T400 Bulge Between ThinkVantage and Power Buttons

I've had my T400 for a little while now, and even after getting a new keyboard for it, the plastic space between the ThinkVantage button and the Power button bulges outward. I can push it down flat, but it does not stay. After opening it (when changing the keyboard), it seems it's just a lack of a part to hold it down.

I vaguely remember someone else mentioning this a while back on here, but I saw one recently that did not seem to have the bulge. Does anyone else have this seemingly harmless cosmetic issue on his or her T400? It's not a huge deal, but if Lenovo did in fact make models without it, I may consider hitting up customer service to see what they can do about it.

Thank you for your input.

 

I have it as well. The only thing I can think of is the possibility of (using the service manual) removing the plastics, and reseating them, which I haven't done.

 

UPDATE: I removed the front panel cover and the keyboard of my T400.

The issue won't be resolved by a keyboard replacement, because the underlying components have a bulge towards the top of the keyboard themselves, which also causes a bulge at the rear plastic housing the keyboard fits into.

I believe some of this may be caused by the reinforcements Lenovo designed to overcome the complaints of the original T400's flexy keyboard. In addition to some metal plates that are thin and somewhat flexible, there is some adhesive compression foam in a few spots underneath the keyboard that appear to cause this bulge. If the antenna leads to the wireless card are not routed properly during assembly, this can make it worse. You may (or may not) be able to make the bulge slightly less noticeable, but it is doubtful you'll ever get it to go away.

I don't like it, but my T400 works well, so I'll learn to live with it.

 

Yep, my new T400 has this as well. It is kind of ugly, but I've decided not worry about it. Interesting observations, LoneWolf15. I may have to open mine up now just out of curiosity.

 

Hmm... mine too. Is this a general cosmetic defect?

 

Alright, so long as I'm not the only one, I won't worry about it. It hasn't bothered me too much, so I'm not going to try to open it up and such.

 

Interesting indeed. Kind of a crude hack by Lenovo to address the keyboard flex, in my opinion.

 

Even most T60 widescreen models had a similar bulge, including mine. Most of us just ended up living with it.

 

Update --I managed to minimize the bulge a little bit more, after doing a bit more disassembly.

Some of the bulge may come because the display flex cable isn't glued flat to the magnesium roll cage This causes the cable to be raised, with kind of an air bubble underneath, that pushes a portion of the keyboard and rear plastic top cover up.

Solution is to remove the keyboard (requires removing the front top cover), then remove the top back cover, and then detatch the LCD housing (note: You don't need to detatch the cables). Detatching the display will give you enough space to gently pull up on the display flex cable (it's secured via adhesive to the roll cage) to loosen it from the roll cage, and then pull it back towards the rear of the system. Press it back down so it adheres flush to the roll cage, and then reassemble.

Or, if that seems like a major pain, you can just live with the bulge.

It didn't entirely fix mine, but made it a lot less pronounced than it was. It also gave me a chance to make sure all of the plastics were snapped together properly, so I could eliminate flex.

 

Do not mess with the "buldge". It's your LCD cable. That issue has been around since the T61.In fact one of the design flaws is the battery sort of pinches the cable from the bottom.

 

My T61 has it too so does my buddy's T400. I believe most of us have this issue if not everyone of us. No biggie.