Brand new Sager, dead keys on keyboard.

I placed an order for a brand new bottom-up built Sager back in February, and it just arrived today (I'm deployed + some customizing at Xotic, hence the extreme time delay). I started it up and started checking everything out, and I've found that a number of my keys are completely non-functioning. Not in any one particular area, but spread all over the keyboard. I found out quickly when I was trying to raise and lower the screen brightness with the Fn key + F-key combo, and only the lower function worked. Then I tried to log in to my external HDD by typing in my password on the number pad, and kept having an error (missing the "6"). So I opened up a new notepad page and started pushing keys 1 by one. My entire 26 char alphabet is intact, however various F-keys, my left-shift key, and some of the numpad keys just don't register.

I'm hoping this is an easy fix; I'm about to open it up and try re-seating the keyboard's ribbon cable (I'm an avionics technician; you'd be surprised how many errors this action rectifies). I've tried the obvious, restarting etc.

I'm posting here in case someone else has had this particular issue and knows a fix for it. I don't want to send it back, as shipping took 34 days just to get here from Xotic, and I'd be home from my deployment before I got it back again. So any and all assistance would be incredibly appreciated. Thanks for your time!

 

Same thing happened to my Sager from last year. The ribbon cable was ajar. Lifted up the keyboard and reseated the ribbon.

 

I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with your keyboard. Reseating that cable is definitely a good first thing to try. If that doesn't work, send me a PM and I'll try assisting from there. Either way, let us know the result in case somebody else sees this problem.

 

The "C" key on my keyboard needs to be pressed hard for it to work. Normal touch typing pressure is not enough.

 

As his been pointed out, with the long shipping distance (and possible rough handling) it's probably just a loose cable. RAM and cables can at times come loose in transit and need to be reseated. To get to the keyboard cable, open the bottom component cover (remove the few screws), pop the top plastic bezel off near the screen (there are channels underneath to push up on it). The screws to remove the keyboard are under the bezel. The ribbon cable is easily accessible after you get under the keyboard. Just check to make sure that it's seated firmly.

 

Good advice - watch a few videos to see how its done before attempting. There was a video from Xotic there (I think).

Also, there are pictures in the manual of the laptop that show it too.
The PDF manual is recommended as you can zoom in there.

Hope that helps!

 

I appreciate all the help folks. I pulled the keyboard tray earlier and removed and reseated the ribbon cable, but unfortunately it didn't help me any. I'm going to make a list of the non-functioning keys and post it here, just in case there's some pattern that I'm not seeing that might be recognized by someone else.

 

Why did it took so long for the computer to get shipped? Were you living outside US?

 

He said in the op that he's deployed lol.

Sorry to hear about your troubles with new laptop. Makes me nervous for whenever i get mine.

 

Correct, I'm currently deployed to the Gulf area.

 

Good luck out there and I hope you'll be able to fix your problem.

 

Ok I swapped the keyboard with another guy on the boat who has a Sager, and it worked just fine on his laptop. His keyboard had identical errors when I installed it on my laptop. So it's definitely something on my motherboard. I got the schematic for the IT8519 controller and the wire traces going to the keyboard header. My keyboard is the X5100 model and these are the keys that are non-functional:

Esc
Left Shift
F1
F3
F5
F7
F9
F11
F12
Del/(Fn) NmLk
Numpad -
Numpad +
Numpad 6
Right Ctrl
Right Alt

So if anyone has come across this before, or knows which trace on the ribbon controls those particular keys (I'm pretty sure all the odd number F keys are one one trace, but which one...), I'd really appreciate the help. If you've got the maintenance manual, the diagram is on page B-34, for "KBC-ITE IT8519." Even just a list of which trace gets what voltage, or which group of keys is attached to which trace.

Here's a download link to the manual if you feel like going that far out of your way to help me out (which I truly appreciate).

 

404 error on the link. And thats the 8170 manual btw... Have you checked the other end of the cable?

 

Oops, dropped the wrong link in there. It's fixed now.

The other end of the cable? The ribbon from the keyboard goes directly to a connector on the motherboard itself. The keyboard is for-sure good, it worked perfectly on my friend's Sager.

 

Keyboard connector is between the memory slots and battery. I glanced quickly and didn't see where the keyboard slot was in the schematics. Maybe the connector is bad, or you have a cold solder joint.

 

This might be the keyboard schematic...

 

I think its RMA time. Although you're an avionics tech, if you mess around with it and for whatever reason can't fix it, you will have killed your warranty.

 

Yep, page B-34, connector JKB1 (X5100). Between the ET8159 and the connector, I'm hoping someone has some firsthand knowledge of which pin correlates with the messed up keys I've got. (Or hell, a chart of each pin and their associated key groups).

Jimbob, the reason I really don't want to RMA is that it's not feasible. I ordered this laptop specifically for this deployment, for homework and entertainment. Had I known in February that it would take over 2 months to arrive, I probably would've held off. But now that it's here, and is fully functional (keyboard issue aside), I'm hesitant to turn it right back around after waiting so long, and face an even longer wait (35 days shipping there, however long it takes to fix the issue, and 35 days shipping back). At that point, I'd already have been home from deployment for about a month, and back to my full size desktop.

Maybe they can ship me a replacement MoBo and I can return the faulty one once it arrives. Guess I'll add that to my trouble ticket. In the meantime, looks like a USB keyboard will be used.

 

Thanks, I appreciate it!

 

I would expect this to be a hardware fault, but maybe you could reflash your EC. It contains your keyboard controller bios and that maybe messed up...

 

Appreciate the suggestion, any idea where I might find the EC bios off the top of your head, before I turn to google?

 

Do you have the P150HM or P151HM and is it Sager or Clevo branded.
If you don't know just let me know where you bought it.
OR:
What bios and EC versions are shown directly in the F2 bios screen.

 

P150HM, Sager branded.

Bios: 1.01.14LS2
KBC/EC Bios: 1.00.13SA2

Thanks for the help!

ETA: From what I can see, I've got the most current version of the EC Bios. Will it be possible to re-flash this same EC Bios without flashing the main Bios along with it?

 

YES, your system is up to date.
You can just flash the same EC, but if you flash bios too it will properly clear the nvram etc., so I would just do both.

Here Sager P150HM bios:

For DOS USB stick: SAGER_815BIOS&EC_USB.rar

Or as Boot CD: Sager815_14_13_ISO.rar

Rule of thumb: First EC then bios.

GOOD LUCK!

 

Still having this issue. It seems to be keyboard/mouse/ PS/2 driver-related, still no solution. Any help would be highly appreciated. If someone could link the most current drivers or just list the most current driver version, I'd really appreciate it.

 

UPDATE:

The computer fixed itself for a few days, fully functioning keyboard and trackpad, life was peachy. Then the Synaptics driver failed, and then after re-installing the Synaptics driver and rebooting, the keyboard was back to the exact same shenanigans.

So I tried some new tests and this is what's happening.

I opened a new notepad, and held down the "d" key (random choice). I then started pushing combinations of my non-functioning keys while still holding the "d" key (and then other letters, like "k, ). Some interesting results, all in combination with my "esc" key (one of the non-functioning ones).

While holding "d":
Esc+ F1 types "5"
Esc+ F3 types "i"
Esc+ F5 types "o"
Esc+ F7 types ";"
Esc + F9 types " ' "
Esc+ F11 types "]"
Esc+ del/numlock is "backspace"
Esc+ "numpad +" types "g"
Esc+ "numpad -" types "a"
Esc+ "numpad 6" stops the cursor and/or any typing

Various other keys also function in conjunction with Esc+[various broken-key modifiers].

Anyone ever seen this before?

 

Did you try to uninstall the synaptics driver and see if it works?

If so just get the latest synaptics driver directly from their website or station-drivers...

 

Yeah I uninstalled the Synaptics drivers, even cleaned the registry of leftovers. Tried installing a fresh copy of Windows on another hard drive, with and without Synaptics, with my main hard drive completely removed, in both the ODD slot and the HDD slot. No dice, same error everytime. It's recognizing the key presses, just not properly.

 

Just a suggestion: Maybe grab some USB keyboard from somewhere for the time being. The fact that it solved itself for a while kind of suggests either a bad solder joint or a cracked trace somewhere. Usually if it was a controller fault it wouldn't come back to life. (but it's also possible)

 

I could understand the bad solder joint, if I had removed the keyboard again or changed anything physically, but the only thing that was changed was the Synaptics driver.

 

AH well I don't know if that's directly associated time wise as you said that it then stopped working again. So it could be a coincidence and still HW fault.

 

I cannot wait to get back to the States to RMA this thing. It won't even boot now. I really had much higher hopes for an $1800 laptop. New desktop parts are arriving back home, so hopefully I can swap for an NP6110 instead, for weekends and whatnot.

 

I know this is an older post but I have had the same problems. Bought the notebook and started to have the same problems right away. RMA'ed the keyboard and had no problems. Then a few months later I am having the same issue again

 

these keyboards are bad
I must press vey hard

 

I just got home from my deployment and I'm in the process of attempting to return my laptop. It's become quite the headache. According to Sager, it is an issue with the motherboard and not the keyboard itself. Hope that helps you.

Good luck if you're trying to get a refund; it seems that once they have your money, they will give you whatever runaround they can think up in order to keep it. God forbid you want your money back for a product you have no need for and is currently an $1800 paper weight.

Anyone ever heard of a reseller claiming that Sager/Clevo is responsible for a refund, and not the reseller?

 

I had always thought it was the reseller's job to give you a refund, not Sager. If it's Sager's job then there's not a chance I'm buying a Sager even if it's from a reseller because there's too great a chance I'd have to deal with their customer service.

 

Definitely, the resellers job to offer refund.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

 

Unfortunate, but I would do the exact same thing.

 

I sent a Sager back for a refund that I bought through Xotic because of a bad keyboard and botched repair (long story). I didn't get my money back from Xotic untill they got it back from Sager. This all started back in February with the HM model. I got the refund in a little over two weeks after they got the laptop. I just ordered a 170EM from mythlogic yesterday, new chassis. Waited out Ivy bridge and Nvidia.

 

@Namerof-

That is the standard way that it works. Remember, Xotic, or PowerNotebooks, etc, are 're-sellers', so we are the first purchaser. We facilitate the warranty communication for you guys (the customers) and in the event of a refund, we receive the refund first-often because it is a mix of monies between the laptop itself, and any services/hardware/peripherals that were purchased from us.

There are case by case situation where this model does not hold 100% so I can't speak to OP's particular case, as Ive not been working on it, but I just wanted to interject in here before the thread went off the rails about refunds, and who is responsible for them. There are also some restrictions in place, pertaining to time of ownership. Return periods for each of our manufacturers run to different lengths of time, after that period has passed the repair warranty comes into play.

Thanks, all!

 

Concerning the return period- There should be some sort of consideration for deployed service members. Considering this laptop took almost 3 months to reach me in the first place, the shipping period alone put me outside the 30 day return period.

 

Wow, that's nuts!

I would think if you called your reseller and explained the circumstance, they'd cut you a little slack in that case. And if they don't, honestly, I wouldn't use that reseller again. You can get crappy service anywhere, so why add another middle-man into your transaction if you get nothing out of it.

EDIT: Oops. OK, maybe not literally call, because you're deployed, but contact them by email

 

I'm home now, and I've been dancing with Xotic trying to get them to have Sager accept my return and not just repair it. Sager keeps telling me that it's up to the reseller to issue a refund, but Xotic say Sager needs to authorize it first. And round and round we go. Getting really old. They just want to repair it, which is crap because I only bought the laptop so I'd have something on the boat. I figured, February, no big, I'll receive it end of month/ early March. Nope, end of April. Oh and what's this, it's broken, outstanding. Now that I'm home, I don't need a laptop, at all, because I've got a beast of a desktop. I'm not one to usually pull the "I'm a service member, I deserve special treatment" card, but in this particular case, some consideration/slack-cutting would be extremely appreciated. At this point, I'm recommending to any of my fellow Marines and Sailors to not spend any of their money on a Sager/Xotic reseller, considering my experience so far. I don't want anyone else to experience this headache, and there's plenty of other more reliable vendors out there.

 

@ Alathea

Thats the point of my earlier post. Xotic sells it to you offering several benefits but fact is if Sager doesn't want to give a refund guess what, you don't get one.

 

Delete, double post.

 

hey alathea are you a new reseller?

 

This thread breaks my heart :'( I've posted a similar thread where I was told that the keyboard not registering my keystrokes were normal!! I regret not sending mine back in for a refund. I literally have to press the keys about 5 times or at a certain angle before it will take my keystroke. I have the 9150!

 

how can a keyboard that does not register keystrokes be considered normal >.>

 

Hmm, when I first got mine, some of the keys didn't work.

I opened up the laptop and reseated the keyboard cable, and the keyboard registered fine.

So I'm guessing the shipping procedure sometimes loosens the cable connection, so the first step would be to try to reseat the cable and see if the keyboard works fine then.