Is my T60 keyboard dying? (Temporary) solution inside :)

[propellen]

My keyboard key "T" was not responding as well as the other keys, and I needed to apply centered perpendicular force in order to make it respond.

My initial thought was "the keyboard is filthy", so I removed all the keys and cleaned the keyboard surface to my best know how. However, this did not solve anything, except from making the keyboard looking fresh and clean.

Then I decided to remove the faulty "T" key, and place a folded ~5x5x2mm square of paper between the key and the "rubber tentacle" aka copper connector. This adds tension between the copper connector and the circuit board, thus less pressure is needed from the finger to make a connection. The key is now working well, and you don't really feel that there is a little piece of paper below the key.

The T60 is ~3.5 years and well looked after. However, the keyboard "rubber tentacles" are susceptible to oxidation, and my theory is that the "rubber tentacle" below the "T" key is loosing it's initial tension properties causing misalignment of the copper connector - without the "hack" above, it only works when centered perpendicular force is applied, the other keys works with pressure applied from +- 15 degrees.

What do you think? Is my keyboard dying, or is it filthy "subsurface"? What is causing this faulty connection?

[RealBlackStuff]

Just buy a single complete key, e.g. here: http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Lenovo-T60-T61- ... 0354133500

[propellen]

Thanks, I didn't know that was possible =)

[wild_bill]

after 3.5 years, I would treat myself to a whole brand new original IBM keyboard, they are on ebay, you just have to sift through about a million crappy imitations to find the real stuff - PS the real ones were only made by three companies (ALPS, Chicony, and NMB) you can find the original part numbers on the Lenovo website. Once you find them on ebay (new old stock), they are only about $35 or so, I think you and your T60 deserve the wonderful feel and performance of a brand new one!

PS - here are a couple of high resolution pics of the real thing! (click on the image again once it is up for supersize pic)

http://i.imgur.com/uX6mu.jpg

http://imgur.com/82YQb.jpg

[Harryc]

@wild_bill, I broke the .img tags on your posted pics. We do not allow inline pics without a warning in the subject line, and even then only one (small) picture is allowed. Please read the forum rules. Thank-you.