Thinkpad 760E with some keys not working \ VOGONS

Thinkpad 760E with some keys not working

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First post, by my03

Posted on 2021-12-01, 20:30

my03 Offline

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Hi all,

while i'm trying to rescue this 760E that i bought off Ebay (as booting but with issues) i did notice that some of the keys (especially on the righthand side) does not work at all. The keys in question are:

0, -, p, [, <semicolon>, comma, etc (slightly orthogonal). I guess this might boil down to a bad connection (cabling for keyboard) but i wonder if anyone here recognizes this behaviour from their own machines? Could it potentially be an "easy fix" or do i simply need to try to replace the entire keyboard?

I peeked at the keyboard cable and it looked ok (but i havent reseated it yet) and there is no battery leak from neither left/right (cmos and ???) battery (but will replace these asap).

Any clues?

Reply 1 of 4, by vetz

Posted on 2021-12-01, 20:52

vetz Offline

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It's battery leakage from the standby battery causing this. Common fault on these models.

No need to replace the standby battery, as it's only there to provide power when swapping the main battery.

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Reply 2 of 4, by my03

Posted on 2021-12-01, 21:13

my03 Offline

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Joined: 2019-11-20, 19:50
Location: Sweden

vetz, ok thats good to know, thanks 😀 I will certainly rip the standby battery out of the unit asap (right-hand side, a bit bigger battery pack). But i did ogle the pcb under the palmrest a bit and i could not (hastily, i admit) notice any damages on it. But i assume (from what you say) that it is not uncommon to have issues like that? Then i wonder, is it possible to source replacement a replacement PCB for it?

Reply 3 of 4, by vetz

Posted on 2021-12-01, 21:23

vetz Offline

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I had exactly the same issue as you on two of my 760EL that I acquired. The damage was quite visible on my PCB's. Afaik it's possible to get replacements, but they are expensive on Ebay. I have repaired one of the boards with some patch/jumper wires.

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Reply 4 of 4, by my03

Posted on 2021-12-04, 19:42

my03 Offline

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Joined: 2019-11-20, 19:50
Location: Sweden

Thx vetz. Then i will scrutinize the PCB under the magnifyer (and if so get myself a really tiny soldering tip).

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