Conference hydra::amiga_v1

1717.0. "Mr Goodwrench" by GILBRT::BEAUREGARD (Roger Beauregard SHR1-3) Fri Sep 23 1988 09:58

    Ok, any brave souls out there.
    
    I have a friend who has an A500. His right shift key no longer works.
    I read some earlier notes about if the wrong keymap is being used,
    some keys will not function? Well, I'm pretty sure we're using the
    correct keymap. The only key that has this problem is the right
    shift key anyway. We (gasp!) took the computer apart to look for anything
    obvious, no luck. If you look at the backside of the keyboard, there
    are some very small phillips screws which apparently hold things
    together. What I need to know is; first, does anyone have a schematic
    of the keyboard so I can check to see if the contact is working?
    second, has anyone ever taken apart or seen apart an A500 keyboard.
    My fear is that once I remove the small screws, a million parts
    will spill onto the table and the odds of finding out where they
    go much less getting things aligned would be astronomical.
    
    By the way, I already tried removing the plastic key and spraying
    some contact cleaner into the area of the key contact. This didn't
    do anything, and I suspect there is a clear plastic/mylar/poly-somthing
    cover over all the contacts anyway. 
    
    Hey, perhaps we can make this note into a troubleshooters reference.
    Anyone who has had problems with their machines and found/repaired
    the problem could put their experiences in here. 
    
    
    Roger
    

    Interesting, my A500 has a dead *left* shift key.  The other night
    I opened it up to see if I might fix it.  It looks like the whole
    keyboard unit is probably meant to be replaced rather than repaired.
    If you remove the back cover you will find a thick (clear) mylar
    sheet with the circuitry literally printed on it.  Each key has
    a pair of pads about 1/8" apart.  The mechanical portion of the
    key has a "bridge" that presses down across these pads.  I doubt
    you could do much (like soldering, etc.) on this sheet without
    destroying it.  One *might* be able to replace the sheet, but it
    probably won't be easy to get the part.
    
    Check with somebody like D-Five to see how much a KB swap might
    cost...

    Actually my R key is unreliable. I don't always get a character
    generated when I hit the key. It's annoying.
    
    Mike