Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

exscape

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 29, 2008
57
0
After an unfortunate liquid spill on my MBP (Oct 2006, first gen with Core 2 Duo, MacBookPro2,2) a few weeks ago, my Fn key has been broken. It "felt" fine mechanically (as do all the other keys), but I still decided to remove it and check beneath, after looking over how to remove and reattach keys on google/youtube. After some work, I managed to get it apart, undamaged as far as I could tell, and clean up beneath it, to no avail. However, I can't reattach the key, and in my attempts to do so, I may have broken it. The only way to learn more that I can think of is to remove another key, and risk breaking that one as well, so...

Some pictures:
****************
Numbering to make it clear what parts I'm talking about: http://pici.se/477829/?size=fullsize
The semi-broken(?) key before I completely removed the plastic bits from it: http://pici.se/477830/?size=fullsize
What I have right now (the key can be "rotated" down so that it looks *almost* normal): http://pici.se/477831/?size=fullsize
****************

The two plastic bits are not attached to eachother in any way (any longer) - one is inside the other, that's it. The larger one is attached to the keyboard (via "2" and "3", see the third picture above), and the smaller one to the key (at the top points - the one closer to the monitor - only, though), thus making the key half-attached (by having the two plastic parts locked to eachother), but not completely, i.e. the bottom is still not attached to the keyboard (at point "3"; again, see the third picture above).

The key itself may be broken; I'm not sure how it's supposed to look, since I have nothing to compare with. I'm afraid that either the plastic bit(s) or the bottom grip(s) (lacking a better word) on the key itself are broken, if not both parts, from my semi-violent attempts to reattach the key yesterday. The plastic parts were stuck to the key when I removed it from the keyboard, and "worked together" as if they were one... Now they are very much separate.

Now, the key is likely broken electronically somewhere, so I doubt there's much to do about that, but I'd like my keyboard to look (and feel!) complete; having an empty space there looks and feels weird.

Any advice on how to reattach it, if possible (i.e.: judging by the pictures, is it broken?)?

Thanks in advance.
 

UltraNEO*

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2007
4,057
15
近畿日本
Pic2, it doesn't look 'broken' more disassembled.
Basically, the inner part should be tucked into the outer part.

Pic 3 isn't the correct way to install it... if you preceded you'll probably end up chopping off two of the little plastic arms. Then you'll need a replacement from Apple.

Don't get conned, don't buy keyboard parts from ebay! Apple knows those parts will break and so they offer them for FREE!! And if you take in your notebook, they'll assemble them for you too!

Assuming the white plastic sections is still mounted within your keyboard and not on the keycap.

Slide the bottom part the keycap in first, you'll feel it affixed, then clip the other half on by pressing on the keycap... dead simple! But if the keycap has missing bits, you'll need to visit a Appple store for a replacement.
 

exscape

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 29, 2008
57
0
Thanks for the answer. It did help a bit, but unfortunately I managed to break off one of the plastic pins anyway. Heck, I'm still not sure I've got it in the right direction. ;)
I'll probably leave it like this for now - the key is slightly crooked, but since it doesn't work electronically, it doesn't really matter that it's hard to press down.
I wonder if a new keyboard will fix the key completely, though - there's really no guarantee that the part that's broken is in the keyboard itself, and not in some controller chip somewhere else, is there? :/
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.