iBook G4 Phantom Key Presses

[adcx64]

Hey Guys,

Since the day I got my iBook, I randomly would see the backlight flicker slightly as I used it. Recently, the volume will go down and up for a few seconds randomly. This leads me to think the iBook thinks its function keys are being pressed. I am stumped as to what this could be. Even weirder, if I press the volume up and down, the system won't respond and I hear "tick tick tick" out of the speakers, then the system will respond and all the issues go away!

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[adcx64]

Any suggestions guys?

 

[zen.state]

My guess is an intermittent problem somewhere between the membrane on those keys and the signal wire that sends the individual key signals to the main KB connection.

 

[adcx64]

I'll try reseating the keyboard connection on the logic board, and blasting the keys with compressed air later... I'll let you know what happens!

 

[adcx64]

Reseating the keyboard connector did not fix the problem. Any other suggestions?

 

[goMac]

Possibly the keyboard has gone bad and needs to be replaced.

I've seen this sort of behavior before on iBooks with liquid damage. Not saying you did anything, but replacing the keyboard always seemed to work.

Trouble is that such an old machine is unpredictable.

 

[FourCandles]

I have an iBook with a similar issue. With mine, there's a specific area of keys that are affected:

9 . o l \ F9

These keys would randomly trigger. I disabled the F9 exposé shortcut as it drove me nuts.

I also get the volume clicking thing.

I replaced the keyboard on it some time ago (for a separate reason) and the problem persisted, so it wasn't the keyboard or the ribbon cable (you get a new one with the new keyboard).

It's been getting steadily worse over the years so I don't think water damage is the culprit. My guess is the connector on the logic board unfortunately.