hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Having taken apart 2 touch pro's several times to fix dead keyboards I thought I'd take pics. This is not what I'd necessarily recommend doing as it could indeed void your warranty but if like me, you're tired of exchanging your phone, go for it. Just don't blame me if you break it in the process.

Photo 1: Back cover and battery removed. The 4 screws are tiny torx T6 size. I picked up a handy little blue torx driver with 10 or 12 different sizes for $6 at Lowes.
http://www.planetgallifrey.com/mypic...tep1-small.jpg
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Photo 2: Here's the 4 screws removed. Total excitement.
http://www.planetgallifrey.com/mypic...tep2-small.jpg
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Step 3: Once the screws are out, if you press from inside the battery area you can push the keyboard up a bit on the corner. From there, slide a finger nail or knife along the gap and the keyboard will pop loose. Takes a bit of wiggling to get the back side off.
http://www.planetgallifrey.com/mypic...tep3-small.jpg
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Step 4: Again, takes a bit of wiggling to get it all the way off. When you do, the cable towards the back may come loose but its easy to reattach and is circled in later pics.
http://www.planetgallifrey.com/mypic...tep4-small.jpg
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Step 5: Here's the 3 trouble makers circled in red. The one in the center I've plastered with electrical tape to keep it attached since its popped off 3 times.
http://www.planetgallifrey.com/mypic...tep5-small.jpg
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Extra pic 1: Here's the pieces detached so you can see.
http://www.planetgallifrey.com/mypic...tep6-small.jpg
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Extra pic 2: Here's a possible reason why the middle one comes off so often. If you press against the inside where the battery goes it pushes against the ribbon cable that pops off so often. (edit: its sad that the little kid inside this 37 year old body says "haha, it looks like a penis" every time I see this pic.)
http://www.planetgallifrey.com/mypic...tery-small.jpg
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Hope you enjoyed my boredom and maybe it'll illuminate a tiny bit why the keyboards have issues. I'll try to answer any questions you still have after this. Above all... try this at YOUR OWN RISK.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

goot stuff, dont know if i would do this myself but its good to have this just in case.. im getting a new tp with in days.... it had to be shipped to VA to be shipped to where i am currently stationed Puerto rico..

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Excellent post/pics/details

I vote to sticky this one... It could DEFINITELY help some of the members here.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Yea awesome work Doctor1971. I don't ever see myself taking mine apart, but I love these kinds of posts. Just to see what's under the hood and sometimes causes us issues.

This needs to be placed somewhere special as an easy to find resource.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

those ribbon cables are damn delicate...we have some at the video server ....it constantly giving us problem...due to slight vibration on the fans

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Thanks so much man, this is incredibly helpful, I know what i'm gonna be doing after class today LOL

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Personally I think HTC ought to recall the TP or just replace them all with TP2's when they come out. I know there are some people who haven't had any issues yet.. and I think eventually they will cause this is a design flaw.

Every time I've talked to sprint they deny that there's a problem with the keyboard but they've replaced the phone. They tried to tell my mom that her's was caused by the theme she had installed on her stock ROM. "We don't support that."

If anyone else has had the temerity to open up their phone and fix it post and let us know. Obviously ymmv and warranty issues are a concern but I'd like to know how many were successful.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I'm getting downright good at taking these apart and putting them back together. Which really sucks cause I shouldn't have to do this. My mom dropped her phone this morning (in the case) and it was enough to jog one of the cables loose. Took me under 2 minutes to fix it. I'm seriously tempted to superglue the cables in place. If the phone was out of warranty I probably would!

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Well, I did manage to open up the phone and 'fix' the cables, it worked for that day, but then today the keyboard stopped working all together.

I opened it up again to see if maybe one of the wires came loose again, but nope, didn't come loose (I disconnected and tightly reconnected them again) and the keyboard absolutely is not working. I'm probably just gonna go get it 'repaired' tonight at the story or some ****, this sucks though :/

I completely agree with your idea for a recall or issuing of a TP 2 though.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Yeah, its a completely flaky design. I hope the TP2 is built better. I do love the phone, I just wish the keyboard were better. That tiny ribbon cable that goes into the keyboard is prone to tearing. I took a piece of electrical tape and taped it down to keep it from moving. That seemed to fix the issue with my mom's phone. I just hate to have to keep sending these things in for repair.

If I ever do send her's in, I'll have to de-ghetto it first :P. At least I didn't use duct tape!

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Wow, relegated to page 13 already. Just a quick update.. my mom dropped her phone... yes again. This time however, thanks to the trusty electrical tape, her keyboard still works just fine. I may open mine back up and preemptively "repair" it since it worked so well on hers.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Thanks Doctor for the excellent info! For those calling on HTC for a recall? Don't hold your breath waiting for it! HTC should have recalled the Mogul/6800 for the white spot on the screen that affected virtually every device. Instead, they refused to acknowledge the problem or at the very least make a design adjustment during manufacture. I think that HTC would only consider reacting to a design flaw in any way if the phones started exploding and killing people.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Thanks for this info. I'm on my 3rd TP in two months and this keyboard just went dead too. So, stock ROM is properly back in place and I'll head down to the store again and I suppose, wait for a refurb to show up in the mail.

But hey, in another 10 months the warranty will be gone and I won't have any choice but to perform my own surgery. Better archive this post....

Thanks again.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I have a bone stock TP and my keyboard has been malfunctioning for the past 2 months of ownership (I've had it for only 4 months). When I'm typing, it either stops recognizing what I'm typing and the backlight shuts off OR it lags. I've found that if I flex the left and right edges of the keyboard down while pushing the middle up, it starts typing again. If the keyboard backlight had shut off, it comes back on, and if it was lagging (or repeating text), then it starts typing what it missed (or stops repeating). I'm hesitant to exchange the TP because exchanges don't seem to be fixing the issue. But then again, I don't want to keep flexing my hardware keyboard to have it snap in half on me one day when I'm really pissed!

I'm curious.. how many of you are using cases? I'm using the Sedio case and I think the issue may be related to the case (since the case seems to make the slide out less smooth, I'm assuming the top and bottom parts are touching each other, possibly even pushing the top and bottom of the TP out from each other, causing the keyboard issues).

Ok nevermind the issue seems to appear even without the case.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

It sounds like the cable right under the space bar is loose. By flexing the keyboard you're just getting it to connect better briefly.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

wow wow wow *ucking wow. as i read this post, i decided to give this a shot and whatyaknow, the keyboard works again. WTF HTC. you have been sent thanks btw. :protest:

EDIT: i have some additional info that may help, well, because it helped me. On the "flaky" strip, there are 4 contact points where, when the keyboard is attached and closed, touches metal to metal. A possible explanation for the keyboard beginning to work again when flexed is that the contacts point are actually being pushed to contact. I applied two layers of electrical tape behind each contact point to make the strip a bit thicker. The attached pictures should explain what i'm talking about if there's any confusion.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

speak of the devil! my keyboard stopped working completely today! i soft reset it several times and finally did a hard reset. no help. i'll prolly give ths a shot....

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I've had my TP since February, and for the past two weeks, been trying to figure out how to get my keyboard to work properly, its works on and off. I've done both soft and hard resets, but no solution. Also trying to download latest rom from HTC but keep getting message that service is temporarily out of service. I tried Neoshi's fix, pressing on the edges, and that did the trick! thanks, i'm glad im not the only one with this problem. I'd hate trying to get my phone replaced, its just a hasle.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

So it looks like we're experiencing the same issues. I brought it into Sprint Store 0276 today and they straight up ordered me a new phone the moment I said "My Touch Pro's keyboard keeps going out." The Level 1 triage tech replied that this was a known issue that HTC is dumping on Sprint. Apparently down where I am, the HTC TP is extremely popular and they keep getting HTC TPs returned for repair. Talk about dumping liabilities! Well, I'll let them know about this temporary fix method when I return to pick up the new phone. You guys may want to talk to Sprint about it as well, maybe even HTC because I have been doing this "fix" for the past two months and I swear to God I am going crazy having to do it every other sentence. It makes responding on forums like PPCGeeks IMPOSSIBLE.

SKIMMAH, have you noticed any improvement since you taped those contacts down?

I hope everyone stops promoting the HTC Touch Pros unless the issue is resolved. This is downright ridiculous. Even the Sprint tech rep said he is going to the Palm Pre or Pro because the Touch Pro has so many issues.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

They replaced my phone with a new one to resolve the keyboard issue. Well, at least that's what ##778# says, but the packaging it came out of suggested it was a refurb. I seem to recall my new unit coming out of a clear plastic instead of a green one with a white tamper sticker with red markings on it.

Anyhow, the new keyboard's lighting is WHACK, as the numbers are most lit and the rest is quite dim. Build date is Feb 24, 2009. I expect this one to last only two months again before I ask the tech for another one. Can't trust HTC anymore. :protest:

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Well I took mine apart and it didnt seem like the cable was loose but I sort of pressed on it anyway and put it all back together. Started it up and the keyboard is working again....

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I rarely use the hardware kb, i looooove the T9 though ;)
Truth be told, i only got the TP cause the Diamond didnt have a mem slot, and that was important to me.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Well it stopped working again and I took it apart and now it still doesnt work. UGH!!!!

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I've had no problems after liberal application of electrical tape. My mom's even survived the drop test without the keyboard failing. I need to take mine back apart and tape the little cable going to the keyboard itself. That's the one that I had the most issue with on my mom's phone. Retarded design. I hope the TP2 is better.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Yeah, this might fix some of them, but there's still some out there that the only way to fix them is with a keyboard replacement, or phone swap.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I think the ribbon cable leading into the keyboard is prone to tearing and this may be why some have issues that are not resolvable.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

if my keyboard works sometimes and sometimes doesnt, will this fix work?

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Probably, if its a hardware issue. These cables are so touchy and come loose so easily its nuts.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

ahh thxs for the pics. By any chance did you try to strip the LCD fromt he frame? I tried and it looks impossible. Just wondering if you tried too.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I think this thread needs a sticky with the amount of new posts on this same subject.. or at least merge all of the useful ones.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

With the number of keyboards I've read about going out, HTC ought to issue a recall but I doubt that'll happen. I hope the TP2 is constructed better!

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Yeah.. I already tried getting through to a manager about a recall. They just kept sending me around in circles. They didn't even answer my question: "Did you, HTC, address the design flaw with the hardware keyboard at all? Or do you plan to?" Standard response is: have Sprint exchange it or send it in for repair.

Pressing the space key really hard might also work.
 

Here's another way to fix the keyboard.

Re: Pressing the space key really hard might also work.
 

I tried the pushing hard on the keyboard, but it didn't seem to fix it for me. However, due to this extremely helpful thread, I saw in the pictures that there seemed to be another spot in the middle causing problems, and pushed hard on there too...and my keyboard has come back to life. I'm not saying it'll last, but it worked for my last five messages anyway...

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

There's a guy on eBay who sells sprint branded parts for the touch pro. He won't sell just the keyboard though, its a keyboard/lcd kit for something like $65. Might almost be worth it just to avoid the hassle of setting up a new phone. Its not like the design has changed to fix the issues so there's not much point in exchanging IMO.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I droped my phone the other day and the keyboard went out. I read this awhile ago though and I find it funny that it did this. First thing I did was push on the battery and it was working while pushed in. Just took it apart and push that little middle thing down and now it's working just fine. Is ther a way to tighten the slide part?

Thank you! (button to)

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I used electrical tape to pad mine so it fit snugger in the case. seemed to help although now i think with all the futzing around I've done that my ribbon cable is damaged so be careful.

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

I just pushed mine back down and works like a charm. I'm getting a new one, I have to and I'm trying to not get a refurbished one. :/ I even dropped mine to see if it would pop off, it seems fine. LOL

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

i did this trick and my kb is workin just fine again. thanx... i even taped down the cable going into the kb...

Re: hardware keyboard issue photo essay a.k.a. i was bored
 

Thank you so much this was so helpful!!! Right on target... Once I opened the phone up and saw the penis piece you spoke of I knew immediately that was the problem. Thank you again!!