On 02/07/2016 07:32 AM, Mark Komarinski wrote: > You can isolate it by plugging in a USB keyboard and seeing if it > still happens. My guess is you're correct that it's a mechanical > problem with the keyboard. Depending on the laptop model you have, > purchasing a new one probably won't cost much (the ones I got were > under $20) and replacing it is usually easy. YouTube will likely > have a video covering it.
Yeah. USB keyboard does in fact work fine. Actually, I'm confident that it's not an OS-or-higher problem because I the symptoms even manifest before the OS is booted--in the GRUB and even BIOS screens. I guess it could be a keyboard controller problem, which would really suck if that meant it was a mainboard issue instead of a keyboard issue per se.... It's a ZaReason (really a Pegatron B14Y, which ZaReason sold as the UltraLap 430); i.e.: whitebox laptop, so it's especially straightforward to disassemble. I've removed the keyboard a couple of times, now-- shaken it, tapped it on the table, tried blowing it out with canned `electronics duster'. Swabbed the contacts on the connector with alcohol. Those approaches `seemed to do the trick' for either minutes or hours, which I'd guess probably means that they didn't actually do anything useful, and I was just seeing the same intermittence of symptoms as before I'd tried anything. Initial scan of Internet sales sites seems to indicate that a replacement keyboard is something like $50 (plus shipping time/cost; BTW, this is the wrong keyboard, but the best [most hilarious] discount I've seen in a while: <http://amzn.com/B00DDVJZTK> "List price: $1,702.13; Price: $51.22; You Save: $1,650.91 (97%)". I guess the translation is "a lot cheaper than buying a whole new laptop"). > If you want to clean it I'd recommend removing the keyboard and using > rubbing alcohol or distilled water. I get a box of alcohol pads from > CVS and it's very convenient for occasional cleaning. The other thought I had was maybe one of the "DeoxIT" products. I've never used any of them, though; and I've got a knowledge-hole in just the right spot to make me worry, if there is actually something amiss *inside the keyboard* that might be solved by cleaning, if feeding anything _into it_ the keyboard might, say, un-do whatever glue is holding the little carbon conductors onto the undersides of the rubber domes and just accelerate me to the `try buying a new keyboard' stage. One of the things that surprised me, when I removed the keyboard, is that contacts on the end of the ribbon cable are *black* rather than being either silver or gold in color as I was expecting. Looking at it through a loupe, it looks like there's actually a thin sheet of carbon or similar-looking material installed as a layer over the contacts. Made me hesitate before trying the alcohol swab; actually, it makes me wonder whether those contacts are really cleanable at all. > Joshua Judson Rosen wrote: > >> I've got this weird problem with the keyboard on my laptop: I've got >> a bunch of keys that intermittently become dependent on some other keys. >> >> Every so often, the Y, U, J, 9, comma, Enter, and Home keys all stop working >> unless I hold down either W or left Shift or Caps Lock. Then they actually >> trigger (though not in a way that's useful since I'm holding down other keys >> that prevents software from interpreting them in the normal way...). >> >> I gather that the Y, U, J, 9, comma, Enter, and Home keys are all sharing >> a signal line or something, which would explain why they all go out together; >> how holding other keys effectively routes around that damage..., I'm >> clueless. >> >> But I think my question is: how likely is this to be caused by some sort of >> debris or >> corrosion somewhere (under one of the keys? on the contacts on the >> ribbon-cable?), >> and, if so, what would be the right (non-destructive) way of clearing it out? >> >> This can't possibly be a software issue, right? >> >> Anyone dealt with anything like this before? >> -- "Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr))))." _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
