Keyboard problem

[carpaydeeyum]

My son just finished removing all the keys from the keyboard, cleaning the dried up coffee he spilled on the Macbook a few days ago.
Of note: As soon as he spilled, he removed the battery, turned it upside down and popped off some keys to let the coffee escape. We let it dry out for a day before trying it, and miraculously, it came back on but the keyboard was not working much. Just the mousepad. He spent hours today taking it apart and putting it back together, swabbing with alcohol. Cursing ensued.
The computer is running just fine, and all is well EXCEPT there are four dead keys: r 4 / and =
Also, h makes a .
H makes a weird capital O with a slash coming off the top, like an upside down Q, and when you push h in conjunction with other keys, we get unexpected characters (h+g=a copyright sign; h+c = a strange foreign character).
I wondered if there is some way to "reset" the keyboard, so that all the keys are doing what they used to do. Or are we just really lucky that he didn't kill the computer with coffee?

 

[simbalala]

Been there, done that (for a friend).

You'll need a new keyboard, there's contamination in the membranes.

Check the prices at http://www.ifixit.com/

 

[djackmac]

If its a mabook its going to need a top case, at the very least. The top case/keyboard is all one unit. You did the right thing by keeping it upside down and removing the battery. But the coffee may have hit the logic board and coffee if it had cream/sugar in it will eventually corrode components. I look at, clean up coffee spills on laptops all the time. I woud recommend it to be completely taken apart, inspected, diagnosed, and if passes diagnostics then cleaned professionally. But if it was under warranty through Applecare that is void at this point.