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    Kobalt G150 (Clevo P150HM) keyboard rattle

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by jcornwall, Jun 11, 2011.

  1. jcornwall

    jcornwall Notebook Enthusiast

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    For a while, I've noticed the right side of my G150's keyboard makes a slight rattle/buzz as keys are hit. The left side doesn't exhibit this problem.

    I removed the keyboard to explore further. I noticed that one of the aerial wires to the 6230 card was protruding above a metal tag, which is meant to keep the wires away from the keyboard. This was causing upward pressure on the left hand side. I fixed this and put it back together to test.

    Now both sides rattle! :D

    The keyboard is held in by five screws along the top, while the bottom side is held only in by small tags which fit under the plastic body. Turns out, the gap between the plastic body and metal sheet below is too large to hold the keyboard firmly in place. Now I wonder if the mispositioned aerial cable was put there deliberately to try and reduce the noise. :p

    I think all I need to do is find something thin to place on top of the metal sheet to apply pressure evenly on the keyboard from both sides. I've got some adhesive pads I might try. They're 2mm high, I think 1mm would be ideal, but they might be compressible enough to work. That, or good old Blu-Tac should do it. I'll post back when I've tried it.

    Just thought I'd share in case any other Clevo/Sager/Kobalt users are similarly disappointed in the case build quality!
     
    jcornwall, Jun 11, 2011
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  2. City.

    City. Notebook Evangelist

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    Wait... so instead of contacting them for repair you decided to fix it yourself and damaged it...?
     
    City., Jun 11, 2011
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  3. jcornwall

    jcornwall Notebook Enthusiast

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    You have to break it a bit more to learn how to fix it properly. :D

    That aerial cable was a horrible half-solution, and most likely the reason I had to reconnect it when I first got the laptop to get wireless working properly.

    With an Asus or similarly decent repair service, I'd have considered sending it off. It's not technically a fault, though, just bad build quality. Getting this baby out of Kobalt in the first place was such a monumental effort that I don't want to play that game again. Besides, I chose this model because it was so easy to dismantle. :p
     
    jcornwall, Jun 11, 2011
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  4. jcornwall

    jcornwall Notebook Enthusiast

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    No more rattle! I am unhealthily proud of this. :D

    [​IMG]

    (My camera lens is bad at that distance, my laptop isn't actually curvy. :p)
     
    jcornwall, Jun 12, 2011
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