DV5000 / DV8000 Series Keyboard Possible Workaround

This is a revised copy of the post that i put on the "DV8000 keyboard problem thread"

As with a lot of the unfortunate souls out there, I also own this superb notebook system (dv5000z) which the only flaw that i find is the horrendous keyboard that comes with the system that seems to be inconsistent in its performance. I believe the dv8000 series should be based on the same design as the dv5000 series keyboard.

With that I decided to dissect the entire keyboard open and try to find out what went wrong with the keyboard. Here's what i did....

1. Removed the entire keyboard base plate out from the notebook including unplugging it's 2 cables from the motherboard which allows the entire keyboard to be lifted right out from the notebook.

2. Removed each and every keys that are attached to the base plate. Be sure to note down the orientation of each keys to assist in assembling them back.

3. Before I go any further, the base plate are actually a PCB board with flat metal contacts for each keys on the keyboard.

4. Underneath each of the keys are a piece of "hollow out" rubber that are "glued" onto a plastic sheet which in turn pasted onto the base plate. Basically the rubber acts as a spring that pushes the keys up while the inner surface of the rubber has a sort of "pointy" profile that touches the base plate contacts whenever the keys are pressed while typing.

5. Next I detached the plastic sheet with the rubber "glued" onto it, exposing the entire base plate (PCB board) and used contact cleaner to clean each and every piece of the base plate contacts, ensuring that it is clean and free of dirt.

6. And I reassemble back everything in the reverse order of the above sequence.

7. A side note though......I noticed that the pointy profile of the inner surface of some of the rubber seems to be kind of worn out which probably explain why the contacts are not good/perfect when the keys are pressed, resulting in missed keystroke. But this based on my keyboard, might not be the same case for others.

8. Overall, i feel that the keyboard are more responsive after the above operation dissecting the entire keyboard.

I would invite anyone who are confident enough to check their keyboard as per the method above and post back to the forum if the method that i did help in getting the keyboard to be more responsive.

Just my 2 cents to share for the rest of the affected communities/victims.

Cheers!

 

.


The above sounds good, and the info info is good to know but allot of people are posting problems with machines that aren't that old, machines that have no run time on them to speak of. Brand new machines in some cases.
(of course just best it's new, doesn't mean it's "good")

How old, how much use has your keyboard had, when did it start to mess up?

I think one reason your fix may have worked for you is when you removed the keyboard and reattached it. It's been noted that by just unplugging and plugging the unit back up some peoples problems go away.



reference links:

How to keyboard repair (You may want to make a pdf of this site.. Has pic's on how to repair a worn-out keyboard)

http://www.iraqigeek.com/?p=45


dv8000 keyboard problem thread Note the keyboard problem seems to affect several series ... Just had an idea... I wonder if this is affecting both AMD and INTEL cpu'd machines... I'm wondering if the same control chipset is used for both, or a differant one? If a differant chipset if used, then the problems may indeed be caused by a defective /damaged/worn./dirty keyboard as noted above: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=57325

 

You are correct that a new machine may not be absolutely defect free and being a consumer, one would assume that a new system would be perfect. Unfortunately, this has put a blow on HP's face for churning out a defective keyboard on such a lovely system.

Anyway, I bought the notebook in June this year and have been using it ever since. The keyboard issue came up after a month of usage.

I've tried detaching and reattach back the cable onto the motherboard few times prior to the above attempt of dissecting the entire keyboard and it was to no avail. The keyboard issue still prevail.

However, ever since the dissecting of the keyboard, like i said, it is much more responsive now.

In addition to that, I feel that the worn out rubber on the pointy end of the inner surface of the rubber may have contributed to the missed keystroke.

Looking at the images from the link you posted above, I noticed that the keyboard in the subject uses a silicon material instead of a rubber material under the keys.

One suggestion/idea that I think might help is to replace the original rubber material with a silicon type material of similar height and size. Being a silicon material means that it may not be easily worn out as compared to a rubber material resulting in a consistent contact surface.

It would be interesting if anyone out there would be willing to search for or happened to come across a silicon material from other keyboards that would fit into the notebook keyboard replacing the rubber material.

But let's observe if others have come across similar improvement on their system after dissecting their keyboard.

And by the way, I love this forum and I must thank the administrator for maintaining this informative forum for all of us IT geeks to share info with the communities.

 

Mfg HP
dv5000z notebook
Owner name: francistkm
Purchase date:
June -2006
July - 2006
The keyboard issue came up after a month of usage.

Date keyboard cleaned, reassembled:
Unknown

Today's date:
Oct-15-2006

(Rubber worn out in a month????)

Upon dissassembly:

Worn out rubber on the pointy end of the inner surface of the rubber may have contributed to the missed keystroke.

Possible permanent fix: Replace the rubber material under the keys with a silicon material.(unconfirmed)

Before keyboard was dissassembled and cleaned:

Tried detaching and reattach back the cable onto the motherboard few times prior to the above attempt of dissecting the entire keyboard and it was to no avail. The keyboard issue still prevail.

After dissecting the keyboard, keyboard is much more responsive now.

* * * * * * * *

francistkm,

Thanks for the extra details, tried in the above to shorten up some of the info...

To help others who may just now be having having this problem, would you please expand on the syptoms you were having. Most people are reporting something to do with the scroll lock button... weird characters?, repeating characters... Caps locks sticking ON, or OFF. If that sounds like it may relate to the problem you were having.


The reason I sort of question all of this is because allot of people have reported their machines having the same problem, even after a keyboard replacement.

(1 month of use sounds pretty SHORT to have something "wear-out... Of course nothing is perfect, and just because it's new doesn't mean it's perfect...)

It may turn out all of this is being caused by a bad batch of keyboards... or somekind of hardware /software / touchpad drivers conflict, plus some bad keyboards.

 

Alright. The issue that i was having was that sometimes the characters are all caps even when my capslock are not switched on and vice versa. I believe that has to do with the shift keys being "in contact" with the base plate contact surface. To make it disappear, I would tap on the shift key few times till it disappear, normally 4-5 taps.

Another issue with the keyboard that i observed was that the characters appear on the screen after a slight delay after pressing/typing on it. And I believe that i am a rather fast typist and typing on the defective keyboard does give me the feel that the characters are not appearing instantaneously as compared to other notebook keyboard that i type on. Tweaked the keyboard setting on the control panel but trust me...the setting's not the problem.

Debris/residuals that have dislodged from the inner surface of the rubber MIGHT have contributed to these issues as the worn rubber surface (pointy end) seems to have some flaky/porous feel to it.

Unfortunately the keyboard has the above symptom to them when i opened them up to have a clear view on the inner surface and very unfortunate that this happen to a new keyboard.

IMHO, having a rubber material as the main contact "device" is really a bad idea due to their fragile nature. Silicon would be a much better material and i believe that would give a tacky feel to it as well.

 

Out of curiosity, I decided to have a look at the rubber material underneath the keyboard of my other HP Compaq NC6220 which is a business notebook, one that i deemed as a high quality product and logically more durable notebook. No problem with the keyboard at all.

Upon removal of the keys, i noticed that the rubber are of different design and it looks much more durable than the one on the dv5000.

So, another possible options would be to replace the original rubber with a higher quality rubber from other keyboards

 

Just to follow up on this thread....

Has anyone tried dissecting the keyboard of this notebook?

Cheers!
Francis

 

Anyone??? Anyone???????????

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I've been gone for a while and when i checked back the forum, I noticed that still no one has tried out the workaround fix i have posted above. I would seriously urge to try out the above workaround with regards to this issue.....

I worked for me up till today. So, pick up your tools and try it out guys....

Cheers!