How do you re-install a key on the keyboard?

[javanaut]

I accidentally popped the tilde key off of my X40 keyboard. How does one get it back on the keyboard? There are two open square frames on the back of the key that can be made to "tent" up partially but I can't seem to figure out how to re-attach the key to the keyboard. Am I missing a part? Thanks very much.

[egibbs]

It is possible but only if the tabs on the frames aren't bent and you have led a very, very good life.

I've never been successfull so I can't tell you how. But I have heard of people who know someone who's brother in law had a fiiend in Singapore who met someone on a train that knew a Buddhist monk who did it after years of meditation.

Best bet - get a new keyboard. They are not expensive.

Ed Gibbs

[javanaut]

Thanks Ed but I must have led a very good life! The tabs (there are four tabs: two vertical and two horizontal which are part of the keyboard circuit board) were not bent. The secret to re-attaching the key is to take it apart! In my case when I accidentally removed the key with my shirt sleeve it came off as one piece.The key is made of four parts. The key top itself and three interlocked parts attached to the bottom of the key top. The three interlocked parts consist of: one black square u-shaped frame (the fourth side of this "u" does not exist), one black hard plastic "leg" and one white soft plastic "leg". I am using the word leg loosely to describe a part which interlocks with the other leg very much like the legs of a portable, collapsible stool or similar to what happens when you interlock your fingers. In the closed position your hands lie flat while in the open position your hands form a tent. If your key came off as one piece as mine did remove the three interlocked parts from the key top very carefully (I did it accidentally). Now, carefully disconnect the u-shaped frame from the two "legs" (again I did this accidentally). Take the u-shaped frame and slide it into the tabs on the keyboard circuit board top. The keyboard circuit board should also have a light-blue, rubber "nipple" glued to this top surface. This nipple serves as the spring to force the key back up when it is in use. Be careful not to detach it from the surface (by the time I got to this point it had become detached from the surface but I did not bother to glue it back down). If you were able to remove the u-shaped frame from the two legs without disassembling the two legs you're ready to attach the legs to the u-shaped frame. Otherwise, assemble the two legs together so that they interlock and can lie flat in the closed position. It is possible to interlock the two legs so that they remain in the open position which means they are incorrectly assembled. When the legs are correctly interlocked one side forms an inverted "cup" for the rubber nipple. Take these interlocked legs and attach the sides of the soft, plastic white leg into the vertical sides of the u-shaped frame. You may need a small jewelers screwdriver or a paper clip to help you to insert each side of the soft, white plastic leg into the u-shaped frame. Be sure that the inverted cup covers the rubber nipple. Now take the key top and place it on top of the key-unit which you have just re-attached to the keyboard circuit board. Make sure the key top is correctly oriented so that you can read the key. Push down until the key top re-attaches to the "keyboard".

This is more than anyone wants to know about how to re-attach a key but I hope this helps you in the future or someone else faced with this problem.

Regards,
Danton Chin

[bapatterson]

WOW!

I was able to do it once (I am a LOT more careful when I clean my keyboard now), but I could NEVER have described it.

[egibbs]

I once read a recipe for making grits from scratch. You start with corn lernels and boil them in in lye for about 12 hours. Then you drain and rinse them, and rub them together to remove the husks and eyes. After that you boil them again in clear water until the corn centers swell up, which gives you "Big Hominy." You then dry the Big Hominy and grind it to produce grits, which yu then boil again to make edible.

Much like your post, it left me wondering "How the heck did anyone ever figure that out?"

Ed Gibbs

[javanaut]

I guess in my case it was because I had nothing to loose, it was a puzzle, it was accidental that the four pieces fell apart eventually, followed by observation and reverse engineering! When I was an undergraduate geology major I had to take a field geology course in Wyoming and the professor asked where the huge boulders came from. It was a simple matter of observation and deduction that the boulders we were looking at came from a huge cliff way out in the distance. I guess in the case of your grits the inspiration came from pure hunger and very little choice.

[ian]

So let me get this clear in my mind - you take a huge boulder, then you boil it...and this helps repair keyboards? Wow - and people think I'm strange...?

[hhhh]

Hi!

I can assure that it can be done. (thanks javanaut for encouraging!)
Things you'll need to succeed:

1. nerves of steel
2. steady hands
3. a magnifying glass
4. small tools

Luckily my mum is a dentist, so I had access to all the "tools" Nerves and steady hands are the most important attributes.

[davidh]

Maybe slightly different on a T42, this method worked for me:

1. Assemble the black square frame and the white rectangle first. The two holes in the right rectangle go towards the screen edge of the keyboard. The white rectangle will later form a cup over the blue nipple

2. Slide the white U-shape frame over the assembly, about halfway, until it clicks into place. if all is correct the whole assembly will be able to lie flat, and to extend into a 'chair' type arrangement.

3. Using small pliers/tweezers and a very small screwdriver, gently click the top edge of the black frame into place on the keyboard. Then click the legs of the U frame into place, using the screwdriver to gently push them into place.

4. You should now have the 'chair' type arrangement assembled on the keyboard, and able to move freely up and down. A final gentle push down on the whole assembly should click it into place.

5. Now you can push the key itself onto the 'chair', push down and it will click home.

[draco2527]

The key is properly placing the arms and then the key itself; the key must be dissasembled and re-assembled in steps on the keyboard......the space bar is by far the least problematic to put back together...back when ThinkPad keyboards were like a months salary, I used to make "good" ones out of bad keyboards...

[amgdoc]

my arrow key fell out and all i did was align it on top of the place it should be and push down. it worked, snapped right into place and no problem since. all this talk about the key's 'legs' and 'nipple' is too confusing.

[javanaut]

You must have been very lucky! That method didn't work for me because the key had fallen apart too much which left me no choice but to figure out how to put it all back together again!

Regards,
Danton

[rimshot]

my arrow key fell out and all i did was align it on top of the place it should be and push down. it worked, snapped right into place and no problem since. all this talk about the key's 'legs' and 'nipple' is too confusing.

What you did was losing your keycap, not the whole key. The 'legs and nipples' where still attached to the keyboard. I know from experience, ahem, that the key caps from the arrow keys fall off more easily than the others.

[MPN]

My thanks to Javanaut and DavidH for their detailed instructions on how to re-install a key on the keyboard. I also managed to pop a key (it was the M for me) from the keyboard, and it also fell into pieces. Thanks to you two, I was able to reinstall the key on my T42.

Your instructions live on and are still appreciated.

[Magnum]

I managed to spill some soda on my pgup and pgdw key on my x40. I tried to unscrew the whole keyboard. I eventually "gave" up after unscrewing all the screws.. I could not get the keyboard out. I guess I WOULD have figured it out if I had no other option though. Anyways.. I simply snapped the pgup pgdwn buttons out. Used a warm and moist cloth underneath and then I just snapped the keys right back no problem. Maybe I was lucky

[gearguy]

It is possible but only if the tabs on the frames aren't bent and you have led a very, very good life.

I've never been successfull so I can't tell you how. But I have heard of people who know someone who's brother in law had a fiiend in Singapore who met someone on a train that knew a Buddhist monk who did it after years of meditation.

Best bet - get a new keyboard. They are not expensive.

Ed Gibbs

I accidently popped a Delete key off once, rather than getting a new keyboard (almost impossible for the make of laptop I had) I simply cut up some sponge tape and put glue on either side of it and palced it around the rubber resistor pade underneasth the key and stuck they key down on top of it, it took a while to get right but it worked like a charm afterwards lol

[LasseFJ]

I just cleaned my keyboard entirely... it was a pain in the you know what, and it didnt work well enough..


http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 202#395202

I just bought a new keyboard, only 65 US dollar... And thats a very small price compared to the work that has to be done.

[ArtShapiro]

Thanks Ed but I must have led a very good life!

Add me to the jaw-droppers - that's an exceptional narrative.

I'd like to make a non-trivial suggestion.

There's a neat web site Sclipo.com where folks post videos about how to do significant things. For example, I wear a necktie every Friday, because it's dress-down day, and only knew how to tie it in the traditional "four-in-hand" knot. Thanks to Sclipo, I can now tie a half-Windsor and I'm trying to follow the video and learn how to tie the full-ball-of-wax Windsor knot.

The key replacement would be a magnificent topic for a Sclipo tutorial. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video would be worth at least a Gigaword.

Art

[LasseFJ]

Yes! It really is an exceptional narrative... Very detailed

[bobstockler]

I have a different problem with two keys on my G41 keyboard . . .

About a month ago the edge (toward the space bar) of the top of the L
key popped up (so it's sorta like a little lean-to tent). It still works
fine. Pressing down hard on it doesn't fix it.

Then, just the other day, the same thing happened to my Tab key, except
it's the edge of the key toward the right side of the keyboard that
popped up (and I hardly ever use the Tab key).

While I've had this ThinkPad since November 2004, the keyboard hasn't
suffered heavy use - I don't touch type, just use my 2 index fingers,
and type as little as possible.

When I blow into the opened side of the L key its top lifts up a little
and I can see a white square beneath its "lid". I've been considering
trying a little dab of fast drying cement to hold its "lid" down.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[LasseFJ]

Hi bob.

I really think you should research how much a new keyboard will cost you - It doesnt take a lot of skill to replace such.

As I wrote, a new board didnt cost a lot

[bobstockler]

Hi bob.

I really think you should research how much a new keyboard will cost you - It doesnt take a lot of skill to replace such.

As I wrote, a new board didnt cost a lot

Lenovo's price for a new keyboard is $148. I think I can live with it the
way it is if that's my only option.

But thanks for your opinion and advice!

[SteveS]

It is probably possible if all the plastic arms are not broken. I have had good luck replacing keys on T40 series (which use two piece lever arms), but the two occasions I ran into this with an X40 was impossible because one of the “ears” at the bottom of the one piece actuator arm broke.

IMO, the keyboard action design in the T40 series is superior to the design used in the X40. I suspect that had to do with reducing weight. It seems like a lot of compromises were made.

BTW, I bought new, in the box replacement keyboards on e-bay for about $40.

[fredstev]

The key is properly placing the arms and then the key itself; the key must be dissasembled and re-assembled in steps on the keyboard......the space bar is by far the least problematic to put back together...back when ThinkPad keyboards were like a months salary, I used to make "good" ones out of bad keyboards...

This method worked for me. I've a client with a r40 - she had it in her lap when her terrier scrambled up in her lap and dislodged the shift, Fn and "S" keys. I was almost in tears by the time I had it back together. Dog got a clout on the nose next time he tried it.
Fred

[longfellow6-6]

Thanks for the great posts.

For those of us with more time and gumption than cash these days, this is a fantastically detailed approach.
If all fails, ebay and $20 will be the next option.

This keyboard was also owned by a nicotine stained tobacco addict.
I love the dishwasher idea as well. I will need to take lots of photos to keep track.

This group ROCKS!

[jamnkats]

I had an arrow key come off and this thread and this video really helped. The key was to put the bottom of the U shaped black piece (on the arrow key, it was the left side) in first. Trying from the top got me nowhere. Once I tried that (recommended in this thread) that made all the difference.

Here is the video (blurry but it definitely helps)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JoG-7a6QUY

[zborbas]

This link was very helpful for me. It saved me hours of hairpulling and/or a serious stroke. It worked like a charm! I hope it will serve well others, too.

http://rashbre2.blogspot.com/2007/11/re ... g-key.html