Y510 Keyboard Question

[wyth]

I have a quick question about a keyboard issue (Mark_Lenovo, this may be one you can field).

In general, the keyboard is fantastic.  But I was having trouble with the 's' key; unless I hit it directly in the center, it wouldn't register.

Some investigation showed that the white hinge-like-doohickey-thingy that sits inside the key and connects it to the board itself was the culprit.  The inner part of the hinge itself is missing one of its hinge posts.  Hence, the key slops around a bit and makes typing a bit difficult (do you realize how many times you hit the 's' key a day?).

I swapped out the s-key's white hinge-like-doohickey-thingy with  the tilde key's white hinge-like-doohickey-thingy, and that's solved my issue (I almost never use the tilde). 

So my question:

Is there a way to procure some of these white hinge-like-doohickey-thingies that sit inside the keys and connect them to the board? 

They're fairly flexible and I'm guessing somewhat fragile.  My machine is on all day, in use all day, and I'm sure I'll wear it out.  I'd rather just swap the hinge out myself than send it in for service.

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

Wyth,

Thanks.  Alas, we've never really offered subcomponents for low cost components like keyboards etc.  There is another discussion thread on one of the ThinkPad boards of someone looking for keycaps.  One could imagine some small work from home business stockpiling old keyboards and mailing out keys, springs, and little plastic parts to those who need them.

For these systems, the keyboard will need to be replaced, and presently, this is accomplished through a depot repair.   I would suggest you call service at your convenience and arrange for this to be replaced.

I must say though, that I give you points for your creative interim solution.

[wyth]

Thanks for the reply, Mark.When I get the chance, I might schedule some replacement, but for now, I'll keep it as it is -- I use the machine too much to give it up for long.  (Although I'm sure I could find a used keyboard on ebay and salvage some parts; I did that years ago with an old Compaq.)

[hybridace101]

Buttons such as Ctrl+Shift+D and Ctrl+B appear to be pushed automatically without any intervention from the user.  This has been going on for a month now.  What happens is that in internet explorer or firefox, the bookmarks menu is suddenly brought up without me needing it.  I found out these buttons get pushed when I brought-up the command prompt.  What do you think happened? 

[wyth]

I don't think this in itself is a keyboard problem -- there have been a number of bugs filed with Firefox about this, and from what you're saying, sounds like there's a similar problem with IE?I

[hybridace101]

It's not just the browsers: I opened up command prompt and all of a sudden, I see ^D or ^B (the equivalents of Ctrl+Shift+D and Ctrl+Shift+B respectively).  Also, in office programs, the Bold face icon is toggled automatically and sometimes toggled off. 

[TobySLN]

The things popping up is from the IR receiver getting some random IR light signals. The only way to stop this is cover it up with electrical tape or something like that, (or move your computer).

[hybridace101]

I don't think my Y510 came with an infrared unit.  Otherwise, where do you find it?

[TobySLN]

Its just a small smooth black square somewhere under/infront of the mousepad. It should be to right of the card reader.

[hybridace101]

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TobySLN wrote:
The things popping up is from the IR receiver getting some random IR light signals. The only way to stop this is cover it up with electrical tape or something like that, (or move your computer).

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Looks like your right.  Admittedly I use the TV - a TV remote control close to my laptop.  It would be good though for use to bring up the boldface option.  Thanks for your help!