fix for creaking palmrest?

[CantStopNow]

I got my T42 last week, and it has been working out pretty well. One of my gripes is that the palm rest creaks a bit on the left hand side, where it sits above the PCMCIA slots. Some people have made references to using a business card to fix things like this. What's the procedure? (I haven't tried removing the keyboard just yet)

It's unfortunate that posts only stay alive for 10 days on this forum, because I'm sure this has been answered clearly in the past...

[Leon]

really? i thoght they fixed the 10 day problem

[G-Man]

You can get a PC Card Slot Kit (13N5345). It includes the following parts:

Cover, PC Card slot
Spacer, PC Card slot
Spring, PC Card slot cover

This might help. Oh, and no 10 day post limit.

Regards,
G-Man

[RoadHazard]

G-Man. Sorry for my ignorance but how does this kit help with the creaking? Thanks.

[K. Eng]

I tried to fix the slight flex in the palmrest by placing some thin foam over the PC Card slots, but it didn't work too well. The palmrest just ended up bulging upwards.

As I was unable to find thinner foam, this very minor problem has gone unfixed

[eriqesque]

Mine has almost gone away by simply removing and reaseating it.
so you might try it.

[vpn-user]

Had same problem with my T41p. Its not the PCMCIA Slot!

Look for an -- on the right side near the IR port. The -- is on the mainboard side and the | is on the palmrest. When the palmrest ist fixed, these both connect (both plastic parts) and cause the creaking when pressuring the palmrest on the left.

I fixed it with a very thin piece of foam which I placed between them. Sorry for my bad English, could' t explain it better.

[Conmee]

Had same problem with my T41p. Its not the PCMCIA Slot!

Look for an -- on the right side near the IR port. The -- is on the mainboard side and the | is on the palmrest. When the palmrest ist fixed, these both connect (both plastic parts) and cause the creaking when pressuring the palmrest on the left.

I fixed it with a very thin piece of foam which I placed between them. Sorry for my bad English, could' t explain it better.

I used a tiny piece of electrical tape (very tiny) and placed it across the top edge of the IR port where the palmrest and IR port meet. And I found that most of the creaking actually came from the palmrest coming into contact, not with the PC Card shielding, but the little black piece of plastic just to the left of the two blue PC card eject buttons. Facing the left side of the ThinkPad, you'll see the two blue eject buttons and directly to the left a long thin plastic support about 2.5mm wide. I took a thin strip of black electrical tape about 8mm long and folded 2mm of one end onto the tape (so it didn't stick on either side of 2mm of one end of the tape strip). I positioned the 'non-stick' 2mm end directly over the long thin piece of plastic to the right of the blue eject buttons, and I attached the 5mm or so of sticky tape to the PC Card shielding to keep it in place. Basically, I didn't want the tape to stick to either the long thin black piece or the palmrest--and I used black tape so it would blend in.

Once the above tape was in place, I cut a business card in half, and with both pieces--one on top of the other like a sandwich--I placed them directly over the right side of the PC Card slots (looking at them from above with the palmrest removed). I used a very small piece of black electrical tape to hold the cards in place to the PC card shielding. The cards then overhang about 3-4mm past the right edge of the PC Card slots. What this will do is force the palmrest to bend the cards down slightly on the right side of the PC card slots, while the black electrical tape olds the cards in place. This extra little support took care of the creaking for me.

These three things seemed to correct any creaking/squeaking I used to get on the left side. And by only using 1/2 a business card and sticking to the right side of the PC Card slots, I alleviated the buldging/bowing effect, when full size business cards are used to lay across the entire PC Card shielding.

Hope this helps.

Daniel.

[CantStopNow]

Daniel,

Thanks for the detailed description of what you did. I'll see how it works out.