Replacing the keyboard on a laptop???

[oliegirl]

Has anyone done this? I have a Dell that my son and I share, the "o" key came off and the brackety thing that holds it in place is broken so it won't go back on. Very annoying as "o" is such a common letter...I did a quick search last night and found a replacement keyboard for $25, the instructions on how to replace it seem simple but I'm wondering if it's really that easy or will we get it opened up and find major complications...

[MacroGuru]

Its fairly simple and straight forward.

[finkenst]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

Has anyone done this? I have a Dell that my son and I share, the "o" key came off and the brackety thing that holds it in place is broken so it won't go back on. Very annoying as "o" is such a common letter...I did a quick search last night and found a replacement keyboard for $25, the instructions on how to replace it seem simple but I'm wondering if it's really that easy or will we get it opened up and find major complications...

the hardest thing to do for me was hooking the ribbon cable up to the new keyboard.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

Has anyone done this? I have a Dell that my son and I share, the "o" key came off and the brackety thing that holds it in place is broken so it won't go back on. Very annoying as "o" is such a common letter...I did a quick search last night and found a replacement keyboard for $25, the instructions on how to replace it seem simple but I'm wondering if it's really that easy or will we get it opened up and find major complications...

I have a Dell, and when The Boy-Rahn ripped off the 'A' and 'S' keys off I had to replace it. Dell sent me a new one with instructions and tools necessary to do so. Piece of cake.

[Calis]

This is pretty much a daily occurrence for me at work. We have a couple of laptop carts that we cart around for the kids to use, and 3-5 graders have a tendency to remove keys.

It's really straightforward. It sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is. It's a process that takes maybe 5-10 minutes tops.

[terpkristin]

When I ordered a replacement laptop keyboard from Dell, it didn't include instructions, and a Google search turned up more or less what I needed. The part that was left out was that there were 3 or so screws on the bottom of my laptop that needed to come out....once I figured that out, it was quick and easy.

Note: I did it at my parents' house because the Oz-monster would have made a very easy task into something else...

/tk

[sterlingice]

Depends on who's keyboard it is. With Dell, they got rid of ZIF sockets a long time ago, or at least all the ones I've seen. So, it's basically just plugging a cord into a little socket that's pretty straight forward. Some others have ribbon cables (*cough*HP*cough*) that you have to be careful not to break. Basically, remove the keyboard screws, pull up, unplug, and plug in and you're good.

SI

[oliegirl]

Cool, thanks guys I have a Dell, and I called them but it's the brackety thing on the keyboard that the key clips onto that is broken, so getting new keys wouldn't help. I had a wireless keyboard/mouse that the FI had stolen from me, so I stole it back until we can get a new keyboard ordered and hooked up. I'll probably still use this one for work and whatnot, but definitely need a working keyboard for when I'm not at home, etc...

[MizzouRah]

Takes me about 30 seconds.