C720 Bad #2 Key

revtim
revtim Member Posts: 2 New User
in 2014 Archives

I bought my Acer C720 Chromebook last May. It already had a battery failure which was fixed under warranty. Now, all of a sudden, the #2 key doesn't work. All the other keys on the keyboard are fine. I haven't spilled anything on it and it isn't obstructed in any way I can see or feel. 

Do I have to replace the entire keyboard? Could it be something simpler and less expensive to fix?  Are Acer Chromebooks generally this problematic or did I just get a bad one? 

Since it's out of warranty, any repairs will now be one me. I don't like that when it's only been 9 months.

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer

    I was under the impression the C720 comes with a one year warranty, which means you are still covered since you purchased in May...

     

    If I'm off by a year and you really purchased more than a year ago, then we can talk about 'chicklet' keyboard designs. Smiley Happy Suffice to say that there is not much that can go wrong, so it should be repairable.

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  • revtim
    revtim Member Posts: 2 New User

    I bought a factory refurbished model from Acer which I guess only had a 6 month warranty as I tried to contact support and when I entered the product number, I was told it was out of warranty. And yes, I did purchase it in May 2014

    As far as the repair is concerned, I have learned from poking around the internet, that the entire keyboard can be replaced. As a DIY project that looks like it will cost me around $50. I imagine if I had it done, it would cost as much as the unit did in the first place so that doesn't make a lot of sense. 

    What would you suggest?

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,219 Trailblazer

    These keyboards are (IIRC) essentially a conductive rubber sheet with the keys molded in on top of a circuit board. When you press a key the base of the rubber touches pads on the circuit board when allows electricity to flow through, telling the computer the key has been pressed. Some of the the things that can go wrong are contaminents between the rubber and the circuit board, degraded rubber surface or broken traces on the circuit board. With the first one (most likely problem) you can disassemble and clean. With either of the others you need to replace parts, and it's easiet to find the whole keyboard for replacement.

     

    Check out Google for tear down videos to see how to get into the keyboard assembly.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

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