Defective keyboard from £&@Bay. Any way to fix it? *PICS*

[Tasurinchi]

Hi Thinkpad-gurus!

Bought in @#!Bay some weeks ago a new keyboard for my X41 (to replace the Japanese one my TP has). After waiting almost 4 weeks for it to arrive to good ol' Switzerland, I open the package to find out that the keyboard it's bent. See the pictures below







I've contacted the seller and now I'm expecting him to give me instructions what to do, but I know the standard procedure is to send it back and pay for the postage and shipping myself, which would probably be around 80% of the original price of the keyboard.

So here come my questions:

Is there any "easy" way to fix the keyboard for a rookie like me? I assume that trying to make it straight with my bare hands won't be very wise.

I've also noticed that the metal backplate is very soft, (I've cleaned the keyboard of my X31 some days ago and I can remember that the quality was much better). Did you notice the same or maybe this "brand new IBM keyboard" is just a "brand new keyboard"

Appart from the frustration after such a long waiting time, I would have expected that an experienced seller will package the contents accordingly... Well, let's see how it turns out.

I may post a LF topic in the Marketplace, but the shipping costs overseas are normally too high comparing the price of a Keyboard.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Cheers

Tasurinchi

[rkawakami]

Haven't played around with my own X41 keyboard but if it's like the ones in X22 and T2x systems, then yes, the metal substrate upon which the keys are mounted is fairly soft. I've also received keyboards like this in the mail (dropped into a large bubble wrap envelope with no other protection ) and have simply bent it back into shape with my bare hands if there was no actual cracks in the aluminum plating and all of the keys were unbroken.

I used to send notes to eBay sellers with my payment asking about how the item was going to be packed. This was mainly after getting packages that were REALLY damaged. But after several hundred transactions, I've come to expect the bare minimum to be used in protection and am still surprised when stuff that I'm sure would be broken when I opened the envelope/package, are fine. As you are dealing with international/overseas(?) shipments, it might be in your best interests to be more proactive in asking how/what the seller is using for packaging. If that's the entire "box" in the background of your first two pictures that the keyboard was shipped in, then to me, that's inadequate.

edit: typo; changed X31 to X41

[Tasurinchi]

If that's the entire "box" in the background of your first two pictures that the keyboard was shipped in, then to me, that's inadequate.

The carton box in the background is indeed the delivery package and I fully agree is complete inadequate. My assumption was that an experienced seller would use a good box, but I was proved to be wrong. The moment I saw the package I immediately had a bad feeling

I've also received keyboards like this in the mail (dropped into a large bubble wrap envelope with no other protection )

Same here

have simply bent it back into shape with my bare hands if there was no actual cracks in the aluminum plating and all of the keys were unbroken

Same here again, there is then some hope to fix it? Apart from the bending, the rest seems to be in good shape, no broken metal, no broken or missing keys. I will give it a try tonight...

Thanks a lot Ray for the comments!

Cheers

[Nihan]

If the pysical layout of your previous keyboard is the same as the damaged one's, maybe you could swap all the keys to the old one.

[Tasurinchi]

you could swap all the keys to the old one

That's a good point, the only potential issue I see is that the Japanese keyboard has more keys that a normal one, specially around the space bar. But it's for sure worth to try...

[Harryc]

One thing came to mind when I saw that keyboard....put a rounded pencil underneath it where the bend is and across the width of the keyboard. On a hard surface press down from the top of the keyboard on both sides of the bend location. Press down slowly and gently, a little at a time until the bottom plate is straight.

[Tasurinchi]

@Harry: Thanks for the tip! I'll try tonight...

[Tasurinchi]

Look that I have a bad omen with the "change the keyboard" project. Just for the sake of trying I decided to see how the bent keyboard would look like installed on the X41, but I cannot even take out the screws of the existing one!! The screws from the outside looked brand new in their matt black painting, but with the first (gentle) try with one of my screwdrivers the black painting was gone. I tried using all my screwdrivers but the screws will not get out.

I didn't want to force it that much as I've read some topics here dealing with broken screws and I want to evade similar problems. Looks like when the notebook was refurbished they put cheap screws or whatever. I'll try and see if I can get better tools before using more force...

If the pysical layout of your previous keyboard is the same as the damaged one's, maybe you could swap all the keys to the old one

Unfortunately the Japanese layout is complete different. No luck this time