Two R52 keys popped off! Ahh!

[cuppingmaster]

Okay, so I've poked around here for a little bit and tried to find info specific to the R series for keyboards but no luck. So here goes:

The F4 and F5 keys have come off. I have four parts for each: A black U-shaped piece (square with monitor side missing) that attaches to a clip on the keyboard base, a black four-sided squarish piece that is longer on one side, a white soft plastic U (kind of like the black one), and a gray rectangular piece with one of the short sides having two slots and a circular hole in the middle of the whole thing. And of course, the keyboard key.

That was a mouthful. Anyways, other threads mention that the trick is to assemble it and then place it on the keyboard and click into place and voila! Perhaps I was mischievious in a prior life or something, but I can't seem to figure it out, and I don't think I have the same pieces they do.

If anyone has figured it out for the R series, please post here, AIM me, or PM me. If I can get it, I'll post pictures! If there's no hope, would a repair place be able to do it? Or perhaps, are there cheap replacements somewhere...$216 for a replacement from Lenovo is too rich for my blood.

[Kyocera]

I know this may sound scary, but in this case this is what I would do.
Try to ever so gently pull up or off another key directly next to one that came off to see the configuration. I have replaced keys that have popped off and it really gets down to snapping them back on, it almost seems like you have to use an abnormal amount of pressure to get them to click back in place but it works.

[cuppingmaster]

Okay so I did it. It's not that bad once I figured out how it goes together. Thanks, Kyocera, for the example advice.

Here goes a description:

Step 1: Pour yourself a drink... calms the nerves

Step 2: You should have four pieces as described above. Take the first black U-shaped piece and notice that there are metal clips on the keyboard base perpendicular to the monitor base. Using a straightened paper clip, shimmy the sides of the U-shaped piece into the clip so that the open side is parallel to the monitor base. Make sure it is flat

Step3: Start with the white soft plastic piece and if you look closely, you'll notice it is not entirely flat. Hold it so that it's "feet" (the two things sticking out of the U) are facing you and so that if you run your fingernail from the foot up, it stops at the raised part.

Step4: Take the black square piece, and hook it into the notches in the middle of the soft plastic piece. The longest end of the square should be parallel to the closed side of the U of the soft white piece and the "shiny" side of the black square (the side without mold markings).

Step5: If you've done this correctly, the two parts together should move like a hinge and be able to lie flat.

Step6: The black piece already installed on the keyboard has two notches on the trackpoint side. Take your hinge and use a paper clip to push the two feet of the white part into the notches. If this is done right, the hinge should lie flat around the rubber "nipple" in the middle.

Step7: This is where a little magic is in order. If you've done all the steps right, now take your gray rectangle and notice that it has a hole in the middle of it, two lowered edges (short side) and one of those edges has two notches. Hold it so that the notches are on the monitor side. With the other hand, use a paper clip to lift the hinge and slide the non-notched lowered edge between the hinge and the first piece you installed. If this is done correctly, the gray piece should be resting on the nipple notch-side up.

Step8: Now, push the front part of this contraption down so as to flatten the hinge, and push the notches under the black part of the hinge. If you're lucky and use enough pressure, you should also hear a click, which is the long end of the black square going under the first piece, which locks the whole thing in place. If not, use the paper to shimmy the long end under the first piece.

Step9: You should now have a contraption that looks like an upside-down Ikea laundry basket with the top almost flat. Test for springy-ness; if you feel any abnormal resistance try the whole thing again, but this time when installing the hinge, clip both the white feet and then black square under the first piece at the same time.

Step 10: Line up your key and depress and it should snap on easily and look like nothing was ever amiss.

Step 11: Finish your drink

[Kyocera]

cool!

[dr_st]

I had a bad habit of popping out the keys on my T just for fun. Usually the key comes off and the three-part mechanisms stays in place. Well, once it didn't and I had to go through what you just described. After that I don't pop them keys out no more.