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My customer complained that one of the keyboard keys stopped working correctly. Something got stuck under the key and it stopped moving freely. He had to push on the key very harder to make it type the symbol.
After keyboard diagnostic I confirmed that something got stuck under the right side of the key.
Here’s how you can take off the key cap and remove the stuck object.
STEP 1.
Make sure the keyboard is turned off.
Very carefully start removing the key cap as it shown on the picture below.
STEP 2.
Continue removing the key cap. The cap has to unsnap from the lifting mechanism.
STEP 3.
Make sure the key hinges (lifting mechanism) stay connected to the keyboard.
STEP 4.
As you see on the next picture, there is something stuck under the right side of the hinge assembly.
STEP 5.
Carefully lift up the hinge assembly and remove the stuck object.
STEP 6.
Position the removed key cap above the hinges.
STEP 7.
Push on the key cap until it clicks back in place.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Thanks for this guide. The #1 keypad was not working correctly and it turns out there was a small object stuck in there too. This guide helped me fix it!
November 8th, 2010 at 12:49 am
OMG Thanks dude! I never knew you could remove keys like that – this will be very useful. Thanks alot.
I can’t believe I actually searched it up – it happened to many of my keyboards before but i Never knew until now.
April 19th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Is it all right to use the same procedure for back-lit keyboards?
April 19th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Anon,
Yes. The procedure should be identical.
June 16th, 2012 at 10:28 am
I tried following this guide and the hinges came off and I have no idea how to fix it. Any help?
June 19th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
This is awesome! thank you very much!
February 14th, 2013 at 5:20 am
What if the key doesn’t have the cap on it ? it’s still sticking in!
February 16th, 2013 at 10:45 am
@ Zachary Knoblauch,
Cannot tell without looking at it. I guess key retainers are getting stuck somehow. Take a closer look at the retainers. It shouldn’t be very difficult to figure out what is wrong.
April 27th, 2013 at 4:55 am
I have an hp pro book. its keypad is different from the one shown.. Can i just pull out the keys for it as well??
got a couple of keys with something stuck in them.
April 27th, 2013 at 8:02 am
@ Arsalan,
You can search on google for your laptop replacement keys. Normally, companies selling single keys has pictures. Take a look how the key is designed. If it’s similar to the key shown in my post you can remove the key and clean it.
Also, in some cases it’s not necessary to remove the key completely. You can gently lift up the key without separation it from the keyboard. That would be enough to clean the area under the key.