CF-50 keyboard removal+replacement?

Hi. I've been visiting this site for a while but until now I haven't needed to ask anything (a simple search always yielded the info I was looking for).

So... I hate to pester anyone with my ignorance (I'm well aware of the effort you all go to, to help the annoying newbs) but I'm at my wits' end. The keyboard on my CF-50 (Pentium M 1.4GHz) not only rattles when I tap keys in certain areas (I don't believe it's properly mounted internally) but a lot of the keys seem wired incorrectly: tapping them results in a totally different character being entered (did I phrase that correctly?). I've eliminated the possibility of this being due to software corruption by reinstalling the OS (actually, I tried a bunch of different OS's, of course including Windows) and it's clear that it's a hardware issue of some kind.

I assume I need to remove (and possibly replace) the keyboard but I was unable to find any sort of instructions anywhere on the web and I certainly couldn't tell how to remove it by scrutinizing the laptop itself.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!!

-Wallace in Oklahoma

 

when you say "totally different characters" are showing up, what exactly do you mean? And if you could post a picture of your keyboard that would also be helpful.

To remove the keyboard though, there is a cover piece above your F4 keys. Carefully pry that up being VERY careful not to break the tabs. Use a very thin flatblade screwdriver, like a jewelers one and work around the edges as you gently pry up. Once that is off, you will then push your keyboard into that now vacant space and lift it up. Does that make sense?

 

Ok, now I feel really stupid: I fired up Puppy Linux 4.2 so I could provide a better description of the strange keyboard behavior (where I would see different characters than the ones I entered)... and I couldn't reproduce the problem! I could have sworn that I was able to reproduce the problem on other OS's besides Windows but I guess I might have remembered wrong. Either that or the problem's mysteriously gone away (for now, anyhow!). Anyway, I'm re-installing XP SP3 right now (a custom version I like to use that comes pre-tweaked and includes a ton of additional driverpacks) and I'll known shortly if the problem has mysteriously disappeared or if it only exists under Windows. Is it possible that this keyboard is a non-standard type that requires a special Toughbook driver under Win32?! Anyway, here's a pic:

 

Well, I'll be...

I reinstalled Windows and voila, no strange keyboard corruption anymore! Not very comforting not knowing what was causing it to begin with... but I'm just grateful it's working properly now.

How weird...