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Author Topic: is there any hope for my M?  (Read 1823 times)

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Offline borrito

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 2
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
is there any hope for my M?
« on: Mon, 14 March 2016, 06:21:47 »
Hi guys, after less than 5 years my Unicomp M seems to have had it. I'm situated in Germany so Unicomp's crazy 4x inflated shipping fee makes their repair a bad decision. Basically it would be cheaper to sell the board for parts and get a new one instead of shipping the old one once around the world. The german importer can't help me with repairs as well.

The symptoms of the illness are that exactly four keys have stopped working, just like that. It's the top row 7/8, and the cursor right/down keys. The board did not suffer spillage or fall damage, it just happened from one moment to the next.

I'm suspecting some kind of failure in the controller, but really can't tell. The question to you guys is if there's anything I can try myself to get it working again. I did already open it up and gave it a thorough cleaning to no effect.
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Offline E TwentyNine

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Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 14 March 2016, 11:24:28 »
Those are the only keys that stopped?  That doesn't match any trace pattern I can see (unless they've radically changed the routes at some recent point).

Even so, first thing I'd do is open it up and reseat the membrane connectors to the controller.

Then I'd check for loss of rivets.
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Daily driver: SSK or Tenkeyless IBM AT
1984 Model M Industrial Prototype ⌨ 1992 Black Oval Industrial SSK ⌨ 1982 5251 Beam Spring ⌨ 89 Key "SSK" ⌨ M13 triplets

Offline klennkellon

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Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 14 March 2016, 14:30:06 »
Quote from: E TwentyNine on Mon, 14 March 2016, 11:24:28
Those are the only keys that stopped?  That doesn't match any trace pattern I can see (unless they've radically changed the routes at some recent point).

Even so, first thing I'd do is open it up and reseat the membrane connectors to the controller.

Then I'd check for loss of rivets.

Rivet loss on only a 5 year old Model M would really suck, unless Unicomps rivets are made out of balsa wood.
« Last Edit: Mon, 14 March 2016, 14:45:52 by klennkellon »
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Offline kekman

  • Posts: 225
  • Location: Sydney, down under
  • quit life
Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #3 on: Mon, 14 March 2016, 22:23:56 »
do you smoke, or is there any contaminants in the environment you live in? it can cause **** to die
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Offline rowdy

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Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 15 March 2016, 01:21:54 »
I'd second opening it up and reseating any connectors you can find.

You'd be surprised what kinds of problems loose cables can cause.
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Offline borrito

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 2
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 15 March 2016, 16:08:33 »
Well I've tried reseating the controller, no change. The rivets are all in place. The only logical solution as there are two neighbouring pairs of keys not working, would be something with the membrane or the traces in those places. Or some esoteric defect in the controller. Right now I kind of hate this particular M and can't be bothered to do the whole bolt mod thing on it.

And I've got a Lioncast LK30 as replacement now. Thats a sturdy Das/Ducky-class keyboard with a few hardware macro keys on top from a new german manufacturer, very nice. Will see how long that one lasts...
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Offline 3K

  • Posts: 279
  • Location: Germany
Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 15 March 2016, 16:40:25 »
Quote from: borrito on Tue, 15 March 2016, 16:08:33
Well I've tried reseating the controller, no change. The rivets are all in place. The only logical solution as there are two neighbouring pairs of keys not working, would be something with the membrane or the traces in those places. Or some esoteric defect in the controller. Right now I kind of hate this particular M and can't be bothered to do the whole bolt mod thing on it.

And I've got a Lioncast LK30 as replacement now. Thats a sturdy Das/Ducky-class keyboard with a few hardware macro keys on top from a new german manufacturer, very nice. Will see how long that one lasts...

As far as the parts are interchangeable, I could send you a spare IBM Model M controller + PCB sheet. You'd need a SDL cable though. (not sure what is used on Unicomps)
Maybe you can make something useful out of it.
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Offline klennkellon

  • Posts: 1278
  • Location: Southern California
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Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 15 March 2016, 16:41:10 »
Quote from: borrito on Tue, 15 March 2016, 16:08:33
Well I've tried reseating the controller, no change. The rivets are all in place. The only logical solution as there are two neighbouring pairs of keys not working, would be something with the membrane or the traces in those places. Or some esoteric defect in the controller. Right now I kind of hate this particular M and can't be bothered to do the whole bolt mod thing on it.

And I've got a Lioncast LK30 as replacement now. Thats a sturdy Das/Ducky-class keyboard with a few hardware macro keys on top from a new german manufacturer, very nice. Will see how long that one lasts...

you could try disassembling the membranes and lightly wipe them down with isoprol alcohol
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Offline E TwentyNine

  • Posts: 884
    • Some of My Keyboards
Re: is there any hope for my M?
« Reply #8 on: Fri, 18 March 2016, 11:40:47 »
Before you go pulling the membranes, you might want to reseat the keys in question.  Could be that simple.

If that doesn't work I'd take the keyboard and give it a few whacks.
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Daily driver: SSK or Tenkeyless IBM AT
1984 Model M Industrial Prototype ⌨ 1992 Black Oval Industrial SSK ⌨ 1982 5251 Beam Spring ⌨ 89 Key "SSK" ⌨ M13 triplets
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