EliteBook 2760p memory upgrade - keyboard removal problems [ Edited ]

[MikeMackHP]

Hey HaggisCat, those are great pics - and you were right, I had bent the pin on the left.

Ironically, I just missed your post before deciding to try again myself to work out what was wrong.  I fell across laptopkeys.com, which didn't have the right vid (you could teach them some camera skills as well !!) but did introduce the heady concept of the black plastic mechanism being taken off from the underside of the key cap and placed on the keyboard 'hooks' first, then the key top itself being snapped on.

Excited by this new concept (!) I donned my newly bought Rolson hat with mangifying lens and LEDs, and set to work. As you suggest, I gently bent back the hook on the right (waiting for the awful snapping sound that normally happens when I do this kind of thing!), removed the black plastic mechanism from under the key cap and fiddled around untl various bits of it secured themselves under the three hooks (note to other users - you'll need to sort of open the black mechanism like an ironing board's legs to do this).

The keytop then clicked back on with a satisfying sound.  And the key doesn't rock around and then spring up and hit me in the eye anymore !!!

So, thanks to HC, and we leave this forum post as a valuable legacy to the next 2760p RAM changer !

(By the way, although this escapade has prevented me from actually using my 2760p much, it really is a great, great laptop. Not leas because it can take 16gb of RAM which means you can run virtual machines, even a server and some clients on there.  Great for demo purpoeses, or for anyone wanting to get to grips with a server OS.

p.s. fearing the worst, I did head off earlier to find the cost of a whole new keyboard, expecting it to be around USD250 - in fact, more like USD80, so no rip off.

[HaggisCat]

I'm glad you got the key back on, would you believe that some people in a serious or rather obsessive cleaning frenzy remove all the keys to clean out the dust bunnies underneath the keys ? !!

 The tricky part was bending the tang back and installing the hinge mechanism back on the board.

 I did check laptopkeys.com and a few other places, but your machine is so new that there is nothing out there.

 Sorry I should have mentioned this to save you the time.

 80.00 dollars is still expensive for a keyboard, ounce your model is a round for a while you will be able to find them on e-bay for around 14.00 to 20.00 dollars (this will be a new board) and they will be the same thing from the HP parts store.

 All the parts are made in China for next to nothing, I am guessing that the actual cost of the keyboard is around 3.00 or 4.00 US dollars.

[MikeMackHP]

Removing each key .... for fun???!!!! - performing open-heart surgery would be easier...

Thanks for all your help again, it gave me the confidence to proceed (slowly and carefully). The Rolson magnifying hat helped too, like I could actually see the pores in my fingers !!!

I'm used to parts costing 50% of the original price of the item, so even if it has a huge profit margin since leaving China, I was ok with it.

Have to say the 2760p is turning into a good choice (umm, now I have a keyboard back..).  Was considering a Lenovo x220t, but it has a narrower screen format (silly for Tablet use), and feels blocky to hold.

The 2760p really feels classy build-wise and every hardware/software part feels 'business like' if you know what I mean.  First Windows Tablet for me with Touch, and it makes ALL the difference, especially with the new resizeable on-screen keyboard.

Docking station is neat in all senses of the word too.

One downer - Dell invented intelligent updating years and years ago... so why the heck does the HP software manage to miss out on updates, or worse, try to download two different versions of an update...  Weird.

[HaggisCat]

It's interesting that you should mention HP's auto update failure. One more word of advise.

 If it wants to update the BIOS at least make sure your HP Tools partition is still on the hard drive or better yet, if you want to update the BIOS, go to your support page and update it yourself. Look at what the improvement is for in the BIOS update, if it does not apply to you, do not update it.

 There has been a few cases where the HP support assistant has given the wrong BIOS in the past.

[MikeMackHP]

Yikes, thanks for the advice - though does make one wonder about HP's Q&A systems...