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Never ever try to remove a laptop key


thedestro

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Last weekend, my laptop 'alt' laptop key was acting funny, and I thought something got stuck under it.

So being the fiscally responsible person I am, decided to go to Youtube to find my laptop model on how to remove keys. I saw a video that had a laptop looking exactly like mine, so I decided to copy what the guy in the video did.

10 seconds later, big mistake.

I ended up breaking my space bar key, and it turns out the workings underneath my laptop keys were completely different from the ones on the video. Space bar is a pretty crucial key, so I was scrambling to get it fixed. Geek Squad at Best Buy said they couldn't help me, but could replace entire keyboard and everything for $70. The local computer place said they would give me a used keyboard to replace and all that would cost $120. !@#$%^&*. I googled them and their reviews said they sucked, and they were right.

I'm a broke college student so $%&@ that, I went online and there seemed to be good reviews from a place called laptopkey.com. $7 to replace the single key, I took the risk. Meanwhile, the last 4 days in computer agony having to ctrl + v every individual space I ever took. Thank god I finished my semester last week.

Well anyway, the key came in just now. Popped it in, used a knife to nudge it up a bit after I popped it in. BOOM good as new. SO RELIEVED NOW :D :D :D May sound very trivial, but it feels nice to be able to clean up your own mess.

Lessons: Never try to do anything hardware wise with your computer. And never going back to that overcharged shop again.

13 Comments


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You can get replacement laptop keyboards for 25-40$ online if you know where to hunt, and installing them by themselves isn't overtly complicated, but yeah, taking off keys isn't a good idea, not so much because you'll break them but because they can be a real pain in the ass to get back on.

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I can sympathize destro and SCY, I am doing without a semi-important key too. However, I do enjoy an interesting task, so I work around the situation. To wit:

Mary had tiny ewe

its coat a nice ecru,

And everywhere that Mary went,

that ewe kept her in view.

And so forth. I am right now rewriting a native Catawban's masterpiece View Your Home Cherub, it is monster job, but I give thanks for a strong "O" key.

Edit: Comma or two

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This might sound stupid and as someone who uses a desktop not a laptop I might be ignorant. You can plug a mouse into a laptop, can you not just buy a $15 desktop keyboard with usb connection and use that as a stop gap until you get some cash?

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Good lord, people still pay for laptop repairs?

That said, at least you found a decent price. I wouldn't pay $120 for a laptop, never mind a laptop repair.

(In your shoes I would probably have ripped the laptop HD out and stuck it in a different laptop. However I own a number of laptops, most of which were given to me free.)

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Laptop keyboards aren't that hard to fix...depending on the laptop brand, of course. As long as it's not a Gateway....those were the worst-designed keyboards, ever. They were basically designed to break.

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This might sound stupid and as someone who uses a desktop not a laptop I might be ignorant. You can plug a mouse into a laptop, can you not just buy a $15 desktop keyboard with usb connection and use that as a stop gap until you get some cash?

I did already have one on hand. But it's not a very practical thing to do because I don't use my laptop on my desk where a USB keyboard would be appropriate. I mostly use it on my lap on the couch or something, so you can picture how that wouldn't work out.

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This might sound stupid and as someone who uses a desktop not a laptop I might be ignorant. You can plug a mouse into a laptop, can you not just buy a $15 desktop keyboard with usb connection and use that as a stop gap until you get some cash?

This can't be stupid, because I thought the exact same thing.

I have a large box filled with old keyboards, just in case. For example, if something goes wrong with the wireless connection or the USB port stops working a PS/2 keyboard is an absolute must.

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yeh me too, laptop key are actually very easy to fix..... open just snap right on as adrian stated, but times it does not may be that the retainer clip under the key is broken, it breaks sometimes, and if it does, places like ebay.com or www.replacementlaptopkeys.com have them for like $4-5, your last resort is a new keyboard, but i would do the cheaper fix always first. hope this helps.

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(In your shoes I would probably have ripped the laptop HD out and stuck it in a different laptop. However I own a number of laptops, most of which were given to me free.)

Yes, most computer problems are easier to fix if you have a font of free hardware.

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