My Cat Ate my Keyboard

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Level 3

912 points

My Cat Ate my Keyboard

Well, ripped off a couple of keys, actually. Plus the Space Bar. Popped the keys clean off.

No, alcohol was not involved.

Anyway, when I tried an Apple USB keyboard after this incident, it didn't work. In any of the USB ports. But the Bluetooth keyboard works fine.

Why do you think the USB keyboard wouldn't work? I do not think any of the damaged keys were "shorting" in any manner, because the computer works fine with the Bluetooth keyboard.

iFixIt.com is delivering my replacement tomorrow.

17" Matte MBPro 2GB 2.16GHz Seagate 200GB Drive, Mac OS X (10.5.6), OWC, WD, and SmartDisk backup drives.

Posted on Apr 17, 2009 10:09 AM

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Answer 1

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Apr 17, 2009 10:17 AM in response to clintbradford

"...Why do you think the USB keyboard wouldn't work? I do not think any of the damaged keys were "shorting" in any manner, because the computer works fine with the Bluetooth keyboard."

Your keyboard is an internal USB bus device and/or your cat species is a USB short hair.

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Answer 2

clintbradford Author

Level 3

912 points

Apr 17, 2009 10:29 AM in response to sig

... keyboard is an internal USB bus device ...

Yes - but plugging in Apple's USB keyboard USED to work just fine - before the incident. Is there a diagnostic routine that will tell me that all will be OK after replacing the keyboard?

... your cat is a USB short hair ...

I just finished giving him a bath. Took me an hour to get all the hair off my tongue.

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Answer 3

clintbradford Author

Level 3

912 points

Apr 17, 2009 10:34 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

I am sorry - couldn't help myself. I mean, this "incident" occurred about two minutes before I was to be interviewed live on an amateur radio net, where I wanted access to my computer/Internet to handle incoming questions. Ya can't be mad at the cat ... wasn;t his fault. But to see my precious 17" MBP sitting there with missing keys was, well, quite a rise in blood pressure on my end.

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Answer 4

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,296 points

Apr 18, 2009 9:03 AM in response to clintbradford

No, alcohol was not involved.

I'm glad you pointed that out. The nearly 1:1 correlation between cat ownership and notebook computer damage is rivaled only by the correlation between excessive alcohol consumption and notebook computer damage.

Did you find the excellent step-by-step repair guides on iFixit? They are the best I've found.

Allan

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Answer 5

clintbradford Author

Level 3

912 points

Apr 18, 2009 3:57 PM in response to clintbradford

Replacement keyboard arrived today, as expected. Removal and replacement took less than an hour.

The iFixIt.com keyboard is perfect ... uniform lighting ,,, all keys have that "new" tactile feel ... Their pictorial was right-on. I would only add that you take extreme care when working with the board-connecting ribbon cables. There can be components embedded in them! In this case (no pun intended), there is a very small capacitor along one of the adhesive ribbon cables that you have to gently pry apart from its surface. Use something very sharp and you might damage the cable's circuitry.

To the gentleman who suggested that I de-claw the cat: Well, he's an outdoor cat, so we won't be doing that.

Again, http://www.iFixIt.com are great people.

Clint Bradford
Mira Loma CA US

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