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Can I repair my keyboard?

X200/X201/X220 (including equivalent tablet models) and X300/X301 Series
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luigi7
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2025 7:44 am
Location: Sintra, Portugal

Can I repair my keyboard?

#1 Post by luigi7 » Fri Mar 28, 2025 8:09 am

Successfully replaced the thermal paste on the laptop, the x201 runs cool now!

However, I later noticed that the Fn key doesn't seem to work anymore, so I unscrewed the keyboard once more and attempted to re-plug the flat cable. Left Ctrl doesn't work, neither does Fn still. Now LCtrl is pretty important to me, so I had to try to make this right somehow. After repeating the process whole rows of the keyboard stopped working, and I'm 100% sure I've broken my keyboard.

This is a real cautionary tale that the cable of the keyboard is a component that needs you to be more gentle than you think. Admittedly I twitch-pulled (accident) on the cable once on twice. I was also able to know about other people breaking their keyboards accidentally like this, such as this one.

It's undoubtedly the flat cable (ribbon cable) that broke, though I'm no expert. I found I can get some of the keys to work again by manipulating the cable's bends. Do you think it could be fixed? The keyboard's mint on the outside (mechanically speaking.)

deickos
Freshman Member
Posts: 60
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:54 am
Location: athens, greece

Re: Can I repair my keyboard?

#2 Post by deickos » Sun Oct 05, 2025 5:31 am

if you can fix all the threads of the cable (apparently some are cut) it may work again
T500 - T9600, 8g ram, 1680x1050
T420 - 2450M, 16g ram, 1366x768
X61t - L7500, 4g ram, 1024x768
W520 - 2760QM, 16g ram, 1920x1080

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