weird flickering and high cpu behaviour traced to sticking / sensitive f5 key

Hi,

I had a strange problem on a T410s, that took a while to track down. Browser windows would continually refresh / flicker, and then the same happened to the desktop / Windows file manager, and cpu usage would be high.

I had no idea what was going on, ran anti-virus scans etc.

Eventually I realised it was like everything would (periodically) refresh, and then the penny dropped, and it turned out I have a sticky and/or super sensitive f5 key. It's now stopped doing it of its own accord, but if I barely just touch it, it acts as though pressed (if you see what I mean).

So, any ideas on a cure ? I guess I could check for something wedged under it, how do I remove and then replace the key top ? Just lever it off and snap it back on ? Thought I'd check rather than destroy the key even more than it is at the moment.

Never seen this kind of issue before, and I've had multiple Thinkpads before.

 

Fixed by buying a replacement f5 key online.

These are fiddly little so-and-so's to fit. I recommend going very slowly and patiently, and to avoid snapping the plastic scissor mechanism. And to very, very carefully note the orientation of the parts. Even though I tried to do this, at one point I realised I'd forgotten which way up the scissor went, (there is a very small difference depending which way is 'up') and so had to pry under the edge of another key to look (easy to break these !). There are absolutely tiny little pins which fit into tiny holes from one part of the scissor to the other (like a square inside another square, with the pins sticking out of the inner square to slot into holes in the outer). Then snapping it all into place into the keyboard base without snapping the mechanism is fun.

Worked out in the end, and much to my surprise it seems fixed. Didn't spot a lot wrong with the old mechanism originally (though I did break something on it whilst fiddling as it got even worse !). Happy as it cost all of $10.