somewhat OT: Laptop repairs (Inspiron 8200)

[Gwen Morse]

To start, I realize this isn't the best group for my question, but, I
don't know what group is. I can guess at least some people here work
on their laptops as well as their desktops. If there is a better group
to ask this question, I would be delighted to head there, if someone
can just point it out.

The fan on my trusty Inspiron 8200 died, again. It tends to go about
once a year. I decided that instead of paying $250 to ship it out to
get it fixed, I'd try it myself. I bought a replacement fan for about
$15 on eBay.

Armed with printouts of the repair manual pages, I disconnected the
entire unit layer by layer, removed the old fan and replaced it with
the new fan, and put (nearly) everything back together.

I'm stuck at putting the keyboard back in.

The keyboard itself has two very flat cables coming out of it. Then,
there's a sheet of metal slightly larger than the keyboard unit, with
slots, end notches and the posts that the screws go into.

It forms a sort of keyboard sandwich, with the metal in the middle for
support/stiffness. The metal sheet has these little holes in it with
notches, that match up to corresponding tabs on the bottom of the
plastic keyboard unit. It "looks like" the notches and tabs match up,
you slide the two pieces together to lock them together, and then
intstall the connected unit into the laptop. As long as they're locked
together with the slots and tabs, the metal sheet will keep the
plastic keyboard in place.

EXCEPT, that the metal sheet and the keyboard are not locking
together. The laptop is reconnected and "working", (I'm typing on it
now) except that the keyboard is loose. How do I get the metal sheet
and the plastic keyboard to lock together, and _stay_ together?

Gwen

 

[Paul]

To start, I realize this isn't the best group for my question, but, I
don't know what group is. I can guess at least some people here work
on their laptops as well as their desktops. If there is a better group
to ask this question, I would be delighted to head there, if someone
can just point it out.

The fan on my trusty Inspiron 8200 died, again. It tends to go about
once a year. I decided that instead of paying $250 to ship it out to
get it fixed, I'd try it myself. I bought a replacement fan for about
$15 on eBay.

Armed with printouts of the repair manual pages, I disconnected the
entire unit layer by layer, removed the old fan and replaced it with
the new fan, and put (nearly) everything back together.

I'm stuck at putting the keyboard back in.

The keyboard itself has two very flat cables coming out of it. Then,
there's a sheet of metal slightly larger than the keyboard unit, with
slots, end notches and the posts that the screws go into.

It forms a sort of keyboard sandwich, with the metal in the middle for
support/stiffness. The metal sheet has these little holes in it with
notches, that match up to corresponding tabs on the bottom of the
plastic keyboard unit. It "looks like" the notches and tabs match up,
you slide the two pieces together to lock them together, and then
intstall the connected unit into the laptop. As long as they're locked
together with the slots and tabs, the metal sheet will keep the
plastic keyboard in place.

EXCEPT, that the metal sheet and the keyboard are not locking
together. The laptop is reconnected and "working", (I'm typing on it
now) except that the keyboard is loose. How do I get the metal sheet
and the plastic keyboard to lock together, and _stay_ together?

Gwen

Based on the description here, it sounds like the tabs on the left, hold
that end of the keyboard. And the four screws going through the back of
the case, secure the keyboard in place.

http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins8200/en/sm_en/keyboard.htm#1084976

Paul

 

[Gwen Morse]

Based on the description here, it sounds like the tabs on the left, hold
that end of the keyboard. And the four screws going through the back of
the case, secure the keyboard in place.

http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins8200/en/sm_en/keyboard.htm#1084976

Paul

YES! That's correct. That's the same manual page I used as my
reference. However, the keyboard "unit" is two seperate pieces (not
shown clearly in the above picture).

The black plastic part with the lettered "keys" (shown in the second
picture down on the manual page). And, a seperate metal sheet (which I
believe is used for reinforcement and to connect the screws), which
looks like the shiny metal bottom of the keyboard in picture #3.

So, the picture of the keyboard in #3 is actually two pieces connected
together!

The black plastic keyboard has little tabs sticking out of it (tabs on
the underside), _not_ the tabs along one edge described in the manual.
Then, the metal sheet has little slots the tabs fit into. These are
all along both sheets. They're the smaller holes (not the big round
holes) shown on the metal sheet in picture #3.

Gwen

 

[Paul]

YES! That's correct. That's the same manual page I used as my
reference. However, the keyboard "unit" is two seperate pieces (not
shown clearly in the above picture).

The black plastic part with the lettered "keys" (shown in the second
picture down on the manual page). And, a seperate metal sheet (which I
believe is used for reinforcement and to connect the screws), which
looks like the shiny metal bottom of the keyboard in picture #3.

So, the picture of the keyboard in #3 is actually two pieces connected
together!

The black plastic keyboard has little tabs sticking out of it (tabs on
the underside), _not_ the tabs along one edge described in the manual.
Then, the metal sheet has little slots the tabs fit into. These are
all along both sheets. They're the smaller holes (not the big round
holes) shown on the metal sheet in picture #3.

Gwen

I found another picture, but I still don't know what I'm looking at here.
If those are two pieces, there isn't an obvious way to hold them together.
The tabs would allow one end to hook under something. But to hold the
other end, would really need at least one screw.

http://www.laptopreparatie.nl/webshop/catalog/images/i8200_keyboard.jpg

That picture could be two views of an intact keyboard assembly, or
it could be the two separate pieces. There are a ton of holes in
the metal plate, but they don't look to be functional (at least some
of them would be for weight reduction).

Paul

 

[Victor]

To start, I realize this isn't the best group for my question, but, I
don't know what group is. I can guess at least some people here work
on their laptops as well as their desktops. If there is a better group
to ask this question, I would be delighted to head there, if someone
can just point it out.

The fan on my trusty Inspiron 8200 died, again. It tends to go about
once a year. I decided that instead of paying $250 to ship it out to
get it fixed, I'd try it myself. I bought a replacement fan for about
$15 on eBay.

Armed with printouts of the repair manual pages, I disconnected the
entire unit layer by layer, removed the old fan and replaced it with
the new fan, and put (nearly) everything back together.

I'm stuck at putting the keyboard back in.

The keyboard itself has two very flat cables coming out of it. Then,
there's a sheet of metal slightly larger than the keyboard unit, with
slots, end notches and the posts that the screws go into.

It forms a sort of keyboard sandwich, with the metal in the middle for
support/stiffness. The metal sheet has these little holes in it with
notches, that match up to corresponding tabs on the bottom of the
plastic keyboard unit.  It "looks like" the notches and tabs match up,
you slide the two pieces together to lock them together, and then
intstall the connected unit into the laptop. As long as they're locked
together with the slots and tabs, the metal sheet will keep the
plastic keyboard in place.

EXCEPT, that the metal sheet and the keyboard are not locking
together. The laptop is reconnected and "working", (I'm typing on it
now) except that the keyboard is loose. How do I get the metal sheet
and the plastic keyboard to lock together, and _stay_ together?

Gwen

Lots of helpful folks on the Dell forums:
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board?board.id=insp_general