Digging into a MacBook dome

[hemflit]

So I've bought a used old (2006) MacBook as a cheap surprise gift for an anti-computery family member. The machine is beat up but working smoothly. Except the F3 key (and maybe some more F-keys, not sure).

I tried to fix it. Like, see if there's some gunk blocking the contact or whatever.

Nothing useful seems to be under the cap; it's almost sealed, there's just the top of the dome sticking out snugly from the plate.

I opened up the computer as far as I could, and got to a point where I'm holding the top plate - keyboard, trackpad, power button - all in one piece as a separate object. It looks sort of sealed at this point, with plastic bolt-like protrusions going through the metal shield. Opening it further looks hard, and putting it back together afterwards would be impossible with ordinary household tools (unless you're MacGyver). I can't get to the underside of the dome.

And I'm also beginning to think, if it's this tightly clammed, the problem probably isn't some physical debris I could just fix by cleaning the insides.

So, question: Does this make sense? Should I give up? Or am I missing some subtle but not too hard way to open this ****er further?

[hemflit]

Thanks Ripster! I'd actually checked that article but somehow missed the links.

One of them suggests a bit of surgery on the rubber - like, carefully cutting off the top part with a blade. I'm feeling a bit queasy about it (the article is about a different laptop kbd anyway) but by now it looks like without it the key will never work anyway, so I'll try to do it.

[False_Dmitry_II]

Well, you could always look on ebay for a replacement keyboard. If that model was ubiquitous (holy crap I speeled that right first go) enough, there's a good chance of it being quite cheap. Considering you've already got it in pieces that far, it wouldn't be too hard to just assemble it with a different keyboard.

[simon_C]

yeah just replace it. theyre all over ebay.

[hemflit]

Thanks guys, that'd be a perfectly good solution, but I don't have the time to wait for delivery. I'm handing the computer off in two days so all I can do is fiddle with what I've already got on my hands (or can buy off the shelf in a local shop).

[hemflit]

For the record, if someone in the future cares, removing the rubber from the top side didn't help. It just exposes the top layer of a membrane, and then it's not easy to get the rubber back on well. (Wow, that sounds yeww.)

At least now I can guess the problem was something more mysterious that I probably couldn't have solved even if I could open the whole thing.