Studio 15 media sensitive button problem

Congrats. If you don't mind me asking, is dell offering a replacement free of charge or are you just buying another one?

 

No, I'm not paying anything for the replacement.... This is free of charge. I think I wouldn't buy another Dell Studio with the same specs.... Since I'm really happy with almost everything about this laptop, I don't think I'll sell it .............. yet..... hehehe

 

So theyre giving you a 1537 to replace a defective 1535???
Time to give dell tech support some more calls

 

Not sure if this has already been metioned but I had this happen once just after replacing my keyboard.
So, I went ahead & removed the button cover again & noticed the ribbon runs along the bottom of the affected buttons(volume up & eject). In fact it's held down w/adhesive. So I re-routed the cable so it no longer runs directly under the buttons. Haven't had the problem since. Not sure this will fix it for good but it maybe worth a shot.

 

Was the ribbon long enough? I tried doing that but i dont think it reached. I'll try it again some time. Thanks for the heads up.

 

No it really isn't. But I just made sure that it was no longer running under those keys.

 

I just tried the suggestion Fredline, though rather then re-routing the cable I instead put a piece of double-sided foam tape (about 1mm thick) between the cable and the panel and so far so good ... I powered on and off a few times and took it in and out of sleep mode without any stuck buttons. Will see if the problem comes back.

If this is the solution I'm suprised dell hasn't fixed it yet since it's so simple. I remember on my old Inspiron 8500 there was a problem with keyboard flex and the official fix was newer laptops came with foam tape on the chassis under the keyboard.

 

I just found it odd that the 'Eject' & 'Volume Up' buttons were the only ones people seemed to complain about & those just happened to be the only two(on mine at least) that the ribbon cable was adhered(underneath) to.
Crossing my fingers that it keeps working.

 

Hi All,

Success!

First of all, thanks for an excellent piece of detective work by Jason Novak and Fredline, I think Dell owe them big time!

Their fix for this stuck eject button problem seems to work. I only did this 30mins ago but I've restarted / woke from sleep 10 times and it seems just dandy!

Here's my step by step fix just answering some question I had to find out for myself. It's seriously easy!

1: Shutdown laptop and remove power cord and battery.
2: Turn laptop upside down. In the battery bay there are 2 screws marked with a "K". Remove them.
3: Put laptop correct way up on the table and open the screen all the way back.
4:With your finger tips / finger nails lift the back of the media panel where it joins the battery bay and the bottom half of the case, I started from the corners. There are about 5 or 6 little snap shut points holding the panel down, you don't have to do anything special to release them, you won't break them. Just pull each point close to where you feel cover resisting. The cover rotates forward towards the keyboard and comes free. Keep an eye on the kyboard trim not to bend it too much.
5: You will see a white ribbon cable stuck to a black membrane on the media button panel with glue similar to the adhesive on sticky tape. The cable connects the media panel to the mother board. Peel the ribbon off the panel while holding the membrane down with your other finger tip to keep it in place.
6: Take a card made from a credit card material / boots points card / similar and cut a 5mm wide by 30mm long strip off the card (avoid the raised numbers) also don't use a real credit card, this will surely ruin it!
7: Place the stip on the ribbin cable so it sticks neatly to the adhesive.
8: Carefully place the panel back on, tucking in the cable and being careful to tuck the pointy ends of the panel under the keyboard surround.
9:Firmly push all the snap clips back together so they click shut don't forget around the battery bay.
10: Put the screws back in the holes marked "K" (be gentle when tightening so you don't pull the panel on too hard and risk pinching the ribbon cable)

Enjoy!

If this does or doesn't work for you please post a reply back.
There are no "warranty void" seals to break in this process
The slight advantage of this over the foam method is that if you need to send the unit back to dell you can remove the slice of credit card and they'll never know what you did / have reason to void your warrenty. The foam would be difficult to remove without trace.

My laptop used to get the eject button stuck 8/10 times i started up for about 10 mins.
It also used to eject the CD every time during boot up.
And sometimes randomly during use.

It has stopped doing all of these.

I hope word gets out about this fix and please post this info to other forums with threads about this.

 

I did quite a bit of testing over the last two days and the foam isn't perfect, the eject did get stuck twice, however rather than sticking for 10 minutes, it was only on for about 5 seconds and faded out. Perhaps a credit card will give better shielding, I'll give that a try to see. It would be nice if it could go away completely, but only lasting few seconds makes it a lot of livable

 

You have to do a cold boot. I'm not sure how long you have to wait, but doing a restart isn't enough. I can reproduce the problem 100% of the time during a cold boot in the morning. I'll try to read through the steps again to see what you did, but it sounds like EMI shielding on the cable is needed?

 

Awesome post, thanks for that!
I'll have to try that trick with a credit card sometime soon now...

 

I gave that a try but Im afraid telling you that it didnt solve the problem.
Awakeing after 30 minutes of stand by the eject and volume up light get stuck again

 

this is amazing, if the replacement unit has this, I'll surely do this...
Excellent guide dykm2!!

 

Update:
After being on sleep all night it woke up just fine and again was ok this afternoon. But just now my eject button just got stuck for about 30 seconds after sleeping for 3 hours. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be enough space to put another layer of card in, also I found rerouting the cable from under the buttons was difficult without re-creasing the cable which if I fiddle too much may break it. I've tried a wider piece of credit card but this time from the mag stripe. It might help shielding.

Still it's 100x better than before. Like you reported with the foam, once or twice I noticed the button come on for a second at start up as if i'd pressed and released it but it didn't stick and isn't really an issue.

Fredline, did rerouting the cable work 100%?

Please let us all know if anyone else has success with this.

 

I wonder if some foil tape under the foam/plastic ... it can be used as shielding, it seems like charge is moving from the cable into the capacitive switches. Not sure if it would make it better or worse though...

 

Foil would probably increase conductivity. I think the goal here is to reduce that, which is why non-conductive material like foam and plastic have been used.

As we speak, I'm shutting down programs getting ready to power this thing off and try the credit card method myself. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I'm not sure about the foil ... I can see it causing a problem by allowing charge to transfer easier, but it may also help dissipate the charge

 

So I'm on the first boot after installing a strip from an old library card between the ribbon cable and media buttons...

Looks like the shielding is working so far. Every time I press a button, it lights up, and the Eject function worked fine for a while.

Now, about 10 minutes later, hitting the eject button still causes it to light up, but it no longer actually ejects; nor does the Fn+F10 shortcut. Right-clicking the DVD drive and selecting Eject still works fine, as does ejecting a CD via iTunes. This leads me to think that it's more of an issue with software or drivers than the actual buttons.

In short: The other buttons all light up and respond perfectly, and the Eject button lights up but does not actually eject.

 

Mine did that a few times before the mod but not since. If i tried to eject while the dvd drive was doing it's initial spin up and auto start whatever program, the drive would stop doing anything useful for a while, wouldn't read anything and would ignore eject requests from the button or F10 or MyComputer for a few minutes. Then it would eventually sort itself out. Not had it since the mod.

 

I never really tested mine with a disc in the drive, but both buttons are working for me.

 

Jason,
with foam, credit card or rerouting?

 

I don't think I ever tested the buttons actually worked with the foam, ie having a disc in the drive. I'm using a credit card right now.

 

I think you have to use an adhesive that isolates EMI.... (Electromagnetic Interference). Maybe this orange strips, I don't know how it's called, because I haven't seen it in any store here in Colombia...

 

Just re-route the cable. They're pretty tough as it was bent already at the factory.
Just be careful. FYI, mines been fine so far.

 

I was suffering from the random "eject" problem on my 1535 since last year end, and finally got a reply from Dell CS this week. As suggested by other members, this is due to poor isolation of EMI on "volumn" & "eject" bottoms, all 1535/1536/1537 should have similar symptom. User may try to solve it by unplugging AC power & battery, press and hold the "power" button for 15-20 seconds to free/reset cache memory. I've tried this and worked so far these two days, hope it could finally be solved by some kind of BIOS updated.

 

Fredline,

Any chance of some pics on the position of the re-routed cable?

 

Move it to just the other side of the post/captive nut on the button panel. You will need to re-crease the cable to make it lay flat.

UPDATE:

I have now tried both re-routing and credit card methods for a few days. They both improve the situation i.e. no ejecting once the computer is up and running, however, it still sometimes ejects at start up when it has been off for a while. Also, it stays stuck for a much shorter time now. I still recomend doing the mod, my prefered is the credit card mod as it doesn't risk breaking the cable or pulling it off it's contacts.

I have contacted Dell and been updated to BIOS A08, it made no difference to the problem. I'm going to keep badgering them and being a thorough pain in the until they send me a unit without the fault.

 

of course they have replace everything in order the laptop works 100%...
you know what just tell them this is affecting you in a way that you can't use the laptop at college, you always have to "discharge" the capacitors, etc...

 

When I update Bios to A06 and installed Vista, it my studio 1535 laptop is very hot. Front left corner and bottom of the laptop is very hot. When was XP and Bios A05 version, it was all ok.

 

Just found this forum...wish I had found it sooner.

I have the studio 1536. I've been experiencing the random disc ejects since I purchased the laptop. Here's what I've been through.

1. Dell sends me a replacement media center cover. I replace it and experience the same problems.

2. Dell has do some troubleshooting, including leaving the system in the bios, and it still ejects, thus it isn't a software issue. They also have me boot up with the media cover unplugged. The eject issue doesn't happen. (Now to me, this is clearly the media cover causing the issue).

3. Dell has me send back the entire laptop, minus the hard drive and battery. I get it back, and the packing slip says they replaced the optical drive. I try to hook up my hard drive, but Dell has forgotten to ship back the sata cable that connects the hard drive to the motherboard.

4. Dell sends me a replacement cable. I hook everything up, and sure enough, I get the random ejects.

5. Dell rep I speak to says that the first rep I spoke to a few weeks back sent me the wrong media cover, and that it's a known issue and they have a new version of the media cover. (All this in 2 weeks? Why didn't they just replace it when they had the laptop in house?)

6. So they send me a new media cover on friday, 3/20, I replace it, and low and behold, I'm not getting any random ejects.

7. I am having one issue, when the laptop goes to sleep overnight, when I fire it back up in the morning, the eject button is stuck on, and any disc in the system is ejected. It takes 1 or 2 shutdowns and restarts for the eject button to turn off and work normally.

8. Dell is supposed to call and follow up on monday to see if the new media cover worked. I'll tell them about the issue, but this is the best the laptop has worked since I got it so I may not pursue it any more.

 

Dang, you've been through alot, sorry about that.

In case you have not read somewhere else already, to avoid your eject button staying on when booting up from shut down/hibernation, do the following:
1. Take out the battery
2. Open the the laptop lid
3. Press and hold the power button for 30+ seconds. This (according to Dell) discharges the capacitors in the system, thus preventing residual charge/voltage from making the eject button stick.
->To me, this suggests that the buttons/the cable are not properly shielded or grounded, as a stray charge is building up in them.<-
4. Close laptop lid
5. Insert battery
6. Power on

I do this everytime I do a cold boot, or are coming out of hibernation, my eject button does not stick. Note that you do not want to do this if your laptop is only in sleep mode, as the battery is required to maintain your session that is saved in RAM.

Good luck with everything!

 

I just got off the phone with Dell after talking with them about the eject button issue for a good 20 minutes. They acknowledge that it's a pretty common complaint, and they agreed to send me a replacement media center cover, which should be here Wednesday. Hopefully this works, as it seems to have worked for KJShearer.

*Crosses fingers*

 

I heard that if you install bios A02 the problem is fixed for the touchbuttons. This means that the problem is inside the latest biosversions. Downside is that you will miss some fixes after A02.

Edit: I just tested and it didn't work.

 

I keep forgetting about this stupid problem and whenever someone IM's me via Skype the sound is deafening. Why hasn't Dell fixed the problem?

 

Have you tried the fixes here? I ended up going back with the foam tape and haven't had the problem since. It may not be so much of an issue of material as I cut the tape to the width of the sensor strip, not the ribbon cable, and ran it back to the L in the cable, not to the volume up button.

 

I have been looking for a while and did some posts early on concerning this issue. Namely the cd eject button. Well after many calls to dell and my trying to jump through hoops and all they finally just four days ago decided to replace the hinge cover or what ever they call it. The company that dell contracts through for home tech service called yesterday and came and installed the cover and so far so good. Though my computer a studio 1535 which was purchased near the end of Sept. last year does not have the issues that others have. That cd button staying lit for sometimes up to five minutes was annoying. I have seen other studios without the problem so I know it is possible. Hopefully it is fixed for good. I will watch and let you know either way. It seems that for some a replacement is the answer. Why it isn't for all is a mystery.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=356593

My TS-T633A drive had the D300 firmware (purchased Nov 2008) and I noticed that pressing the EJECT button on the media touch panel wouldn't result in a noise.

I just flashed it to D500 and now it makes a noise. Vista 32-bit Home Premium even detected it as a new drive.

The reason I suspect it is the DVD drive is because I noticed the DVD drive disappearing from My Computer, and can cause lockups when pressing EJECT.

I don't know if this solves the media panel problem (doubtful) but I had a difficult time finding the firmware for this drive.

 

I, like you, had the D300 firmware. When the light came on, the drive still ejects whatever disc is inside. It just doesn't make a noise if there is no disc inside.

The D500 firmware makes a weird noise if you try to eject it when empty.
The D300 firmware makes no noise if you try to eject it when empty.

The main problem is: if you have a disc in the drive, regardless of the firmware (D500 or D300,) you get an uncommanded disc eject which would indicate something is triggering the eject button/eject command.

You can look at the difference between D500 and D300 firmwares as how the drive tries to execute the eject command not as something that is causing the eject command in the first place.

I have flashed firmwares for DVD drives on the Studio 15 and XPS 1530. Both result in Windows reinstalling drivers for the DVD drive upon first boot. That is normal after a hardware firmware flash.

 

Hey all. I'm newbie to this forum.

Fredline, does the re-routing trick working for you? If yes, would you be so kind as to get in touch with me? I would much appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Adrian

 

Jason, could you please write a bit more about this foam tape stuff? I think I red all the posts in this topic, but can't remember details about this.

Thanks,
Adrian

 

I cut a piece of 1/8 double-sided foam tape down to the width of the black tape covering the sensors and ran it to where the ribbon cable makes a 90 degree bend under the keyboard, which is actually a bit beyond the problem buttons. I taped the ribbon cable down to it since my cable is starting to loose it's glue ... you could also just use the double-sided tape, but it would stick the media panel down. Since i've re-added the foam a few weeks ago I haven't had a single stuck button.

 

Thanks I think I know what to do. Only thing I don't understand is why a double sided foam tape better than a normal double sided one? ("you could also just use the double-sided tape, but it would stick the media panel down.")

Anyway, how do I write a PM at these forums to another registered user?

 

I'm not sure what you mean ... I basically just mean the kind of double-sided tape with some depth to it, mine is an 1/8 thick. The specific line you're refering to is that rather than peeling off and using the tape on the other side, I just used a piece of scotch tape to tape the ribbon down since my ribbon lost it's glue. If you used the double-sided tape itself it would stick itself to the chassis when you installed the media bar.

 

So far so good on mine from re-routing...I didn't do anything fancy I just tried to keep the ribbon cable as far away from the touch sensitive buttons as I could...which because of the cable length, is not as far as I'd like. I also re-seated my cable at the connecors just in case.
I think the double sided foam tape is an even better idea...not only would it insulate but also keep the ribbon from moving. If mine starts acting up I will definately try this method.

 

Do you have the procedures for accessing the aforementioned ribbon cable?

 

Dell has official instructions in their service manual online, basically you take out the battery and there are two screws there that are holding the bar on. Once you take those off you can pop it off, I start back by the hinges.

 

Yes, thank you.

I have experience in servicing computers. I just simply wanted to be sure what and how to do for a permanent fix.

 

What about plastic-like, black, electrical tape for wiring? Are those good for insulating EMI? Anyone tried it?

 

The buttons already have some kind of black tape over the back of them, not sure what kind it is but it doesn't seem to work too well