I received the keyswitch.
Below I said
"If simply washing and deoxit doesn't make it work, then..."
And indeed that's all it was.
I included "washing" because we don't know the condition of the machine,
and past spilled drinks are common, and that requires water to dissolve
sugar.
As it turned out, the switch was clean and not sticky nor corroded. So
in this case no washing needed.
Before even using deoxit, I just pressed the key several times while
hooked up to a meter.
It was dead, but after about 10-15 presses it started working
intermittently, then got to 100% within another 10-15 presses.
I'm hitting it with deoxit and a bunch more taps before sending it back
just for good measure, but it's already fine.
Sadly this means I don't get to piece together a good keyswitch from 2
broken ones after all.
On any machine with those Alps switches (meaning not 102, 200, 600, but
yes m100, nec, olivetti, kyotronic) if you have keys that seem to be
dead, the first thing is just press the key a bunch of times. 10, 20,
50, just tap a bunch of times for several seconds before assuming it's
actually dead.
--
bkw
On 3/20/24 13:46, Peter Vollan wrote:
Just one thing at this time... took the switch out and checked it with
a multimeter, it is the switch
On Wed, 20 Mar 2024 at 00:26, Brian K. White <b.kenyo...@gmail.com> wrote:
I had to search to find:
"There is exactly one key on my m100's keyboard that rufuses to work,
the K key."
What was anyone supposed to do with that?
What I said below and the video wouldn't help with a 100. It only
applies to a 102.
100 has a totally different kind of keyswitch, and no similar easy
possible fix to try, other than just wash the switch with distilled
water (to clean out possible sugars from drinks), then alcohol (to
dry
the water), then deoxit (to refresh the actual copper contacts
inside),
and actuate the switch a bunch of times (after the deoxit soaks a
while,
you also need a little mechanical action to actually scrub away the
oxidized surface).
If simply washing and deoxit doesn't make it work, then you have
to look
for corroded traces, loose solder joints, desolder and disassemble
the
keyswitch itself, maybe replace from ebay (the switches are available
sometimes).
--
bkw
On 3/20/24 00:36, Peter Vollan wrote:
> It would have been nice if you guys had helped me out with this
when I
> recently posted that my "K" key had inexplicably quit. I swapped
the
> keycap out with the ESC key because that is rarely used; I
didn't think
> of the extra shift key. Long story short, I overestimated my
abilities
> and thought I had wrecked my unit permanently, but by hook or by
crook,
> and solder bridges and resistor legs, my keyboard was fixed.
Except for
> the escape key. Actually the cassette relay and the modem don't
work,
> but I think that is from changing those resistors and replacing the
> backup battery. Don't see how it could be the keyboard.
>
> On Mon, 18 Mar 2024 at 08:58, Brian White <b.kenyo...@gmail.com
> <mailto:b.kenyo...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> 102 has carbon impregnated silicone rubber domes like
calculator or
> remote buttons.
>
> With care it's possible to lift the top of the key switch
body off
> and lift out the rubber dome, and see if the contacts or
button are
> dirty. Maybe use some deoxit with a q-tip to clean the contacts,
> maybe clean the carbon pad.
>
> I had a stuck T key where everything looked fine but the
carbon pad
> maybe just looked worn. I swapped the rubber dome with the
> right-shift key (a key that I don't use as much, and has a
duplicate
> on the left anyway, and was much less worn because all the
previous
> owners probably used it less than T also) and afterwards not
only
> did the T work, the right shift still worked!
>
> To get the keyswitch apart, I don't know how to verbally
describe
> everything clearly. I made a video
>
> https://youtu.be/n_oyDYRDYzs <https://youtu.be/n_oyDYRDYzs>
>
>
> bkw
>
> On Sun, Mar 17, 2024, 10:47 PM Ronald Hudson <hudson...@live.com
> <mailto:hudson...@live.com>> wrote:
>
> Hi Everyone--
>
>
> My 102 has a failed "," key - all the other keys seem to
work so
> I am
> guessing it is a bad key or broken trace.
>
> What say ye?
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> Ron.
>
--
bkw
