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Laptop Misbehavior - a key does not appear to work

laughing dog

laughing dog

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I have a Sony Vaio laptop. It is at least 10 years old. I am using it now and the letter c key does not work at all (I copy a word with c in it and edit it to get the letter I need). The key does not stick at all. I have taken the tile off and pressed down on the stem and still no c appears.
Which is a better short-term solution - having the laptop keyboard fixed or getting a wireless keyboard?
 
You get an A for creativity. A repair shop might be able to change the key.

With modern keyboards it is usualy liquids. It could be an electronic problem having nothing to do with the key itself. No way to know.
 
laughing dog said:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop. It is at least 10 years old. I am using it now and the letter c key does not work at all (I copy a word with c in it and edit it to get the letter I need). The key does not stick at all. I have taken the tile off and pressed down on the stem and still no c appears.
Which is a better short-term solution - having the laptop keyboard fixed or getting a wireless keyboard?
Click to expand...
A ten year old computer is a museum piece. Given the pace of change in the IT world, running a ten year old computer is like running a hundred year old car - strictly a game for enthusiasts of old school technologies, rather than a serious alternative to modern equipment for practical use.

Get a new laptop.
 
On laptops like this, it usually means replacing the entire keyboard.

A quick google shows replacement keybords from about $20 to $30. Youtube seems to have lots of how to videos for doing the deed. Good luck.
 
Keyboard replacement on a laptop is not hard for most of them. I've replaced them many times.

You didn't provide the specific model but I bet you can find a video on YouTube showing exactly how it is done.

And I'm still using a laptop computer a good bit older than yours. I've upgraded it to 16 gigs of RAM and use a solid state drive so it's still plenty quick for the tasks I use it for.
 
bilby said:
laughing dog said:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop. It is at least 10 years old. I am using it now and the letter c key does not work at all (I copy a word with c in it and edit it to get the letter I need). The key does not stick at all. I have taken the tile off and pressed down on the stem and still no c appears.
Which is a better short-term solution - having the laptop keyboard fixed or getting a wireless keyboard?
Click to expand...
A ten year old computer is a museum piece. Given the pace of change in the IT world, running a ten year old computer is like running a hundred year old car - strictly a game for enthusiasts of old school technologies, rather than a serious alternative to modern equipment for practical use.

Get a new laptop.
Click to expand...
Why? My laptop is pretty close to 10 by now (although I have swapped out all the disks for bigger ones) and I see no reason to replace it. A modern one would be a bit faster but not majorly so. I would get better USB ports, but that's not that big a deal. I would get a card reader that works (the one in there doesn't speak SDXC) but again, not a big deal. It's simply not used enough for the minor annoyances to warrant replacement.

Anyway, this is almost certainly the contact of the key failing. On a laptop keyboard it's very unlikely a repair is possible, simply replace the keyboard. (And on a desktop keyboard even if a repair is possible it's rarely worth it.)
 
Thank you for all the helpful suggestions. The longer term plan is to replace this laptop but budget constraints mandate a more cost effective option. I didn’t realize that literally replacing the keyboard was an option. From what I can find on line and in town, a wireless keyboard is at least $10 cheaper than replacing the existing keyboard with another one. So I am weighing the lower expense and effort of the wireless option versus the ease of transport and use of physical replacement.
 
After reviewing the available options and expenses, I opted for a plug in keyboard (by mistake, I thought it was wireless) for an expense of $14. This is a near time solution with the plan for a new computer in the horizon.
 
Do people still build their own computer from motherboards?
 
Yes. Another option is mini PCs. Think laptops without keyboards or screens. Some sold bare bones. No SSD, no memory. I was looking at Gigabyte Brix. But their latest Ryzen 5 machines are not avaiable in the U.S. Easily acquired in Europe. About 6" X 6" X 2". One can have up to 3 nvme m.2 SSDs, 2 sodimm 32 gb memory modules for up to 64 gb. Ryzen 5600U cpus have graphics, and only 15W. No OS. Add a USB hub and your good to go. Not real cheap but fast and flexible.

Shopping for motherboards is a big pain in the ass. Good ones can be pricey.
 
The upside is you can fix yiur own computer.

Best Buy used to have a scetion where you could get a motherboard, box, and power supply of yiur choce.
 
Down here in Houston, we have Micro Center. The place for PC DIY builders. We used to have a Fry's until it went to shit. I am still hoping that by midyear, Gigabyte might have a GA-BER5HS-5600U mini PC available. Prices on good NVME M.2 SSDs are dropping and memory is not bad. This unit also has a TPM slot for Windows users.
I now buy memory and SSDs directly from Crucial. There seems to be a lot of counterfeit SSDs out there now. And no name garbage.
 
I got my current computer about 2 years ago at COSTCO. A Dell for about $500. For a display a regular TV with HDMI about $125.

The downside was having to get rid of all that Dell crap.
 
steve_bank said:
Do people still build their own computer from motherboards?
Click to expand...
My son does. He likes being able to put in graphics cards and update individual components. He made a cute modification recently to increase heat transfer - taking off the side of the box and screwing on a piece of chicken wire. I have doubts about this, since he has cats (shedding hair) but a boy’s gotta learn on his own.
 
I have a 2005 notebook with space-key not working well. I realized that silver contact in membrane keyboard was worn out. Which is remarkable.
 
Rhea said:
steve_bank said:
Do people still build their own computer from motherboards?
Click to expand...
My son does. He likes being able to put in graphics cards and update individual components. He made a cute modification recently to increase heat transfer - taking off the side of the box and screwing on a piece of chicken wire. I have doubts about this, since he has cats (shedding hair) but a boy’s gotta learn on his own.
Click to expand...
Yikes! I'm a firm believer in the best cooling but you put a fine mesh across every opening!
 
You may want to blow out the dust once in a while.
 
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