HI!
I recently got this brandless 386 laptop dubbed "TL-5600". It has a 386DX-25 inside, 4MB of RAM, two ISA slots and a fairly generic looking BIOS. It looks nearly brand new apart from some yellowing. Not much dust inside and the screen is super sharp! Weirdly, the screen seems to be an old monochrome amber plasma, but the external connector on the back is a DB-15 VGA connector. I wonder if it has a dual graphics card onboard or if it's just monochromatizing VGA signal. The battery started leaking but didn't seem to do any damage yet, so I promptly removed it.

The keyboard, however, is not working (I knew that was the case when I got it) and I can't seem to get it to work. The keyboard LEDs blink, but I get no response when I press the keys, and NumLock is not on. It doesn't beep when I press everything at the same time too. I have tried cleaning the contacts and connecting external keyboard but it's the exact same thing even on external keyboard. It seems the connector is shared between internal/external and the internal keyboard has it's own circuitry onboard akin to external keyboard, so I'd guess the problem lies on the mobo?

Is it possible that the keyboard controller is fried? I can see a little corrosion too, and would think the connectors don't conduct but blinking LEDs suggest otherwise.

I can do some soldering but I am not sure what to be looking for there. Should I start by testing the resistors / capacitors around the connector?

Please help me revive this beauty!