Ever seen a keyboard ribbon cable clip missing?
BillW50
dead. For a four year old laptop, it looks brand new and looks like it
was never used. No dust in the fan or anything. So I lifted the keyboard
out and the clip to hold the ribbon cable for the keyboard was just
gone. Now I have a hard time believing it ever worked before without one
from the factory. If the clip is still laying somewhere in the machine,
I sure haven't found it yet.
I got the keyboard to work if I held my finger on the connection. So I
thought I could use tape and stuff (folded cardboard) to keep a good
connection. One that would work as well as my finger does. But after
about an hour, I gave up and grabbed a clip from a spare motherboard and
it now works perfectly.
Now my question is, I have a hard time believing those clips can come
loose on its own and just fall out. Instead it seems to me the guy
probably wanted to change the keyboard for some reason and he didn't
know how to release the ribbon cable and broke the clip. What do you all
think? And have anybody got one to work with a missing clip before? As
now, I am one clip short.
And another note, why do they say not to use scotch tape to hold the
wires in place inside of laptops? As what is wrong with scotch?
--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2
the wharf rat
BillW50 <Bil...@aol.kom> wrote:
>
>Now my question is, I have a hard time believing those clips can come
>loose on its own and just fall out. Instead it seems to me the guy
>probably wanted to change the keyboard for some reason and he didn't
>know how to release the ribbon cable and broke the clip. What do you all
Ahhh, the mysteries of the ZIF connector...
I've seen this 10000 times. Somebody brings a unit in for service,
"Oh, no it worked fine and then it just STOPPED! Ya know? Imagaine that!"
You open it up and there's a gallon of crystallized Coke caked around the
components. Or it's obviously been taken apart and put back together less
than perfectly...
People are just embarassed to admit they made a mistake I guess.
>And another note, why do they say not to use scotch tape to hold the
>wires in place inside of laptops? As what is wrong with scotch?
It deteriorates over time and with heat. Turns into goo.
Barry Watzman
what they are doing tries to service it. And I am SURE that's what
happened ... someone who didn't know what they were doing tried to
service it and broke the clip. The clips are not available as parts,
the only way to get one is to get a dead motherboard with the same type
of connector (note, they use different brands of sockets in different
production runs, so a different machine of the same model might not have
the same socket or clip; but, the flip side of that is that a totally
different machine or device might have the same clip).
I have not found a substitute for a missing clip. [clip really isn't a
good term, but I can't think of a better one ... however I know what you
talking about, the moving part of a connector for a flat ribbon flex cable].
Some models do use tape, but, again, I am sure that you were not the
first person inside that unit.
As for "what is wrong with Scotch", nothing I guess but a lot of people
prefer rum or bourbon.
:-)
BillW50
the wharf rat typed on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:59:37 +0000 (UTC):
> In article <hgiqqr$8h1$1...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> BillW50 <Bil...@aol.kom> wrote:
>>
>> Now my question is, I have a hard time believing those clips can come
>> loose on its own and just fall out. Instead it seems to me the guy
>> probably wanted to change the keyboard for some reason and he didn't
>> know how to release the ribbon cable and broke the clip. What do you
>> all
>
> Ahhh, the mysteries of the ZIF connector...
>
> I've seen this 10000 times. Somebody brings a unit in for service,
> "Oh, no it worked fine and then it just STOPPED! Ya know? Imagaine
> that!" You open it up and there's a gallon of crystallized Coke caked
> around the components. Or it's obviously been taken apart and put
> back together less than perfectly...
>
> People are just embarassed to admit they made a mistake I guess.
Amazing isn't it?
>> And another note, why do they say not to use scotch tape to hold the
>> wires in place inside of laptops? As what is wrong with scotch?
>
> It deteriorates over time and with heat. Turns into goo.
The prehistoric scotch tape did that, but I don't believe the modern
scotch tape does.
BillW50
Barry Watzman typed on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:39:09 -0500:
> The clips are captive, but easily broken if someone who doesn't know
> what they are doing tries to service it. And I am SURE that's what
> happened ... someone who didn't know what they were doing tried to
> service it and broke the clip. The clips are not available as parts,
> the only way to get one is to get a dead motherboard with the same
> type of connector (note, they use different brands of sockets in
> different production runs, so a different machine of the same model
> might not have the same socket or clip; but, the flip side of that is
> that a totally different machine or device might have the same clip).
>
> I have not found a substitute for a missing clip. [clip really isn't
> a good term, but I can't think of a better one ... however I know
> what you talking about, the moving part of a connector for a flat
> ribbon flex cable].
> Some models do use tape, but, again, I am sure that you were not the
> first person inside that unit.
Thanks Barry. I couldn't think of any other possible possibility either.
And years ago there were stores where you can buy any component, socket,
etc. Although over the years they have been disappearing more and more.
And it is harder and harder to buy components and to build and design
your own hardware. There is always Radio Shack, but that is just bare
bones compared to what used to be available before.
> As for "what is wrong with Scotch", nothing I guess but a lot of
> people prefer rum or bourbon.
>
> :-)
Oh? lol
~misfit~
> I recently got another Gateway MX6124 that the keyboard was said to be
> dead. For a four year old laptop, it looks brand new and looks like it
> was never used. No dust in the fan or anything. So I lifted the
> keyboard out and the clip to hold the ribbon cable for the keyboard
> was just gone. Now I have a hard time believing it ever worked before
> without one from the factory. If the clip is still laying somewhere
> in the machine, I sure haven't found it yet.
>
> I got the keyboard to work if I held my finger on the connection. So I
> thought I could use tape and stuff (folded cardboard) to keep a good
> connection. One that would work as well as my finger does. But after
> about an hour, I gave up and grabbed a clip from a spare motherboard
> and it now works perfectly.
>
> Now my question is, I have a hard time believing those clips can come
> loose on its own and just fall out. Instead it seems to me the guy
> probably wanted to change the keyboard for some reason and he didn't
> know how to release the ribbon cable and broke the clip. What do you
> all think? And have anybody got one to work with a missing clip
> before? As now, I am one clip short.
I once managed to use a thin piece of plastic as a wedge (the same width as
the ribbon, inserted on the opposite side to the contacts) and then, after
testing that it worked, hot glued it in place. AFAIK it's still working
although it was half a decade ago and I've lost track of the laptop.
> And another note, why do they say not to use scotch tape to hold the
> wires in place inside of laptops? As what is wrong with scotch?
Nothing. I love Ardbeg.
--
Shaun.
"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's
warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchet, 'Jingo'.
BillW50
> Somewhere on teh intarwebs BillW50 wrote:
>> I recently got another Gateway MX6124 that the keyboard was said to be
>> dead. For a four year old laptop, it looks brand new and looks like it
>> was never used. No dust in the fan or anything. So I lifted the
>> keyboard out and the clip to hold the ribbon cable for the keyboard
>> was just gone. Now I have a hard time believing it ever worked before
>> without one from the factory. If the clip is still laying somewhere
>> in the machine, I sure haven't found it yet.
>>
>> I got the keyboard to work if I held my finger on the connection. So I
>> thought I could use tape and stuff (folded cardboard) to keep a good
>> connection. One that would work as well as my finger does. But after
>> about an hour, I gave up and grabbed a clip from a spare motherboard
>> and it now works perfectly.
>>
>> Now my question is, I have a hard time believing those clips can come
>> loose on its own and just fall out. Instead it seems to me the guy
>> probably wanted to change the keyboard for some reason and he didn't
>> know how to release the ribbon cable and broke the clip. What do you
>> all think? And have anybody got one to work with a missing clip
>> before? As now, I am one clip short.
>
> I once managed to use a thin piece of plastic as a wedge (the same width as
> the ribbon, inserted on the opposite side to the contacts) and then, after
> testing that it worked, hot glued it in place. AFAIK it's still working
> although it was half a decade ago and I've lost track of the laptop.
Sounds like a plan to me. I still want to connect up a keyboard to that
motherboard here pretty soon. Although that hot glue idea! Maybe I'll
skip that part. <grin>
>> And another note, why do they say not to use scotch tape to hold the
>> wires in place inside of laptops? As what is wrong with scotch?
>
> Nothing. I love Ardbeg.
lol
--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)
BillW50
BillW50 typed on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:55:02 -0600:
>> I once managed to use a thin piece of plastic as a wedge (the same
>> width as the ribbon, inserted on the opposite side to the contacts)
>> and then, after testing that it worked, hot glued it in place. AFAIK
>> it's still working although it was half a decade ago and I've lost
>> track of the laptop.
>
> Sounds like a plan to me. I still want to connect up a keyboard to
> that motherboard here pretty soon. Although that hot glue idea! Maybe
> I'll skip that part. <grin>
I worked on this other motherboard without the clip yesterday. And the
only way I could get the keyboard to work is to create a mound so high
that the keyboard would no longer lie flat. And that won't work out too
well. And I noticed that you could get by with an external keyboard,
except for one task. As without an internal keyboard, there is no way to
adjust the brightness. As virtually no external keyboards has an Fn key.
Worse. I just Googled this and it appears Fn keys doesn't return scan
codes, so key remappers don't work. And worse, Fn keys are all
non-standard. So if you do get something to work for one, it won't for
another. Also Dells have a nice feature that allows the Scroll Lock to
act as an external Fn key. But it isn't a Dell. <sigh>
~misfit~
> ~misfit~ wrote:
>> Somewhere on teh intarwebs BillW50 wrote:
>>> Now my question is, I have a hard time believing those clips can
>>> come loose on its own and just fall out. Instead it seems to me the
>>> guy probably wanted to change the keyboard for some reason and he
>>> didn't know how to release the ribbon cable and broke the clip.
>>> What do you all think? And have anybody got one to work with a
>>> missing clip before? As now, I am one clip short.
>>
>> I once managed to use a thin piece of plastic as a wedge (the same
>> width as the ribbon, inserted on the opposite side to the contacts)
>> and then, after testing that it worked, hot glued it in place. AFAIK
>> it's still working although it was half a decade ago and I've lost
>> track of the laptop.
>
> Sounds like a plan to me. I still want to connect up a keyboard to
> that motherboard here pretty soon. Although that hot glue idea! Maybe
> I'll skip that part. <grin>
Mate, hot glue, or 'hot melt glue' depending on where you hail from is the
scoth-tape of electronics. A friend of mine who's been concocting his own
electronic devices at least since 1975, when he was 13 and I met him put me
onto it. He's an engineer by trade but knows more about electronics than I
could ever hope to know. At 15, while at high school he was sub-contracting
desiging and etching PCBs for alarm systems.
It's great stuff. Ok, it's hot. Probably hot enough to melt some plastics.
(I have my glue gun warming as we speak and I'll test it with my old
faithful laboratorby thermometer. It only goes up to 110 deg C so I hope I
don't destroy it. I've had it for years. Mind you, it'd be a good excuse to
go a bit more hi-tech with the temp monitoring equipment, finances
allowing.)
He's used it for years to mount PCBs into cases etc. It's non-conductive and
holds on pretty good. Also, if you *do* want to remove it at a later date it
can be pried away. Just the other day I took delivery of a Compaq laptop (to
get back on topic) that only had two USB2 ports, both at the back. However
some clown has broken the plastic tongue on one of the ports and the power
and data contacts were just floating around. A disaster waiting to happen if
someone tried to plug a USB device into that port.
It's now completely blocked with hot glue. Everything is insulated and
there's no way anyone is going to fry the mobo by jamming a stick in there.
(I bought a PCMCIA / PC Card to 2 x USB2 ports for it from dealextreme for
US$10 delivered http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.24875 as 1 x USB2
really isn't enough so all's well now.) Those PCMCIA/PC Cards are so good I
ordered another four. You can never have enough usb ports right?
(BTW, DealExtreme's Bluetooth dongles are cheap as chips and I just took
delivery of 4 this morning. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11866
All test out just fine. I don't have a financial interest, I'm just sharing
a source that I've found very useful recently.)
The thing is, if you're careful you can use hot glue for lots of things. It
cools pretty quickly on contact with colder surfaces (heat sinks) so, if
heat sensitivity is an issue (perhaps for wire insulation) just add a little
at a time. It really is magic. I wasn't a believer until I bought a glue
gun. Now I'd be lost withut it.
I'll check if it's up to temp. It smells like it is.....
Ok, I applied copious quantities to the bulb of the thermometer and it went
off-scale. From the way it was rising I'd say it was maybe 130 - 150 deg C?
Maybe a little less. However, when you get good at applying it you can just
apply dabs of the stuff and they 'sink their heat quickly and don't get so
hot. (I really pumped the stuff onto the thermometer bulb to get that temp.)
It really is useful stuff, either for delicate work or for 'filling'. It's
not hard to tack something like a ribbon cable (or the lock tabs) in place
if you're deft.
>>> And another note, why do they say not to use scotch tape to hold the
>>> wires in place inside of laptops? As what is wrong with scotch?
>>
>> Nothing. I love Ardbeg.
>
> lol
When I heard that Jim Murray had named Ardbeg Supernova as his Scotch whisky
of the year for 2010 I just had to buy a bottle. I love my Ardbeg. Jim's
Scotch whisky of the year last year was Ardbeg Uigeadial and the year before
was Ardbeg 10 y/o. As I'd tried the first two I felt compelled to try the
Supernova, even though it's really out of my price-range. Damn it's fine! I
just have to save the second half of the bottle for special occaisions. <g>
--
Cheers,
BillW50
~misfit~ typed on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:03:36 +1300:
> Mate, hot glue, or 'hot melt glue' depending on where you hail from
> is the scoth-tape of electronics.
Oh don't get me wrong, Shaun. When you got a choice to either toss out a
motherboard or simply hot glue it, I am with you. <grin>
the wharf rat
BillW50 <Bil...@aol.kom> wrote:
>
>Worse. I just Googled this and it appears Fn keys doesn't return scan
>codes, so key remappers don't work. And worse, Fn keys are all
Why don't you just buy a new keyboard?
BillW50
the wharf rat typed on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:07:28 +0000 (UTC):
If you followed the thread, you will learn that the keyboard isn't the
problem and I have a lot of spare Gateway MX6000 and MX6100 series
keyboards anyway. The problem is a simple one. The clip is missing off
of the motherboard to hold the ribbon cable in the socket. These clips
looks like they only cost a penny to mass produce. Although I haven't
found a supplier so far. And the only good source is taking from another
motherboard. That is how this one came up missing. I used it to fix
another Gateway with a missing clip.
~misfit~
Odd coincidence. The day before yesterday, after I wrote my reply I received
what was supposed to be a new replacement keyboard for an old Tosh TE2100
P4-M 2GHz machine (that I was given as it had too many things wrong with it
for it to be economically professionally repaired). I have no use for it
other than as a project/hobby, hopefully repair and sell it and perhaps
regain any investments.
Anyway, the keyboard duly arrived and was obviously second-hand. That wasn't
the big problem though. The main issue is that the thick clear plastic
backing part of the ribbon connector is missing. (Who in their right mind
would remove that?) Not only does it provide the correct thickness so that
the clip will hold it in place but it correctly positions the two ribbons,
the large one from the keyboard and the smaller one from the 'joystick'
pointing device. There is a small gap between them.
I've tried to use the backing from the old keyboard but with no luck so far.
Once removed from the other ribbon the adhesive doesn't work as well as it
did and my hands are far too big to make positioning the two ribbons and
then locking them in place easy. Add to that the clip now doesn't seem to
want to hold it tight.....
I'm having a go at claiming my money back (auction site similar to ebay but
NZ based, trademe.co.nz) but so far haven't got a reply to my email of a
couple days ago. Oh well, it was purchased from a business, the staff could
all be on holidays, I'll give them a wee while before taking it up with the
site. Other than that I'll invent a way of getting it to stay in place
although my results so far suggest that this 'new' keyboard may in fact be
faulty as well. :-(
BillW50
~misfit~ typed on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:08:07 +1300:
Hi Shaun. What a sad story. Once you get a replacement keyboard, I would
use tape on the ribbon cables (you can fold over one end of the tape) to
use as a tab to hang on to. This makes handling and inserting the ribbon
cables very easy. Tape can be removed if you like once in place.
--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2
~misfit~
Hi Bill. Thanks. Yeah, it was a bit disappointing as I'm not even sure that
I'm going to get my money back on this one but I just hate the idea of
waste; A machine that could/would do everything that someone wants going
into landfill for the sake of a few parts/dollars and some time...
I'll try making a tape tab if I can get another keyboard at a reasonable
price, thanks for the tip. I've never had one that was quite this tight for
space before. I mean, they could have made the cable a couple inches longer
so that it was easier to connect.
--
Cheers,