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Faulty keyboard - Compaq Armada M300

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First post, by my03

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I have some issues with the keyboard on this machine. Most of the keys are responsive, but there are a few that will not register at all (tried various W98 keyboard testers + keycheck from here: https://www.ers.kestar.com.au/dos.html)

The keys that will not register includes Esc, F1, left arrow, down arrow and < and >.

Is this behaviour known to anyone else who might have figured out some way to fix it? Or is it basically trying to find a replacement keyboard that would be the best cure?

I tried a separate USB keyboard (all works then) and i also removed the keyboard and cleaned the flat ribbon connector (towards the system board) with Q-tip and IPA (still wont work when using the original keyboard)

Reply 1 of 1, by Thermalwrong

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It'll be a spill or some other corrosion has got into the membrane layers of the keyboard and damaged some tracks. Sounds like all those are on the same trace or there are two traces damaged.
Or there will be one track at the connector for the keyboard that has worn through - hold the keyboard connector up to a light and see if you can see light through those tracks.

Look on the back of the keyboard for the part code and search for a replacement, if there isn't one then you'd need to disassemble the keyboard to repair it and that's not easy: Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?
And further down that same page there was a clearer explanation of a Toshiba keyboard that needed repairing: Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

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