UltraNav USB Keyboard Failure - Can It Be Fixed?

[lparsons]

I have an IBM UltraNav full-size USB keyboard (touchpad and trackpoint) that stopped working as a keyboard today. Both the trackpoint and the touchpad work fine as mice but no buttons on the keyboard work any more. I can't seem to figure out what happened. I spilled a little filtered water on it last week but it worked fine shortly after. I never drink coffee and never have sugary drinks in open cups around the keyboard.

I disassembled it as well as I could this afternoon; disconnecting and reconnecting cables that were obvious in how to do that. I used compressed air to try to blow out any crusty bits from inside the assembly, but that made no difference. I tried it on more than one computer to make sure it wasn't computer-specific.

I did notice that if I plugged it in to a computer that already had a keyboard connected to it, the capslock and numlock lights worked in response to what I pressed on the keyboard that was already there.

The keyboard is ~5 years old. I bought it - or rather was given it - to replace a model M with trackpoint that I used to use but was driving my colleagues crazy by its sound. Being as I no longer share my office, maybe I'll just switch back

At any rate, has anyone ever fixed one of these? I did have a problem with a spring (under the left trackpoint mouse button) that I haven't fixed yet, either. I can't help but wonder if I could swap it for a thinkpad keyboard as it is very similar, though I have no idea what model to try. However, the fact that the num pd doesn't work either suggests the problem may be the control board rather than the actual keyboard.

Any insight is welcome.

[ThinkRob]

I can't help but wonder if I could swap it for a thinkpad keyboard as it is very similar, though I have no idea what model to try. However, the fact that the num pd doesn't work either suggests the problem may be the control board rather than the actual keyboard.

Any insight is welcome.

You can try swapping it for a T4x/R5x keyboard as it should be the same. I'm not sure what to do if the controller is toast though.

The new ThinkPad external keyboards are quite cheap though and they do feel quite nice (for scissor-switch keyboards, that is...)

Personally I'd go with the Model M, but then again I love the feel of mechanical keyboards... If you need a quieter option with a TrackPoint (uh, a good one -- not the garbage on the Ms...) then I'd check out the IBM SpaceSaver II. It's a rubber dome board, true, but it's actually pretty good for rubber and it does have a proper TrackPoint.