On 02/08/2016 01:23 PM, Bill Freeman wrote:
> It sounds to me as though a trace is broken, or just possibly the
> connection to the ribbon cable that joins the keyboard to the system
> (at either end possibly. Operating additional keys somehow routes
> around the open from the point of view of the key scanning chip.
Yeah. And, actually, I think I (mostly) figured out what's going on:
it's not actually depressing the W key per se that makes the others work;
rather, it's pressing down *that part of the keyboard* that does it.
Which is to say, if I press down on *the space between the keys*
on the left side of the keyboard, all of the keys start working.
When it's acting up, I can actually hold the keyboard up, hold down one
of the effected keys such that repeats, and then flex the keyboard
slightly and/or move it around in space above the laptop and see that
the repeating key is interrupted. It's really hard to disentangle
"flexing the keyboard" from "moving the keyboard around and flexing
the ribbon-cable", though. I think it may actually just be some wear
on the *cable* (which sounds weird..., but the cable is sitting right
between a slightly flexible keyboard-panel and a circuitboard, so...).
If I hold the cable up to the light, it looks like something may have
actually perforated it--and either there's a lack of continuity where
there should be continuity, or there there's continuity where there
shouldn't be....
Given that the failure did seem to correlate to the keyboard+cable
assembly, I ordered a new one of those from ZaReason. $50.
Took about a week to arrive. Upon installing it... OMG it actually
*feels a lot better to type on* than the old keyboard. I don't know
whether the new one is actually better than the old one was when it
was new due to a manufacturing change or something, or if I just
didn't notice a gradual wear-in over the course of three years.
I *think* it may actually be some combination of both....
And now I wonder what other things I use every day have worn out
without me noticing....
And, yeah--it seems to have fixed the problem, too. Though I guess
I won't really be sure until I've given the problem a more ample
opportunity to recur....
> I have just recently replaced the keyboard on my ZaReason Strata
> 6770. I had spilled milk on the keyboard, and eventually a few keys
> stopped working. I suspect a bacterial film on some of the contact
> pads. ZaReason does sell replacement keyboards (not especially
> cheap), and it wasn't too hard to replace, once I believed the force
> needed to pop the old keyboard out, particularly if you don't mind
> destroying the dead keyboard. On mine the keyboard has bumps that
> extend into pockets in the bezel. The keyboard flexes to "pop" in.
> No additional disassembly was required. Suggested prying was between
> the keyboard and bezel at the top center of the keyboard.
Yes--same here: there are little `pockets' in the sites of the bezel,
and there are clips that protrude into those pockets on the keyboard
module from the `rest of the laptop' assembly. The clips along the *top*
are spring-loaded and can be made to retract by pressing on them
with a toothpick or spudger. The clips on the *sides* do not retract--
the keyboard just pulls out from under them by bowing it a little.
It's different on my wife's Alto 4330 (it's not obvious from the outside
how the keyboard module would be removed from that). Maybe it's a difference
between the ODMs--the UltraLap 430 hardware is sourced from Pegatron; whereas
the Alto 4330 hardware is sourced from Compal (as was the Alto 3880 before it).
> Since you have a different model, your mileage may vary. Ask ZaReason. No
> procedure was shipped with the replacement keyboard, and I had to ask
> the support email a couple of times before they knew what I wanted.
This is actually one of the things that I really like about ZaReason:
whereas a lot of brands seem to go out of their way to obscure things
and make it so hard to service equipment that the `just junk it and
buy a new one' path becomes tempting, ZaReason is incredibly forthright.
I bought my UltraLap 430, my wife's Alto 4330, and the original ZaTab
together; and I had some questions about user serviceability of all of them;
I had an e-mail conversation with someone at ZaReason, where I asked:
I do have one more question: the photos available on zareason.com
are pretty good/helpful, but there's one angle missing--a shot of
the *bottom* of the laptops so I can get some idea of how
serviceable they are. Would it be possible for me to get pictures
of the underside access-panels to compare the Alto vs. UltraLap?
And I got back not only comparative photos of the bottoms of the laptops,
but also very informative descriptions of what would be required to
take them apart (and put them back together) for replacement of various modules.
(for the Alto, it was basically "remove this obvious screw and pop the panel
off the bottom et voila"; the UltraLap 430 had made me nervous because
it used a `non-removable' battery, but after seeing the teardown procedure,
I bought it anyway; the newer UltraLap 440 is back to having normal
removable battery ☺)
It was a really nice change from my old Thinkpads.
(though the Thinkpads did have one really nice feature that I do sort-of
miss, even though I've never ended up needing it.: *a drainage system* ☺)
> On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 6:34 AM, Matt Minuti <matt.min...@gmail.com
> <mailto:matt.min...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>> 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.
>>
> I'd swab them with alcohol. I've seen that a couple times, and each
> time it turned out it was corrosion. Not to say it couldn't be a
> factory coating, but if it looks like a gross old nickel, it's
> probably oxidized.
Yeah. At first glance, it actually looked sort-of like a *very tiny*
version of the carbon filter sheets that are used in air-cleaners;
when really it was just that the metal of the contacts had that texture
and it had never been worn down, so when it turned black it _still_
had that texture.
--
"Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr))))."
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