Top 3 Ways to Fix a Stuck Key on a Laptop [Guide]

Since we have started to work more from home, days have made it necessary for many of us to spend hours in front of the screen. But unfortunately, this has also resulted in many of us eating while working on the all-important office presentation, reports, and so on.

Yes, I know that these eating habits have led to us putting on a lot of weight! But that’s a topic for another time! For today, let’s focus on the health of your laptop keyboard!

The thing is simple: when we use a keyboard for a long time, some keys can get stuck. This can happen for a variety of reasons; for example, dust/dirt may have accumulated around and under a key.

However, one thing that significantly affects the health of the keyboard is when we drop food or drink on it. 

Food tends to get stuck in places we can’t clean, and over time dries hard on the keys.

This article will help you fix a stuck key in your laptop keyboard.

How to Fix a Jammed Key on Laptop?

We have summarized the three solutions in three bullet points to make it easier for you to grasp. 

• Carefully lift out the jammed key. Use a flat tool like a screwdriver to get under the key and pull up on one of the edges. You can also use your nail. On a laptop (PC or Mac), the key is held by a fragile plastic clip that also acts as a spring. Clean it up and put the key back! 
• Flip your laptop upside down and shake it to remove stuck dirt. Be careful to not drop your laptop. 
• Blow under the stuck key to remove excess dirt or dust.

If you need more details in the instructions, we’ve written everything down in detail below.

3 Ways to Fix The Stuck Keys of Your Laptop

1. Shaking It Away

It’s very simple! All you need for this step is a small cleaning brush. Follow the steps below and your keyboard should be ready to use again.

1. Turn off your laptop, unless you want your important documents to be filled with gibberish!
2. Hold your laptop with both hands and flip it upside down so that the keyboard is facing the floor.
3. Now shake the laptop vigorously a few times.
4. Check the key that is stuck. If it’s still stuck, you can now use the brush to make the key work again.

If that doesn’t solve your problem, keep reading! If it has, well, carry on.

2. Blow Away

So you’ve tried shaking off the dirt and brushing it off, but the key is still stuck. Let’s see if this step can help!

This step is almost the same as the last one, except in this case you need a can of compressed air.

1. Turn off the laptop.
2. Blow out the jammed key with the compressed air and see if any debris comes out.
3. If they do, you’ll need to carefully remove them before you get back to work, otherwise the key might jam again.
4. Once you are done, check the key.

3. Pick It Before You Stick It

This can seem like a tricky process, but if your key is still stuck, this may be the last thing you can do to fix it.

For this step, you’ll need a flat instrument like a screwdriver. You can also use a fingernail if you have a really big one! (We don’t recommend this, though.) It’s best to use a cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol.

1. Using your flat instrument, carefully lift the jammed key off the keyboard.
2. Once the key is pulled out, carefully wipe the exposed area, making sure dust and dirt are completely removed.
3. Next, you’ll need a cotton swab and alcohol, in case any liquids have dried up on the affected area.
4. Once you’re done with the cotton swab, you need to let the keyboard dry. While you wait, take another cotton swab with some rubbing alcohol and wipe the inside and outside of the key while you let it dry as well.
5. Once both the keyboard and the key are dry, return the key to its position and check it.

Your key should work fine now. But if you still have problems with it, we recommend you to contact a technician.

It’s also possible that the keys need to be replaced. But this is also a simple procedure that goes as follows. Remove the key as before and insert the new key.

One piece of advice: when you replace the keys, make sure that you don’t remove more than two keys at a time. If you do, you might mix up their position and cause another problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Nowadays, sticky keys are a common sight. So if you’re dealing with one or more sticky keys, don’t worry, even if you’re in the middle of an important presentation or meeting.

Just follow the steps outlined above and hopefully your sticky key problems will soon be gone.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you’ve ever had to deal with sticking keys, leave us a comment and tell us how you solved the problem.

If you have a friend, colleague, or family member who keeps getting their keys stuck, you should forward this article to them! It would help both of us, I promise!