SOLVED Crumbs!

[AndreaM]

I often have a cup of tea, and a couple of biscuits, when using my Mac and I am beginning to think that, over time, crumbs have gone beneath the keys, making a few of them unresponsive. Is it possible to open up the MacBook and brush them out?

I have a MacBook Pro 2019.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

You could try using a small hand held vacuum cleaner.
I don't think it would be a simple job to strip down to access the keyboard.

 

[Applescrumpy]

Amazon have a range of keyboard vacuum cleaners, many for under £20. I’m hoping my wife will buy me one for Christmas!

Amazon.co.uk : keyboard vacuum cleaner

 

[AndreaM]

I don't think it would be a simple job to strip down to access the keyboard.

I was rather thinking the same but I can’t imagine the crumbs being able to come back up through the very narrow spaces around the keys.

Does anyone have any advice on how easy (or difficult) it would be to access the keyboard area without risking doing damage?

 

[MightyGem]

I was rather thinking the same but I can’t imagine the crumbs being able to come back up through the very narrow spaces around the keys.

Does anyone have any advice on how easy (or difficult) it would be to access the keyboard area without risking doing damage?

See here. Looks fiddly.

Top tip. If you are going to remove them all at once, take a photo of the keyboard before you do.

 

[AndreaM]

Top tip. If you are going to remove them all at once, take a photo of the keyboard before you do.

My goodness, that would take forever - and yes, a wise precaution to photograph the keyboard order before even thinking about it!

I don’t know if I’m brave enough to unscrew the bottom of the laptop, or even have the right tool, to see if I can blow the crumbs out in one go.

 

[MightyGem]

Unscrewing the laptop base won't give you access to the back of the keyboard.

 

[AndreaM]

Unscrewing the laptop base won't give you access to the back of the keyboard.

How do you get access to the keyboard space then, should it ever be necessary? I looked at the bottom of the laptop anyway and don't have whatever tiny tool is required to remove the screws.

I tried shutting the laptop down and turning it upside down to shake out the crumbs. There were a small number came out but when I turned the laptop round again, it had restarted itself! I had to search for the reason why and had to enter some code in the Terminal app to stop it doing that.

 

[MightyGem]

How do you get access to the keyboard space then, should it ever be necessary?

By removing the keys.

This is what you see when you are the back off.

 

[AndreaM]

By removing the keys.

This is what you see when you are the back off.

View attachment 4132

Thank you. It's obviously not going to help then to get crumbs out that way.

I still can't understand why shaking the laptop (gently) while upside down and shut down caused it to restart and change some settings.

 

[MightyGem]

I still can't understand why shaking the laptop (gently) while upside down and shut down caused it to restart and change some settings.

No idea on that I'm afraid.