T61 chassis flex near touchpad buttons....solutions?

[mtbiac]

So I just got my new T61 14" WXGA+ (7664-17U) and I'm noticing a fair amount of chassis flex when I rests my wrists on the keyboard area. The flex though, is on the front of the chassis near the touchpad mouse buttons and the audio inputs. Is this normal? Its most noticable when I just push on that piece of plastic and normally its not too too bad. It's starting to annoy me now, though.

is there any fix for this? I tried tightening the screws on the bottom, nothing....What about alittle super glue or something of that sort?


thanks for the help!

[mtbiac]

nobody else is experiencing this??? anyone?

thanks

[wswartzendruber]

It's not the chassis, it's just the plastic palmrest. With the older ThinkPads, the palmrest was part of the chassis. With the T6x series, it's just a plastic covering over the metal frame inside. Nothing's going to get damaged.

[mtbiac]

that's good to know, but is there any way to make the plastic stop flexing? Its really starting to bother me now

[wswartzendruber]

that's good to know, but is there any way to make the plastic stop flexing? Its really starting to bother me now

Sure. If you don't care about the warranty, pull the palmrest off (takes four screws on the T60) and stuff something small in the crannies.

[MaxRoy77]

Anyone been able to fix this or have it fixed ?

[Muse]

Wow! Reading this thread (I just did) and dr_st's thread on rigid_vs_mushy keyboard areas on the T6x's vs. T4x's has me suddenly noticing (looking for!) issues I was unaware of before. Not at all sure this is a good idea! Well, pinching my T61 w/15.4" WSXGA+ (not something I would ever have otherwise done) I detect a not rigid condition in front of and to the left of the fn key. A "normal" squeeze depresses the palmrest probably a good 1/16" inch. Is it bothersome? Maybe if I pay attention to it. I suppose one could put something under the palmrest to support it. I'm going to remove my palmrest shortly to swap out the RAM. I'll have a look.

[MaxRoy77]

^ About the flex on the palm rest, I experience the same thing here (T61p 15.4"). Same with the [ESC], [F1], [F2], [F3].

About the flex and the spring sounding [ENTER] key, it is probably related to the DVD drive, Ultrabay top area not fully covered
by the frame as older models were ?! Like this:


My T61p 15.4" has 3 cutouts over the already mushy DVD drive like this:


But on the System service parts - ThinkPad T61 and T61p (15.4-inch widescreen) document (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-68229) you can find the image does not fit with my version, there is a full cover over the DVD drive, Ultrabay !


Can someone confirm that their T61, T61p have full cover over the drive bay ? Or can confirm that 2 version of the structural frame exists ?

Thanks.

[richk]

that picture is a 14.1" wide-screen model. The only 15.4 frame I have right now is on a motherboard pulled from a "late" T61p (made June, 2008) It has more cutout than metal over the DVD drive area. There are 3 cutouts, the biggest one runs from under the "O" and "L" keys all the way past the end of the keyboard and halfway across the keyboard bezel. That is the only design I remember from the 15.4" T61, but I cannot say I paid close attention.

[MaxRoy77]

I put a credit card under the keyboard, bottom right (covering the arrows keys and the [enter] key), screw it all up and test the keyboard, BAM! flex all gone. So tomorrow like the mod recommended above in that thread I will buy some 2mm rubber magnet and place it on the frame where it lack supports:

- On the frame over the DVD drive/Ultrabay
- Between the heatsink and the left keyboard bezel (speaker) left of the [CAPS LOCK] key all the way up to the [ESC] key

Thanks guys for the tips.

I will keep you posted of the result, if not, feel free to PM me .

Link to my post in another discussion on the issue http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 14#p605314