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From: rknop@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: C128 keyboard needed, 1541's for sale
Message-ID: <1991Apr1.193121.18966@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 1 Apr 91 19:31:21 GMT
References: 
Distribution: na
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 36

adamus@remus.rutgers.edu (Sharon Adamus Caraballo) writes:
>My C128 keyboard has been dying for a long time, but it has finally
>met its end.  I could live without the left shift key, but when the
>spacebar gets flaky and the letter i refuses to type, that's it.

>Anyway, I need a new one.  Immediately.  Anyone want to sell one?  I
>just need the keyboard, but I'm willing to buy the whole unit.  Note:
>I'm talking about the older 128, not the 128D.

Before you spend the likely $60 to get a new keyboard unit, try cleaning your
keyboard.  I had my A key die, and called around looking for a new keyboard
unit, and they were ridiculously expensive.  Eventually I found a guy who
said that the problem is often dirty contacts.

To do this, first take your 128 out of its case- remove the five screws from
the bottom and pop it open.  Disconnect the keyboard from the main circut
board (pull out the n-wire cable).  Remove the large number of small phillips
head screws from the back of the actual keyboard unit.  At this point, you will
need to either de-solder the three "sticky" keys (shift lock, 40/80 col, and
caps lock), or figure a way of bending them through their holes.  Then you can
remove the back board from the keys.  On the back board, you will see a whole
load of contacts.  The keys make their electrical contact by connecting the
two open spots on the circut board with a piece of graphite, which is on what
is known as a "key stem" or "key plunger."  (This will make sense if you take
the keyboard apart and look at these pieces I'm talking about.)  What you need
to do is clean the contacts on the circut board.  A good first order way to do
this is just "erase" all of them with the back end of a pencil.  That's what
I did, and got my A key working again.  If you need to go farther, you can
clean it with alcohol and a tissue (just make sure it's dry before putting the
128 back together).

Does this make sense?  Try taking your 128 apart and looking, and if it still
doesn't make sense, ask me to say more.

-Rob Knop
rknop@tybalt.caltech.edu