Write-up of replacing keyboard

I’ve just performed this task.

There are lots of screws. I mean lots. Not just lots. REALLY a lot. More screws that you’ve ever seen used in one place, I suspect. (I’m not complaining - I have confidence in the FW guys - I’m only describing). First there are lots getting the metal keyboard cover off, and then you discover there many more getting the keyboard off - and getting the screws out is a lot easier and faster than getting them back in again.

The magnetic screw tip (of the provided Framework tool which came with the DIY laptop) helps enormously - I can’t imagine this job to be viable without magnetism.

When getting the screws back in, on the back of the keyboard, I took some screws, a pinch of them, and put them on the back of the keyboard. Some would happen to end up with the flat head of the screw against the back of the keyboard, but some with the screw part down and the head up - those screw part down and head up I could then move, with a fingertip, into place. Once they were all in place, I could then rapidly screw them down.

The task is not difficult as such, but it is time consuming. An hour or a bit more.

Next, in the instructions, when removing/inserting cables, the instructions talk about “lift the black cover”. There’s no description of what this is.

If you look closely at the connection the cables go into, there’s actually a little black plastic bar on the top, which in fact can be flipped back, so it points upward. You need to do this, to get the cables back in.

There are one or two screws which are not on the photos. You’ll figure them out easily.

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You should lift that to disconnect the cable as well, otherwise you risk damaging the contacts on the cable.