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Focus FK-2002 dead after cleaning

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lal:
As a reminder to be careful with your keyboards I have to tell you that my newest purchase, an Escom-branded Focus FK-2002, is now dead after I've taken it apart for cleaning.

Those damn hard-to-remove Alps keycaps! I suspect it happened when the board slammed back against the table when the buttons finally came off, which needs some considerable force. And I didn't use the levering technique this time but instead pulled them off with a keycap remover. I tried to not lift the board up while pulling but it happened sometimes. I've put a sheet of cardboard below in order to protect the PCB and not scratch the table. But obviously this wasn't enough.

The keyboards LEDs light up when I switch on the power supply but while POSTing it gives me a "keyboard error". I checked the traces on the PCB and the solder joints and didn't see any obvious sign of damage. But then I'm no electrical engineer. As a last resort I gave it a series of punches from different directions but it still fails to work. Most depressing is that I've spent several hours carefully undressing and handwashing her, and just before it started she's gone :(

Well, I'm left with 102 real clicky white Alps :)

CX23882:
Escom... that brings back some memories.

lowpoly:
Good find. Did you check the cable separately? Any ICs you could re-seat?

alpslover:
i think i'd be more suspect of the handwashing than the impact.

lal:
Ooookaaaayyyyy... Lowpoly, I owe you a beer or two. I really don't know how this could have possibly happened, but the clock signal wire had been disconnected *inside the AT plug*! And I didn't slam this one against anything. I'm buffled.

But it's working now, so all is well. Just this ruin of a cut open AT plug dangling on the end of the cable. And a really bad solder job. Note to self: never ever try soldering switches! :)

See how it's NOT done:



Many thanks, lowpoly! I would NEVER have guessed it could be that simple.

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