Dreaded keyboard connector broke (cf28). Tryed to repair, sorta worked....

So after a ton of reading about how to fix the broken and missing infamous brown clip for the keyboard on my cf-28, i took a shot at it. I used an old style wooden match stick (no head lol) to wedge it in and then used packing tape to hold it all down.

Problem now is the keyboard "works" but im getting extra characters.

For example pressing the "e" key in notepad produces "ep" and pressing the number "1" key will produce "1[".

Intersting thing is if i push "p" i get "ep" and if i push "[" i get "1[". At least its consistent! Any ideas?

 

(also happens in ubuntu, and the region/layout is correct

 

Id say your conections arent lined up properly connections are being made to more than one pin at a time

 

That was my thinking, and i'm glad you said it cause now i can bring myself to undo it and try again. Just gotta wait for the ubuntu install to wrap up.

 

The shim goes on the bottom... Not the top... Slid a piece of plastic underneath. See the ToughbookFAQ at the top of the forum! You'll get it figured out..

 

Keep trying, sometimes it takes a little feeling with the connector to get it fully in the slot, also make sure that what ever you are using as a wedge is as wide as the ribbon cable. Good Luck

 

I have the match stick (square, wooden) wedged in from the bottom, not the top. I read the threads on the starboard and stuff before trying this. I was really hoping you would see this thread. I'm taking it back apart in a few minutes and i will take a picture of what i did before i change anything.

I'll have to check the size of the wedge, maybe redesign it. I'm going to head in the garage and find my magnifying glass, too.

 

These pictures are horrible, go blackberry! Lol. The stick is under it and pushed into it and the tape holds it down....

http://www.acebailbondsmi.com/images/IMG00348.jpg
http://www.acebailbondsmi.com/images/IMG00349.jpg

 

anyone have the picture this post is talking about?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3260856&postcount=16

 

Yeah... That post is around here somewhere... I'll look in a sec.

Your prior ics have too much tape and not a great focust to really tell what s going on... Hang a sec... I'll find it...


EDIT: Try reading this thread....
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=351181&highlight=keyboard+connector

And this thread...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=241818&highlight=starboard

One or both has it in there... They are in the main resource stick under CF-28FAQ

 

Yes i have read both of those. The post i linked in is from the starboard thread, and i was hoping to get the picture he had posted that you commented on. The diagram

 

You must have passed by it...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=30635&d=1234422093

 

yea i didnt see it at all. Thanks TB i'll check it out right now. Really afraid to make it worse

 

just to make sure im doing it right, which way should the cable be facing when inserted?

"A" side up?

http://www.acebailbondsmi.com/images/a.jpg

or "b" side?

http://www.acebailbondsmi.com/images/b.jpg

I had "A" originally, but i noticed that makes it opposite of the second ribbon. We have 6 toughbooks but all the others work so i dont want to touch them lol

 

They fit in there the only way they can.... They are meant to just slide in. One thing though... On the rubber keyboards... For some reason Panny made the ribbon cables a little short (This could also be your problem)... Once the cables are locked in place, since the cables are so short, when you go to screw the plate in place beneath the keyboard... It tends to pull the bigger cable just a little bit out of the connector. A poor design but it can be fixed. First... Lock your ribbon cables in place. Then use Kapton tape (Or packing tape in pinch) about 3/4" wide by about 2" long and tape across the top of the ivory colored connector and across the ribbon cable and it should also be long enough to tape onto the mobo just a little. This will help keep the cable in the connector while you button it all up. BEFORE you screw everything back together... Boot up and test the function of the keyboard or you will need to take it all apart and do it again.

 

redid it, same issue. ugh

 

Do you have an even shim going all the way across? I would use a thin piece of plastic to force it up into the connector.

Also... Sometimes when you lose the brown lever... It breaks apart a piece of the white connector on top... If this happens you will need a new mobo.

 

it's pretty even, but i probably need to do better. Do you happen to have a picture of a shim you made i can use for reference? I wish i had found this website before i took the thing apart. I have been working on computers (including laptops) for 14 years and never saw something quite like this before.

The socket is intact.

 

I do not have a picture handy but I know there are some posted around here somewhere...

It will take some playing around with it... But you will get it.

 

Guys -

I've been UBER-LUCKY on this *Knocks on wood* & haven't yet had this problem; Rick - how close is the thickness of a sidewall out of a 2-liter soda bottle? I've used this material to repair other ribbon cables when the little blue\brown\clear shim tab at the connector has fallen off & gotten lost.

mnem
Woot! There it is!

 

Now that i know im pretty confident i can avoid the issue in the future. This toughbook is a little older, but it's for my boss's kid. He just got a CF-18 and i got his CF-29 (which i plan to screw with VERY soon lol) but this one is my old one.

I'll have to keep messing with it. I considered soda bottle plastic but i think it may be too thin. So far i have tried.....

Toothpick
Match shaft - wooden, square
CD-R cut with a bandsaw
Gatorade bottle cap cut with a bandsaw

 

if someone is willing to unscrew their keyboard and take a picture for reference as to their fix i would greatly appreciate it.

 

I doubt a picture would help as the shim would be below.... Plus you would have to find someone who is actually using a shim... If you follow Alex's advice about the Pepsi bottle plastic.... hat should work..

 

I have been playing with this pepsi bottle all day, im getting nowhere fast. I might just trash this one and call it a loss.

 

Actually make that might a definite. A slip of the finger just took most of the "metal" contacts off of the keyboard ribbon. So it needs a keyboard before i can even argue with it anymore, and imo keyboards for these are way overpriced. Especially just so a kid can play on it.

 

The slip of a finger or a slip of the knife?

 

Sort of both lol. As you can imagine i had a tricky time adjusting the shim under the cable with my finger so i careully used the tip of my knife to adjust it. One of my fingers slipped causing the knife to roll up over the shim.

Thats what i get for using a big heavy boker knife for this. At least now i have an excuse to destroy the thing.

 

Use a credit card to make your shim, works like a charm.

 

Is it possible to cut back the ribbon to expose remaining contacts , or is there nothing left of the contacts

Alex

 

You can? The missing contacts are the metal ones at the very tip. Theres some metal left on like three of them but its basically gone and just the tan/brown ribbon.

 

I hadn't thought of that, good suggestion. If i can fix the ribbon i will give that a shot.

 

here is the ribbon....

http://www.acebailbondsmi.com/images/ribbon.jpg

 

Do you guy's think a copper conductive pen, or a rear window defogger repair kit to fix traces would work on this?

 

The saga ended bout 20 minutes ago. The ribbon actually cracked before i could do anything to it, and its just too much to be messed with at this point. The computer probably had a tough life (no pun intended) because the clip and the ribbon were both very fragile apparently.

I put up an ad for a cheap or free keyboard so i can get her computer working for her again, but at this point we are considering it a loss and due for demolition hehe.