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    I am unable to fix the keyboard on my Vaio Z, looking for advice. Pics inside

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by owesen, Nov 13, 2014.

  1. owesen

    owesen Newbie

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    My keyboard stopped working after I opened my computer to clean it for dust. At first some keys worked and some keys produced the wrong character(s). I opened it and saw that the cable connecting the keyboard to the computer was loose. I reattached it and it stopped working entirely. I have reattached it several times with no luck. The keyboard is listed in my device manager and it says it should be functioning as normal. I have tried reinstalling the driver with no luck. However, I am quite confident this is a hardware issue. The lights attached to the keyboard do not light up either. I don’t mean to use this as a tech support forum but I was hoping some of my fellow Vaio owners can offer some advice. My model is Z530.

    Here is a link to images with descriptions: Vaio Z - Imgur

    Any help is appreciated.
     
    owesen, Nov 13, 2014
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  2. anytimer

    anytimer Notebook Virtuoso

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    The gold one rarely goes bad. It is the greenish one that gives trouble.

    1. Examine carefully for breaks/cracks. Fix it you can.

    2. Cut a thin sheet of fairly stiff plastic to the size of the blue plastic and push it into the connector (the new plastic on top of the blue bit). This creates a tighter fit and may solve connection issues.

    3. Get a new keyboard. eBay, etc. do have them.

    On my very old VGN XPS2, there were cracks in the flat cable at the connector end. I cut the end right off, gently scraped the plastic off over the silvered tracks to expose them, and pushed that into the connector with some extra plastic packing as described in 2 above. This is last ditch desperate stuff; you need good hands, a lot of patience and loads of luck. It worked, but I don't know for how long. Hopefully long enough to avail an exchange offer. ;)
     
    anytimer, Nov 14, 2014
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  3. kenshep

    kenshep Newbie

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    Hi owesen, I wouldn't muck around with a keyboard that is giving problems, the cable can be easily damaged. I replaced my E series keyboard with a $38 Chinese from eBay and it's great, probably better than the original and only 15 minutes to change over. In the meantime get a $14 USB keyboard to get you up and running works great.

    have fun.

    kenshep
     
    kenshep, Nov 15, 2014
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  4. Geeee

    Geeee Notebook Deity

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    Are you able to bring your laptop to a Sony Store? I'm almost certain they can assist you in this. There are still a good handful of people under warranty for their computers even though Sony has exited the pc market.
     
    Geeee, Nov 19, 2014
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