Thinkpads Forum

I just got a T420 and am fairly happy with it, but the keyboard flexes badly by the arrow keys. Normal pressure to activate the arrow keys results in the entire corner of the keyboard bottoming out. Has anyone else had this and found a solution? The keyboard looks brand new and otherwise feels good, so I'd prefer not having to replace it.

Mine definitely does not do that. I wonder if a previous owner had yours open and didn't put the keyboard back quite right.

theterminator93 wrote:Mine definitely does not do that. I wonder if a previous owner had yours open and didn't put the keyboard back quite right.

Good point. I just took it off and reinstalled it according to the Lenovo guide here: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/migr-76809

It's better but not quite right. The little tab under the arrow keys isn't sliding all the way forward into the notch for some reason.

Something is very abnormal, remove and inspect the keyboard as well the area in question where it sinks to see if anything had been cut or broken away. They keyboard should be at a consistent height from one side to the other.

Definitely abnormal. Next time you have it apart, check to see if:

1. There is something underneath the keyboard which is spacing it up away from its intended position, or
preventing it from seating properly under the palmrest.

2. The base of the keyboard is dented or bent.

Fixed it. The bulging tab on the keyboard under the down arrow key was slightly too wide. The edge of the tab was making contact and preventing it from sliding all the way into the notch. I filed that part down very slightly and now it slides in fine and is solid as a rock. Thanks for the help.