Broken X key on A1200

[spirantho]

Send me a picture of the key hole ( ) and if I've got an 'x' spare of the right type you can have it with the post and spring for the price of postage! Easy to fix, you just need a cross head screwdriver.

[spirantho]

I believe this is what you're looking for. It needs some retrobrighting but better than nothing! I'm in the UK so if you're across the pond, postage would be about £3 (about $5), I reckon.
Just let me know if I can help.

[spirantho]

I think some of the later ones use the little plasticky things. I just checked my 1200 here, though, and those are the correct bits. Hopefully his are the same

[spirantho]

I assumed you were in the US because you mentioned American Football and AOL. Saves on postage though!

You probably have the type with the squidgy rubber then. Are you able to take a photo of another key? You can remove them just by pulling them off, but be careful to pull it off perpendicular to the keyboard or you can break the post it's on.
If you can get a close-up picture of the keyboard where the key was, and the back of the key, I can see what I have... but best would be the back of a different (non-broken) key, the key post and the spring/rubber underneath it.

[spirantho]

You are definitely missing a part... without a spring or rubbery thing, the key will stay down and won't come back up. You will also need to open the keyboard and remove the remnants of the old post (you can't get it from the front), and put a new post in its place.
Prise off the C key very carefully - remember to pull it off directly away from the 1200, don't bend it's plastic post or it'll break too. It's not attached, just held on to the post by friction. Make sure you don't lose the springy bit, and take a photo of the back of the key and the springy thing.

[spirantho]

Because there's a gap where the 'x' key is - it's easier to get a key off if you can see what you're doing better, which that gap will help with.

[spirantho]

I'm not sure what the problem is... it's very easy to fix a broken key.
1) unscrew back of keyboard
2) remove back.
3) remove broken key post
4) replace with new key post
5) replace and screw down back of keyboard
6) put spring on key post now sticking out the front
7) put key top onto post.

That's it!

[spirantho]

It's just a standard-sized screwdriver. It's a long, large-ish one - not a jewellers one or anything - but it does have quite a pointed tip. Plenty of different screwdrivers will work, though, just make sure they're pointy.

If your key-post (the white bit) is actually sticking out the front and there's nothing in it, then it's even easier - just put the spring around the white bit and push the key into the hole in the keypost.
Make sure your key has its own little plastic post as well to insert into the post sticking out of the keyboard itself.

edit: Looking at the old photos again, you're probably OK and not needing to remove the back after all - but then I don't understand why you're having a problem. Are you sure there's nothing left of the old key stuck in the post?

[spirantho]

Yes, it's rather difficult to describe!
I guess you could consider the key post as being a socket and the key top as being the plug. You have to be sure the socket is empty but the plug should fit in fairly easily.

[spirantho]

Are you aware that the ribbon socket is a clamp? You lift the plastic, then insert or remove the ribbon fully, then push the plastic down.
Removal of this ribbon without opening the clamp can easily destroy the contacts on the ribbon cable ! Always fully open the clamp before insertion or removal!

[spirantho]

The clamp shouldn't come off! It should just lift up a few mm and allow the ribbon to be pushed in or pulled out... if it's come off you pulled way too hard!

[spirantho]

You should put the top bit of the clamp back on it. Make sure that the clamp moves up and down on the socket - it'll require a little force, but not much at all. You might have broken the plastic tab which stops it coming off entirely, but that shouldn't matter as it'll spend most of its life pressed down anyway.

Once it's back on, you can lift it a few millimetres to place/remove the ribbon, then push it down to clamp it back into place.