Yesterday, I was having trouble with the right Alt key on my keyboard so I removed it. However, I made a little mistake and removed the spring with it!
So, I had to find a way to re-attach the spring to its hammer. I ended up sanding down a chopstick and turning the spring so it would fit properly. But, it did not work when I re-assembled the key that way. So, I had to try again but something much worse happened. The spring dislodged from the chopstick and got stuck down in the construction between the steel plate and the plastic part!
So, this was not good. I decided I'd disassemble the keyboard to get the spring out of the construction. I had to unscrew the front cover, disconnect the trackball from the mainboard, and then remove the construction so I could access it better.
After that, I looked at the back of the construction and noticed how the steel plate was held on by plastic rivets. I had to somehow make distance between the plastic and steel parts so I could get the spring out. So, I took a flat-head screwdriver and broke off a few of the rivets round the Alt key so I could gently pry the plastic part away from the metal plate, making an opening between them large enough for the spring to fall out when I shook it. This took a few tries but eventually I lodged a pencil in between there to ensure there would be a clearance for the spring to fall out.
I shook the construction and the spring came out. So, I had to attach it to the hammer again. I took out the chopstick and got the spring on the hammer pretty good after a few tries. Then I re-attached the Alt key to the spring and attached the construction to the computer. The key was functional.
So, I plugged the trackball back into the mainboard and re-assembled the unit and plugged it into the computer. Both the keyboard and trackball seemed to work.
However, this was not all over yet. 20 minutes later, I was using Excel '97 when I noticed that Num Lock would not turn on. Strange. I knew that the light was functional. However, just to make sure I turned on ToggleKeys to make the computer beep when I turned on NumLock. Nothing happened. Then, I noticed that the entire number pad wasn't working!
So, I took the keyboard apart again, and noticed that I made a silly mistake. The ribbon cable connecting the keyboard construction to the unit's mainboard was not plugged in very well. I corrected that and re-assembled the keyboard and now, everything's working and sounding proper except the Alt key which sounds a little different, but at least it works properly...
I've attached a recording of how the Alt key sounds now compared to the other keys. Even though I am pressing it quite lightly, it sounds like I am pounding on it, most likely due to the fact that the spring was bent or something making the key have a different sound. It's not the key bottoming out though; it's just probably how it hits the barrel. In the recording, I first press the Alt key and then press another key. You'll notice the difference.
And, I did ALL THIS just to make the Alt key work better...but I guess I was successful after all that trouble.
