How do i disable a key on my laptop keyboard that is stuck?

I have a stuck key on my WIndows XP SOny Vaio laptop. The laptop is 5 yrs old and in bad shape, but my neice is having an emergency and needs to borrow it for school.

Unfortunately one of the keys is stuck (fortunately one she doesn't need - the `~ key, but whenever you open Word or even a browser it just keeps typing `````````````` in the window/document and has made the laptop practically unusable.

I took the key off and tried shoving paper in between the layers underneath, but it didn't fix the problem. I've tried prying the metal part up off the keyboard hoping it would be more difficult for the connection to be made that presses the key. This helped for a while, but when i type on the keyboard again it starts all over again.

I really just need to disable the key in the BIOS or using some utility - but after 4 hours of searching the net I have found nothing. There was a similar article on your website from 2001 on how to do this in Windows 2000, but all of the links to other sites (with the articles) were broken so it didn't help.

I'm willing to destroy the key alltogether (with water, or whatever you suggest) i just don't to damage the other keys around it so I would like to hear from someone who has done this before!

Thanks,
The LFactress

 

They often have a jack in back for connecting another PS/2 keyboard. It can't be disabled by software when it is stuck because many other keys use the same circuits and won't function correctly with that key stuck. So you need to unstick it mechanically, or remove the kb and try plugging in another one.

 

I was hoping to avoid this, as it's an old backup laptop and i don't want to invest more money in a keyboard. Also, i doubt my neice will want to carry the extra keyboard around to her classes.

Is there anyway to disable the key on the keyboard itself manually?

-Melissa