[Ham-Computers] ERROR 0210: STUCK KEY 20

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Joe,

Have you disassembled the keyboard itself?  The keyboard here isn't in a 
laptop (it's a separate unit, one of the bent ones) but it has twice suffered from 
liquid egress (OK, beer once and Coke once) and went into cardiac arrest both 
times.  I disassembled it both times, washed the components with fresh water 
and dried the flex circuit boards with paper towel and the case and keys with 
LP air and it is still working fine.  I would guess that in yours some piece 
of conductive trash has gotten in between the boards or someone has spilled 
something on it.

>From prior professional experience (I had an alcoholic draftsman working for 
me once, but didn't know it), the worst thing to spill into a keyboard is 
bourbon and coke.  Compaq replaced the keyboard three times before we discovered 
what was happening.

In a message dated 4/22/2007 7:57:17 PM Central Standard Time, 
kwz99 at comcast.net writes: 
>     Before completely trashing my HP Laptop, is there any
> 'workable' fix for subject problem?  A while back during
> one of the contests, I was typing in a Callsign and when
> I hit the 'D' key, DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD's started to
> stream!!.  I have been working on this problem on and
> off for months - but really need to get the mobility of

> my laptop back - have asked several people, even the
> 'Geek squad @ Best Buy', and they all told me that it
> would be cheaper to just by a new laptop.  I have
> removed all the key covers, nothing there - I don't 
> want to start tearing into the chassis if I don't have to.
> Right now I have a regular  Keyboad plugged into
> my laptop through the USB port and can work it like
> that [but sometimes it reverts to ddddd].  It's a
> Pavilion N5000 Pent III 700MHz with XP PRO
> on it.  Do I bit the bullet and find another laptop
> [can't buy a new one right now with giving 'Uncle'
> almost 2K in taxes!!].  It is a great contest pc [for
> me at least], so would hate to give it up.  Any
> ideas.  Please and thank you.

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
<wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
<wa5cab at houston.rr.com> (Backup email)