with your finger to the base of the keyboard. You will hear "click-click" - the mechanism is engaged with the base.
Buttons sometimes stick not only on new MacBooks, but also on old ones. It is usually advised to take apart the keyboard for cleaning, but in practice this only leads to - Mikk has already proven this.
We'll tell you how without vandalism clean the keyboard with a couple of proven methods if the buttons on it are already sticking or are just about to be assembled.
Five minutes once a week and the buttons on my 2017 MacBook Pro work like clockwork. Yours will be no worse.
Why are the keys on my MacBook intermittently stuck?
The keys begin to stick only due to the fact that foreign particles get under them. There are no other options, and buttons, even with a broken mechanism, do not behave this way.
If something gets under the button, it prevents it from being pressed, and it seems to you that it simply stuck to the base. Therefore, they say that the key is "stuck".
The problem began to be actively written in 2015. The world saw a 12-inch MacBook with a Butterfly-type keyboard. The new mechanism turned out to be much smaller in size, so cleanliness turned out to be more critical for it than for the usual Scissors.
In 2017, the Butterfly was updated to the 2nd generation, the problem began to appear less often, but remained.
However, the services say that they are regularly accessed not only by owners of new MacBooks, but also by old ones. Why?
Leftover food and dust. Yes, these are the most frequent guests of your keyboard, who are happy to find secluded places under the keys and prevent them from being pressed.
If you eat near your MacBook, you have already experienced or will experience this problem in the near future.
If you don’t eat near the MacBook, dust still falls on it, so you still can’t hide from sticking.
Bits of skin and sweat. Microscopic parts of your body to a lesser extent, but can also cause sticky keys.
To minimize the effect, do not forget to maintain hygiene - just wash your hands with soap more often.
Tea and water with sugar. Liquids with sugar are critical for the keyboard. In this case, it will not be possible to fully get rid of sticking even after cleaning.
Even before the new year, I spilled tea with sugar on the keyboard of my MacBook - there was a minimum of liquid, it was quickly removed at the nearest service, but I did not manage to save the keyboard.
The only correct solution was to replace the keyboard. This is what I did.
Apple has not officially acknowledged the MacBook's sticky keys issue. Yes, and it was pointless to do this, because this can be avoided by banal accuracy.
But a large stream of criticism against the company made it update the Butterfly, which has become more practical - this is a step towards users.
And last year, the manufacturer released a guide to cleaning the keyboard from dirt using compressed air.
Yes, Apple offers to simply blow out food debris and other foreign objects from under the keys with a special balloon.
By the way, you can easily find one in any modern electronics store or order it online. Issue price - 200-400 rubles.
Step 1. Hold your MacBook so that its keyboard is at a 75-degree angle to you—no need to stand it upright.
Step 2 Blow out the entire keyboard or just the most problematic keys first from left to right and then from right to left.
Step 3 Put the MacBook on its right side and do the same.
Step 4 Put the MacBook on its left side and repeat the procedure.
Please note that when using a compressed air cylinder, a small amount of liquid may be released from it. It is harmless, just wipe it off the keyboard with a tissue.
Our way to clean a MacBook keyboard from a pharmacy
You can use more than just compressed air to blow dirt off your MacBook keyboard. You can simply blow on the buttons with your mouth, but this is not as effective.
It is better to use an enema-syringe of the "Pear" type from the nearest pharmacy for purge. Do not laugh - the method is quite working. Roma Yuriev wore it a couple of years ago.
Blow air out of the device so that it falls under the keys. The faster you squeeze the rubber part of the device, the more efficient the process will go.
Which syringe to choose? I took the smallest version with a plastic tip for clog prevention, which I do once a week.
If the blockage is serious, it is better to pay attention to the larger option. With it, it will be easier to create a powerful jet of air.
How to avoid 100% sticky keyboard problems
To protect the keyboard from dirt and further sticking, you can use special pads, which are full of on AliExpress for every taste.
But working on a MacBook with them is inconvenient to the point of horror. I do not recommend this option.
