[gumpzilla]

My girlfriend has a pretty lengthy paper that she needs to write for the end of her semester in her master's program. Last night she managed to spill some seltzer water on the computer. She called me to tell me about this, and mentioned that the keyboard was acting a little weird. After emailing herself the paper, she turned off the computer, flipped it over to drain as much liquid as possible, and then ran a blow dryer over it to dry it somewhat.

A couple of hours later, she went back to try it again, and the keyboard is definitely acting pretty crazy. Several of the keys on the left hand side - tab, Q, A, left shift - alternate between not working at all and getting stuck and sending out nonstop streams. (She was getting to enjoy lesser used features of Windows XP, like Sticky Keys, up close and personal.) So, at this point she finally realized, "Wow, I'm kinda [censored]," and started flipping out a bit. She's going to work on campus today for the interim, and has started investigating/thinking about getting the laptop serviced.

Right now my best plan for a temporary solution is to go over to her place with a USB keyboard in a few hours, throw that in and see if it fixes the problem. I think she's not enamored of this plan because it turns her laptop into a desktop; I like it because it makes it a computer again, which is by far the most pressing need for the next couple of weeks. The main issue, I think, is whether or not plugging in a USB keyboard will lead to the default keyboard disabling itself - I guess I can always hit up the control panel once I get the thing going.

Longer term, the prices that these service guys sound like they're going to charge are pretty high. High enough that unless it's just the keyboard, buying a new laptop makes more sense. Anybody have a good method for diagnosing the extent of the damage, and whether it's limited to the keyboard (my current assumption is yes)? If I can confirm that it's just the keyboard, I'd be tempted to try and order a new one from Dell and just put it in myself.

Any suggestions/things I'm not thinking of?