space bar problems

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sare2215 · #1 Post by **sare2215** » Fri May 05, 2006 4:57 pm

i have not had my t42 for very long, not even a year, and suddenly the space bar key is not working properly. if i don't hit it exactly in the middle, no space on the screen. super annoying!! is there anything i can do about this? sorry if this has been asked/answered, i looked for a while and didn't see anything. thanks in advance!

cmarti · #2 Post by **cmarti** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:12 pm

Yes a new keyboard for your t42.

Here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Thinkpad-keyboa ... dZViewItem

XCoalMiner · #3 Post by **XCoalMiner** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:46 pm

If you've not had it long, don't buy a part off eBay, get it fixed or replaced under warranty. The FAQ has a link to look up how long and what type warranty your machine has.

See #7 here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1689

cmarti · #4 Post by **cmarti** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:27 pm

sare2215 wrote:i have not had my t42 for very long, not even a year, and suddenly the space bar key is not working properly. if i don't hit it exactly in the middle, no space on the screen. super annoying!! is there anything i can do about this? sorry if this has been asked/answered, i looked for a while and didn't see anything. thanks in advance!

Is it still under warranty?

#5 Post by **BillMorrow** » Fri May 05, 2006 11:42 pm

sare2215 wrote:i have not had my t42 for very long, not even a year, and suddenly the space bar key is not working properly. if i don't hit it exactly in the middle, no space on the screen. super annoying!! is there anything i can do about this? sorry if this has been asked/answered, i looked for a while and didn't see anything. thanks in advance!

what is the model type number..?

it should be in the format nnnn-aaa where "n" is a numeric and "a" is an alphanumeric character..

usually, all new thinkpads come with a 3 year warranty unless it is one of the express models with the 1 year warranty or a refurb with a shorter warranty than 1 year..

jhonyl · #6 Post by **jhonyl** » Sat May 06, 2006 6:10 am

In the meanwhile you can remap the space bar to an other key. Like the ; key. Or maybe the right Alt key, and connect the spacebar and the RAlt key together, so when you press the spacebar the RAlt would be pressed too (if you do that then you should cancel (un map) the spacebar press so you will not get two spaces by accident). See AutoHotKey.com its a remapping free software.

#7 Post by **K. Eng** » Sat May 06, 2006 9:23 am

Call in for a warranty replacement. I had the same thing happen to me two months ago. The spacebar just would not register about 5% of the time.

davidspalding · #8 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat May 06, 2006 10:50 am

I have a bridge in New York I'd like to sell you, Cmarti, cheap. [edit]

cmarti · #9 Post by **cmarti** » Sat May 06, 2006 11:32 am

davidspalding wrote:I have a bridge in New York I'd like to sell you, Cmarti, cheap.

What kind of comment is that?

I that allowed in this forum?

#10 Post by **K. Eng** » Sat May 06, 2006 11:40 am

Guys, no flames or incitement please.

The original poster said he has had the machine for less than a year, hence I assume it is still under warranty (unless the T42 was bought used and has run out of warranty).

Therefore, the OP should contact Lenovo technical support first.

davidspalding · #11 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:17 pm

My bad, the "8)" did not make perfectly clear that I was joking.

cmarti · #12 Post by **cmarti** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:22 pm

Excused

sare2215 · #13 Post by **sare2215** » Sat May 06, 2006 5:25 pm

the model number is 2379-dxu

definitely under warranty, and i would love to send it in and have it fixed for real, but i am in the middle of finals and the thought of hand writing a 4 hour exam just is not appealing...

thanks for the remap idea, btw!

jhonyl · #14 Post by **jhonyl** » Sat May 06, 2006 6:09 pm

but i am in the middle of finals and the thought of hand writing a 4 hour exam just is not appealing..

I have seen here plenty of post who wrote that they have complained about a bad keyboard (because they wanted the NMB thai keyboard, actualy and not because it was so bad), and they got a new one mailed to them, and they have installed it themselves and IBM didn't even asked them to return the "defective" keyboard. Good luck with your exams.

christopher_wolf · #15 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat May 06, 2006 6:11 pm

sare2215 wrote:the model number is 2379-dxu

definitely under warranty, and i would love to send it in and have it fixed for real, but i am in the middle of finals and the thought of hand writing a 4 hour exam just is not appealing...

thanks for the remap idea, btw!

Good luck on you Finals by the way.

ThinkPad · #16 Post by **ThinkPad** » Sat May 06, 2006 7:56 pm

I have a very similar issue with my keyboard. Not sure what the deal is, but I manage and just push the bar harder. I think I might replace the keyboard very soon.

cmarti · #17 Post by **cmarti** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:33 pm

why not call ibm they can send you a new keyboard by mail it will take just a few days for you to get it.

davidspalding · #18 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat May 06, 2006 10:50 pm

I concur, call it in. I'd be really surprised if they required you do without your laptop just to do a keyboard fix. I think it's classified as a customer replaceable FRU.

smids · #19 Post by **smids** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:59 pm

davidspalding wrote:I concur, call it in. I'd be really surprised if they required you do without your laptop just to do a keyboard fix. I think it's classified as a customer replaceable FRU.

Customer replaceable unit - as opposed to field replacement unit (CRU and FRU)

.

My keyboard does the same except its more than just the space bar - my year of uni notes has bashed it up methinks!

turbolium · #20 Post by **turbolium** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:29 pm

Since yesterday my (-_) "minus" button became a problem ?
it feels like there is someting underneath of it and it does not allow it to travel fully. I dont know if i should take it appart and clean it or call IBM and ask for a new one ?

t42 still under warranty

darkwish · #21 Post by **darkwish** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:39 pm

turbolium wrote:Since yesterday my (-_) "minus" button became a problem ?
it feels like there is someting underneath of it and it does not allow it to travel fully. I dont know if i should take it appart and clean it or call IBM and ask for a new one ?

t42 still under warranty

I would do both.

cmarti · #22 Post by **cmarti** » Wed May 10, 2006 2:23 pm

Definitively clean the one you have installed and call for an replacement.

mdarnton · #23 Post by **mdarnton** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:00 am

I've had this happen--usually it's just a crumb of something underneath, and I can blow it out, or, push both ends and the center down hard, all at once--you'll hear a crunch as the bit gets smashed into something smaller, and then you can just blow it out, no big deal.

Stop eating crackers while computing! :-)

christopher_wolf · #24 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:35 pm

mdarnton wrote:I've had this happen--usually it's just a crumb of something underneath, and I can blow it out, or, push both ends and the center down hard, all at once--you'll hear a crunch as the bit gets smashed into something smaller, and then you can just blow it out, no big deal.

Stop eating crackers while computing!

Let me be the first to say that I *hate* anything like that getting under the keycaps and inside the keyboard.

smids · #25 Post by **smids** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:50 am

Phoned up on thursday morning @ 10AM about my keyboard issues - some keys just not working properly with normal touches. The lady said she would pass it to techincal support and I would receive a call back in the next 24hours. Anyway, they can only call 9-5 so I didn't receive a call that day. I thought 'hmm.... maybe tomorrow morning'. Unfortunately, I had an exam yesterday morning so wasn't in to take any calls so asked my parents to take any message. After my exam (about 2PM) I asked them if anyone had called - no-one had. I thought '[censored], I'm going to have to phone them back!'

Anyway got home to find an odd box on my bed - opened it up and there was a brand new keyboard shipped from the Netherlands only 2 hours after my call. They didn't even call me, just sent me a new one, international next day delivery which despatched not 2 hours after my call! That is service!

#26 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat May 13, 2006 9:40 am

christopher_wolf wrote:
mdarnton wrote:I've had this happen--usually it's just a crumb of something underneath, and I can blow it out, or, push both ends and the center down hard, all at once--you'll hear a crunch as the bit gets smashed into something smaller, and then you can just blow it out, no big deal.....
Let me be the first to say that I *hate* anything like that getting under the keycaps and inside the keyboard.

Aw Chris, that's just feeding the ThinkPad some hard data!

Don't you know your ThinkPad needs Cookies to work properly?

XCoalMiner · #27 Post by **XCoalMiner** » Sat May 13, 2006 9:40 am

christopher_wolf wrote:Let me be the first to say that I *hate* anything like that getting under the keycaps and inside the keyboard.

I second that.

Keeping the keyboard, under the keyboard, the palmrest and touchpad area free of dust, dirt, lint, gunk and whatever else seems to be floating around in the (springtime?) air is a pet peeve of mine. Handling paper hear the keyboard seems to create some of this, as does eating anything near the keyboard. I use a hose attachment on a full size vacuum cleaner to go over it about once a day, and the stuff comes back in few hours. I could scream at the top of my lungs when that happens!

What do you use to get all the gunk and junk out? I've been curious if an anti-static spray will prevent the link and dust particles from depositing themselves on the surfaces (especially the surfaces that are hard to get to)?

When I worked in a large scale data center, we had these very small vaccums that had a short hose with a brush at the end just to clean out the keyboards -- with all the air circulation, dust would get everywhere. I wich I could find some of these, but it was ten years ago when I used them.

davidspalding · #28 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat May 13, 2006 9:50 am

Keyboard vacuums are handy. I inherited my T41 at work from a lead who had a dog ... you WOULDN'T BELIEVE the amount of dust and dog hair that came out of the (Chicony, yuck) keyboard.

I cleaned it by removing it from the TP and sprayed it long and hard with compressed air-in-a-can. (Also sprayed out the interior, though gently.) Worked well.

We used to use something in the service, avionics cleaner, or "tweat in a can," the makeup of which I don't recall. Dimethylsilicone-something? It wasn't a water-displacement perservative, but an electronics cleaner that left no residue. Great for cleaning dirty contacts and antenna connections. Not sure where to get in the private sector. Probably not cheap.

XCoalMiner · #29 Post by **XCoalMiner** » Sat May 13, 2006 10:22 am

Do you know any source of keyboard vacuums?

The most disgusting job in computer systems maintenence is cleaning other peoples keyboards. We used to clean up keyboards for VAX VT terminals. Often times had to pull each key out, turn the key upside down, and soak the sides and top of the key in some heavy-duty cleaner just to get the layers of grime and dirt and oil off the surfaces.

Then there was all the dirt, grit, food particles, hair, and god-knows-what that got in between the keys and the base of the keyboard, and the first and only time these areas saw the light of day when when you pop out some of the keys.

davidspalding · #30 Post by **davidspalding** » Sat May 13, 2006 1:45 pm

They're more ubiquitous than you think. Go search, you'll find one.

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