NP8651/P650SE Keyboard Cable Problem

Hello all,

Last night I acessed the DIMM slots underneath the keyboard to install two sticks of RAM.

When I removed the keyboard there aere two ribbon cablez attached to the motherboard, the wider and larger one was held in place by a presure type conector, the smaller one popped out and I'm having difficulty figuring out how to secure in place in the connector. When I push it in there is no method to hold it in place and it remains loose.

I'm assuming this smaller cable provides power for the backlighting since it doesn't work at the moment because I can't figure out how this little cable connects and stays in place.

Have I messed something up? Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Hi,
So, yes the cable is for backlight, you guessed well
Normally the cable is held in place by a little black lever,wich probably broke (considering this thing is quite fragile, it's not a surprise ^^).
you can try to tape the cable with electrician tape ( wich have a better grip on PCB than other tapes), or you can try to glue it (with gel glue, so it doesn't go inside the plug itself), but it's risky and unserviceable again.....
That what i would try, but better wait for other ideas

Elipsus

 

Typically on those small connectors there will be two different colors, black and white. The lack part should flip up and down. Try using your fingernail to flip it up, then put the cable in then flip it back down to secure it.

If that does not work can you upload a pic of the connection.

 

Yes exactly. I was looking for a little flip connector but I didn't see one, I even looked carefully with a flashlight to see if it somehow broke from the minimal force I used to nudge the cable but I saw nothing nor heard any little rattle of a small plastic pierce in the laptop.

I will upload a picture this evening in case I'm missing something and may try the electrical tape method temporarily.

 

So here are a few pictures of the backlighting cable and connector. I taped it in place with some electrical tape and the backlighting seems to be working now and the solution seems adequate for the time being.

I'm still curious if I broke something or not.



As far as I can see there is nothing on the black connector to clamp down the cable.

 

Yup, that it, you broke the little lever that usually clamp the cable....
Good news that electric tape did the job
Elipsus

 

Yep, I've done that before. Darn things are super sensitive. I guess there should be a PSA BEWARE statement made. But yes electrical tape should do the job. Sucks that they're so sensitive and fragile. I wonder if it's possible to get a replacement bar and snap it in place? The hard part would be finding the replacement bar.

 

The electrical tape seems to be holding up and is a good solution. That's very unfortunate they are so fragile, I would go as far as saying too fragile.

I doubt that little piece could ever be replaced without replacing the entire motherboard.

So anyone else who experiences this problem, electrical tape will do the job unless you want to glue it in place.

 

That's what we must resort to, for, as HTWingNut alluded to, sourcing a replacement retainer clip as a standalone part is near impossible.

 

Electrical tape and the original part perform the same purpose of holding it in place. Call it good and learn not to do it again