I have a Laptop 13, shipped in January 2024, with the International English keyboard layout. Yesterday, the P key stopped working smoothly. The switch only seems to trigger when I press on the right half of the key. When I press on the left half of the key, I feel resistance. In addition, the key no longer clunks down the way the others do. It feels sort of like something is stuck under the keycap, but I can’t feel anything when I probe around with a slip of paper.
Can anyone recommend ways to diagnose and fix this issue? If I haven’t heard anything within a few hours, I’ll try tightening the input covers screws as described in this thread, but I don’t have any reason to believe that it will work in my case. Since this thread warns that removing keycaps is risky, I’m reluctant to try that.
A similar experience on my part prompts the following advice.
Make a video that shows the problem, show the support people the video, and request a replacement ‘input cover’.
In so doing, stress that you want the replacement part to be tested properly before it is shipped to you.
Here is what prompts point 2. I had a down-arrow key that made a nasty scratchy sound - from the first time I used it - and which let too much backlight bleed through. After something of a ringmarole with support, I got sent another input cover. That new input cover has . . exactly the same problem. (I am waiting to hear back from support about it.)
It does seem similar to the issue I had. I was also doubtful, but some of the screws were somewhat noticeably loose, and so on a whim I made sure the screws around that key area were relatively tight (probably be careful not to over tighten).
It could have been some sort of wire or something in the way that finally moved after the last time I put the input cover on, but I doubt that as I had done so several times before without the key being fixed.
I’m afraid, with how distribution warehouses normally are, this just isn’t realistic.
Staff just pulls boxed items off shelves, places them into shipping boxes, and passes it out to shipment pickup. They are not setup or trained to do individual part testing. So you can ask for that, and if you’re insistent enough you might even get someone to agree to try to have it done (just to placate you), but it’s not likely going to happen.
In my case - as against that of the person who started this thread - my problematic key was on a ‘DIY model’. But the replacement (that I received nevertheless) displayed the problematic behaviour (sound) before I had even connected it to the rest of the laptop.
@MJ1: I fear you are right. The way that Lenovo - when it is in its nice, within-warranty mode - squares this circle (many units at issue, many staff little trained) is as follows. The factory supplies the replacement part in, I imagine, the way that you imputed to Framework. But then the factory gives the part to an engineer. The engineer brings the part to the customer and fits it; and, if it does not work, gets another one toute suite.
While I was typing this, my supposedly sleeping F-13 AMD just started whirring its fans. Joy.
I tried tightening the keyboard screws, and for a few minutes it seemed to help a lot—but then the problem suddenly appeared again, literally as I was typing this comment. The onset of the problem was quite sudden. One moment, the P key was perfectly reliable, and a slight difference in sound and resistance compared to the other keys was the only indication that anything had ever been wrong. The next moment, the symptoms described in the original post were back in full force.