I am getting a funky smell coming from my keyboard. I have cleaned the board with some canned air but it still stinks. It doesn't smell like anything burned but more like body odor (yeah, I know, "eww"). I keep my computer pretty clean and I bathe regularly, so I don't know what it can be. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Me Too! And dang, is it an icky smell. My husband said "Ew. That's a human smell." At first I blamed the boys that I babysit for and allow to play Bugdom, but after I cleaned the keys, and the smell returned, I figured it was something else. Isn't this strange?
Last weekend, I'd had enough - even when I opened the computer up, I could smell it. Here's what I did -- although in retrospect it seems kind of risky and I am sure not recommended by the manufacturer. 🙂
I popped off all of the keys that were small sized (the big ones have this metal thingey that makes it harder to remove safely (i.e. Caps lock, shift, space, etc.) Then, I took all of those keys and dropped them into a bowl with mild dish detergent (Ivory). Then, I sprayed Endust for Electronics onto a paper towel and wiped the keyboard underneath the keys. This didn't seem enough, so I got out a QTip and used that with Endust on it between the keys. (and I must confess I did get a little spray happy with the Endust -- that smell just HAD to go!!) While that dried, I rinsed off the key covers that had been soaking in the Ivory water, and dried them. When all was dry, I popped them back on and resumed. I did have to tell the computer afterwards to use the keyboard (in system prefs) but it works now. AND now my keyboard smells like.... Endust and B.O. A marked improvement? Jury's still out. But I think it is a bit better than it was before.
What do you think is causing this weird smell? I wonder if the little silicone/rubbery thing underneath the keys that give them their spring is melting a bit when the computer gets hot.
Anyway, good luck and I'm so happy to know that I'm not the only one with this issue!!
No solution yet, but I have noticed that the intensity of the smell varies -- sometimes it's awful, other times it's barely noticeable. This leads me to believe that the smell is somehow connected to the heat of the iBook too -- your "melting" hypothesis, or some variation of it, could be correct (but then again, the smell is definitely not a "burning" type of smell -- the best way to describe it is B.O. -- who knows).
BTW: typing this message in Safari! Super cool browser.
I notice the smell also.
It reminds me of the smell of leather cleaner or something.
I can't figure it out- I guess as long as it is not a fume or some sort that is going to kill us we will be fine.
My last ibook didn't have this smell.
My iBook is about 18 months old, and I started noticing the smell a couple of months ago, and yesterday finally tracked it to the keyboard. It's getting worse. I'm pretty sure it's the smell of one type of decaying plastic. If so, cleaning won't help ( and my keyboard is spotless so there's nothing to clean).
I normally leave my iBook in 'sleep' mode when I'm not using it - is that what the rest of us do too? If so, maybe the slight heat has accelerated the decay. If not then it's probably not due to heat.
In any case, this shouldn't be happening, but I doubt we can expect any help from Apple. A replacement keyboard costs about $150.
I can't believe it is so bad you can smell it without putting your noise down to the keyboard. Mine has that funny smell too, but you have to bend over and sniff. I'm afraid my co-workers will see me sniffing my keyboard and get the wrong idea.
Wow, that is one of the most bizarre computer problems I've ever heard of. I can honestly say my keyboard doesn't have that problem. If I put my nose to the keyboard and inhale deeply, I smell a clean, sharp plastic smell.
I have to think this must be finger oils, dead skin, etc., falling under the keys and getting odoriferous from the heat there. I could see how that could be almost impossible to thoroughly clean and could be virually invisible.... The big question would be why some people experience the problem and others don't.
I
did send my iBook to Apple for repairs twice, both times towards the end of its first year of warranty, and when it came back the keyboard was
spotless, even though the repairs had no direct relationship to keyboard issues - I almost wondered if they'd replaced it. Now I have to think they cleaned it by removing it and using some process more thorough than anything we can do at home, and that may be why I haven't experienced what many of you describe.
There are laboratories, believe it or not, which analyse smells. If you can trap the smell in a bag, they will be able to tell what's causing it (i.e decomposing plastic or organic matter).
However, whether you can find one or not, and whether the expense and effort are worth it, is up to you. I'd just "air it" every so often and assume that the odour will eventually dissipate (like a "new car" smell).
I don't think the odour will dissipate. Originally (for the first year at least) there was no smell at all. This means it isn't coming from something that contaminated the iBook when it was new (e.g. dirty assembly conditions).
Now it's getting worse. You couldn't smell it across the room, but with the iBook on your lap it's quite noticeable. It's definitely produced by the plastic, not by human contamination. I've noticed similar smells from some old plastic containers that have sat in the sun for years (e.g. flowerpots). But my iBook never goes out in the sun; it just sleeps on my desk.
This isn't the smell associated with some new plastics, because there was no smell when the iBook was new.
I suspect that Apple made the iBook keyboards from a defective or unsuitable plastic, and now it's beginning to break down.
I just searched all the Apple Discussions postings for 'smell'. Smell problems aren't being reported for other Mac keyboards, just for the iBooks.
Further evidence that this is a problem caused by the construction materials of these keyboards, not the users, is that none of my other keyboards ever smelled. Even my old PowerBook, whose keyboard stayed hot all the time and was full of cracker crumbs and who knows what else, never smelled bad.
The one thing about this smell that makes me think that its got to be connected to my iBook's heat is that the intensity of the smell fluctuates. I also began to notice the smell emanating from the keyboard shortly after I installed a 512mb ram module in the empty slot. Is it possible that this extra ram has increased the operating temperature of my iBook, which in turn has caused the keyboard to heat up and emit this funky toxic B.O. smell? Does anyone else suffering from this problem have extra ram installed?
you guys are probably right. I dont think that they would sell computers that are being made by "not clean" humans or such. that is really weird. i cant believe that its gone unnoticed by apple.
the first 2iMAC's I received though broken and defective stunk like mildew ---- the 3rd is great and works like a charm!
the 2 were probably in some southern wharehous in Memphis where it is damp and when the overnighted it - they stunk - the FedEx lady said the same thing box and all!
The new one - made for me as such and took weeks to get here - and new smell - Yeah!
