A500 Keyboard Repair

[Xamiche]

Naton wrote:
Hi, I could prbably find the answer to this a million places on this internet, so sorry to drag it here but I'm just not good at searching :roll:
My A500's escape key wasn't working, so I opened up the keyboard and found one of the lines (forgive the terminology) connecting it has a scratch in it. Some people say I should get a soldering iron, some say I can fix it with aluminium foil.. Anyone have a definitive solution? :-)

When you say scratch, do you mean on the circuit board, or on the plastic film underneath the actual keys? If it's the circuit board, a little bit of solder should bridge the gap. If it's the plastic film, that makes it a little harder. In the past I've repaired such damage with a conductive pen, though they are around $30 and it may be cheaper for you to buy a new keyboard from ebay or somewhere. Kinda depends on which country you live in really. I tried the aluminium foil thing but it doesn't really work too well. You get intermittent contact which makes the keyboard unreliable.  

[Xamiche]

I think the conductive pen is a great way to go. I bought one to repair an A600 keyboard membrane. The pen was certainly cheaper than a replacement keyboard and as you say, you never know when such a tool will come in handy again.