keyboards control the power?

I was fixing my friends laptop, and my teacher took the keyboard home to wash it cause it had syrup on it. he brought it back the next day and i swear, if the keyboard's ribbon cable was plugged into the mother board it would not turn on, and then if you take it out the computer would turn on just fine
You may want to check for saliva residue on the keyboard, that would cause a short-circuit.
They don't necessarily "control" the power, although power is run through them. If they are messed up and do something bad with that power, or don't return it, this can negatively affect the rest of the computer. In plain English anyways ;)
Perhaps your teacher cleaned it by running it under the tap.
no it was in the dish washer and why is the power run through them modshop?
That's not a good idea. You can wash them in pure water so long as you dry them properly, but tap water and especially soapy water are definitely not good for electronics. The circuitry is probably all corroded.
so why is the power run through the keyboard? and he said people online did it and it worked. did those people lie to him?
closed account (z05DSL3A)
brought it back the next day
you would probably need to leave it for a few days in a warm place to dry out fully.
Yeah, that would imply that it was being run in series when it should be run in parallel with the rest of the motherboard, so maybe something else is going on. I've heard of people putting computer hardware in the dishwasher and it coming out okay, but it's definitely not good in the long run due to chemical corrosion. The dishwasher thing is mostly a troll.

But it might still work if, as Grey Wolf says, it hasn't dried out properly (which is likely).
There is 5v supply to the keyboard.

When I spill (sticky) stuff like coffee on a keyboard I usually just throw it away
and get a new one because I fund they are never the same again.

I have washed electronic board using water (electronic chips are hermetically sealed in theory) - but you must dry them thoroughly before using them again.
Dousing anything that is even remotely electronic in water is nuts, and is a terrific way to damage or even destroy it. Keyboard in the dishwasher qualifies.

The only exception is electronics that are specifically designed to be waterproof/submersible.

If there is any hope of recovering this hardware, I'm with Grey Wolf. Give it at least a few days, and put it somewhere it can dry out easily. A common technique is to stick it in a container with uncooked rice, since rice is great at absorbing moisture (but obviously you do not want to close the container)

(although rice might not be great for a keyboard because it'll get stuck under the keys.....)

EDIT:

so why is the power run through the keyboard? and he said people online did it and it worked. did those people lie to him?


Keyboards need power to detect keypresses. We're not talking mechanical typewriter here... it's an electronic device. Electronic devices need electricity.


As for the people online, who knows. They might have been trolling. They might have been lying. They might have just gotten extremely lucky. The only thing I can say for sure is they were giving terrible, terrible advice.


EDIT2:

The laptop failing to start was probably a safety feature of the laptop. Many electronic devices will often fail to power up if they detect a short for this very reason. Better for it to not start than start and fry the entire laptop beyond repair.
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we bought a new one and it worked
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