repair – Terence Eden’s Blog

Replacing the keyboard on the Clevo N151CU / Lafité IV / System76 Darter Pro / Entroware Proteus

Terence Eden — Sun, 07 May 2023 11:34:47 +0000

After three years of constant abuse, my once pristine laptop keyboard now looks like this:

My options were:

Ignore it.
Scrape off all the paint and replace with translucent stickers.
Buy a new keyboard.

Even if I were happy with the aesthetic of a hard-worn keyboard (I wasn't) the flaking paint just didn't feel nice under my fingers. I also figured that scraping the paint further risked damaging the keyboard.

So new toy time! One of the problems of buying non-mainstream tech is that there is a dearth of components and 3rd party accessories. I found a few Ali-Baba sellers which were selling similar keyboards, but nothing which looked identical. So I contacted the retailer and, after a few weeks, they were able to ship me a replacement. In cherry red!

For future reference, the keyboard's model numbers: CVM18H96GB9430 P/N: 6-80-N15Z0-19D-1

The laptop is the same base as the System76 Darter Pro 6 - and they have a handy repair guide.

The keyboard can be replaced without full disassembly.

On the back, undo the screw which has the keyboard symbol next to it:

Undo the screw which has the keyboard push symbol next to it:

Insert a screwdriver into the hole and push. There should be a disturbing crack noise.

Gently lift out the keyboard.

Underneath are two clips for the cables.

Lift the clips and the cables will come loose. The whole keyboard can be removed.

To fit the new keyboard, do the whole thing in reverse! Plug in the cables, lower the clips, push the keyboard into place, screw back together.

Assuming you've plugged it all in correctly, it should light up:

Huge thanks to PC Specialist for sourcing the keyboard and selling it for a decent price. And thanks to Clevo for making laptops which are easy to repair.

Replacing the MotionEngine on a Panasonic TV

Terence Eden — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 11:31:05 +0000

Working from home without a monitor SUCKS. My wife decided that she didn't want to peer at her tiny laptop screen any more, so we decided to repurpose an old 37 inch TV. MEGAMONITOR! I bought the Pansonic TV back in 2012 and it served us pretty well over the last 8 years. But when we came to switch it on, it just displayed a blinking LED.

The brilliant folks at ElectroMix helped confirmed the error code was to do with the decoder board. They had the replacement part in stock for only £30.

Lay the TV down flat on a soft surface. Remove all cables and the stand.

Unscrew everything you can find. There will be a few plastic bits which clip off as well.

The back of the telly should lift off quite easily. It isn't connected to anything.

The power board is on the left of the image, the MotionEngine in the centre, and the motherboard on the right.

Check the replacement is the the same as the original.

Remove the ribbon cables carefully

Unscrew the board and remove it from the housing.

Screw in the new board and attach the ribbon cables.

Flip the TV over, attach the power, and turn it on.

Success! No more blinking lights!

Screw everything back together.

I hope you remember where all the different sized screws came from?

There was, of course, one screw left over. No idea where it was supposed to go - but it didn't appear to be load-bearing.

So, £30 to resurrect an old broken telly and turn it into an oversized spreadsheet display system. Nice!

Replacing the battery on a Barnes & Noble eInk Nook

Terence Eden — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 07:01:07 +0000

The other day I fished my old nook out of deep storage - only to discover that the battery wasn't holding charge. More seriously, the back had swollen out and looked like it was about to burst. Uh-oh! Inflating batteries are dangerous batteries.

Taking apart the nook is incredibly simple, pop off the power button, use a Torx 5 screwdriver to undo the single screw, and then spludger your way around the edges. This is what I found in mine...

VERY BAD!

A replacement nook battery is less than a tenner from Amazon. It is developed by Cameron Sino who seem to specialise in making replacement batteries for all sorts of gadgets.

Fitting the battery was a little tricky, here's how it went...

There's a small port on the motherboard into which the battery cable is attached.

The cable only fits in one way - with the red wire at the bottom. This is the position which the battery will take when the nook is reassembled.

The battery came charged, so I was able to verify that everything worked as expected. Now's a good time to test charging it.

Once done, unplug the battery and prepare to reassemble!

The back case of the nook has a recessed area for the battery. There's just one tiny problem...

Yup! The battery doesn't fit!

Luckily, the casing for the battery is rather pliable and, with some gentle force, it's just about possible to squeeze it in.

A little bit of tape to secure it into place and we're good to go!

The cable on the battery is long enough to plug in while the back is detached.

Reassembling is somewhat tricky. You have to slide on the bottom, then re-clip everything, and slide up. Be careful not to apply too much pressure - it's really easy to damage the screen that way.

When all the plastic casings are done, it's a simple case of screwing in the T5.

And - that's it! A fairly easy device to replace parts on - no soldering, easy clips, one screw. Why can't all electronics be like this?

Replacement batteries for the nook and glolight are on Amazon for under £10.