Way to Fix Sticky T30 Volume Buttons?

[kc27]

The "Thinkpad", "decrease volume", "increase volume", and "mute" buttons on my T30 keyboard are sticky. They stay down when depressed and either slowly come back up, or sometimes require a second push to get them to come back up.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this?

[RealBlackStuff]

Start at the power button, at the outside of the KB. Lift it up by sticking a nail between the cover for buttons and keyboard.
Then stick your nail between cover and KB just right of the mute button. Then on the left of the cover.
It should now come off, pulling it away from you, i.e. towards the back of the KB.
You can now access the keys to clean them (and the holes in that cover).

[kc27]

Thanks for the help. I got the cover piece off as you described and discovered that without it, the buttons move freely.

There was no dirt on the cover or the buttons, but I cleaned the cover anyway and reinstalled it. With the cover installed, the buttons again became slow going up and down.

This is a used replacement keyboard. The original keyboard's Thinkpad and volume buttons move up and down freely. With this one they do not. Since everything seems to be clean and in working order, my guess is that this keyboard's buttons are designed to work differently than the original keyboard's buttons.

Thanks again for the help.

[Harryc]

Sand or file out the holes in the plate to make them bigger using a small round file.