Keys fading on new laptop

[KevinWillemsen]

Hello,

6 months ago our company bought a new laptop (HP ENVY 13-D020ND) for a colleague. Some of the keyboard keys she uses a lot have faded, however, to the point where the letters on them have become unreadable. Is it possible to replace those keys easily?

Thanks,

Kevin.

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @KevinWillemsen,

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As I understand you are having issues with the keys on the keyboard are fading on your New HP laptop and you want to know if those can be replaced, I would suggest you contact our HP phone support to have the keyboard replaced for free if it's under the warranty. Please fill in the product details to get the tech support number. 

Please use the following link to create yourself a case number, then call and it may help speed up the call process:

Step 1. Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/

Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect

Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"

Step 4. Scroll down and click: HP contact options - click on Get phone numberCase number and phone number appear.

They will be happy to assist you immediately.

Keep me posted for any other assistance,

Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well,

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, 

mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

Regards,

[Huffer]

I am sure you would prefer not to make a full-blown warranty claim to get an answer to a simple question. In a nutshell, no individual keys cannot easily be replaced. HP only offers the whole top cover including keyboard as a replacement part. HP is not going to want to replace that under warranty. You can find keyboard replacements oir even individual keys but it is painstakingly laborious to replace even one individual key, let alone several. It is also a pretty big job to replace the whole keyboard. Your best bet may be to try to find keyboard decals and a cover to prevent the issue from getting worse. Post back with any more questions. Happy to try to help. 

[KevinWillemsen]

Thanks for your help. I will follow your advice and look for some decals to fix the problem in the best possible way.

Regards, Kevin.

[TJAWAY]

I have a black HP ZBook Studio G3, purchased 18 months ago and still under guarantee.

Characters on some keys faded 3 months after purchase. The keyboard was replaced. Now, a year later, some 4 keys have continued to fade. Yes I can request that the keyboard be replaced -- but the process may simply continue. This is unacceptable with a relatively high quality product. I did not have the issue with Dell laptops I have previously possessed

If the fading process is due to a poor quality product on the keys,  I am now more interested in whether the substance which comes off onto my fingers is potentially toxic -- in the short or long term. I can already feel a very slight degree of numbness in typing figngers, although this may be psychosomatic. Much is made of the toxic material in the construction of laptops -- this presumably extends to the keyboard surface

The question is how to test fading paint for toxicity and what to do about it. I am somewaht amazed that HP seems to be indifferent to this issue and where in their production chain it arises

[TJAWAY]

I am intrigued that there is no answer to my posting. More keys continue to fade. I can of course get the keyboard replaced (again) whilst the laptop is still under guarantee.

My concern remains as to whether the "fading" process is indicative of toxic mateial being transferred into my skin. That would potentially be very expensive for HP.

Why produce such poor quality material for expensive laptops? I am not clear what effect this will have on my next laptop purchase

[Huffer]

If you want to get a response you should start your own thread instead of tacking onto an old one. 

I could not find a MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on your exact model but did find one on some similar laptops and HP has been required to certify that their laptops do not pose a hazard through skin absorption. You can just google HP laptop MSDS and come up with lots of examples.

But what I "really" think you should do is contact whomever you think will listen to your fear that you are being poisoned by the keys on your laptop and your plan to subtly threaten HP with that prospect. I am sure the local "Call for Help" TV program will jump right on it. And I am used to people calling me "rude" or whatever. I am blunt. You are doing what many people do here: taking a relatively modest consumer beef and trying to turn it into something more. Nice try. 

Fading keys have been a problem on all brands of laptops for many years. You can find reports of its happening on all brands. It sometimes seems to defy explanation. Some people just seem to have body chemistry that breaks down the plastic coloring on keys and that same person will wipe out the lettering on one laptop in a couple months and can own another laptop that is unaffected. I have had my own laptops get faded keys to a lesser and greater extent and I have owned many from lots of makers over the years. Just look at the used laptops on eBay and you will see many with very faded keys. If it were a poisoning issue the morgues would be full from it. 

Good luck. 

[TJAWAY]

Well answered -- I enjoyed the humour.

That said, HP should be more proactive in warning potential buyers of the key fading risk -- if it is as normal as you claim. Frankly in a period of high-tech claims (going to Mars, etc) the inability of a computer company to produce  keyboards  resistant to fading is amazing. Perhaps more amazing is the blame is switched -- as you imply -- to the peculiar body chemistry of some users. Wow.

My own experience has been with Dell laptops (no problem) and with silver toned HP machines (no problem). I guess the lesson is that HP is really challenged to produce black machines. I tried to get my black machine keyboard replaced by a silver one -- no equivalent model. 

Lesson is not to buy HP black machines -- if you have any doubts about your  body chemistry -- even if called upon to believe that there is zero  problem with the  toxicity of HP keyboards.

[Huffer]

Yes the problem is most acute on models with black keys and white letters. The laptop I am sending this on I have had for over 2 years now and it has gold letters on brown keys and no fading at all. But you can't focus on HP. If you think HP has some unique proprietary formula for keyboard key plastic that is not right. Keyboards for all consumer laptops are made by 2 or 3 different manufacturers and I can assure you the formula for the plastic in the keys of an HP are the same as for a Lenovo or Dell. The auto and soft drink makers over the last 100 years have done an excellent job of brainwashing the public into this branded mindset kind of like tribalism, and it does not reflect the reality in the computer business. 

[TJAWAY]

This exchange is helping to sharpen my view that after quite a series of laptops, manufacturers (whatever the brand as you claim) are not capable of producing keyboards that are resistant to fading -- and the risk is higher with black machines. I guess manufctuers are not into any sense of shame at their limitations in this regard -- since it is toxic customers who are most readily to blame.

Alternatives are a silver machine, a silver keyoard on a black machine -- an option for the future for customers framed as toxic?

I guess the other possibility for me with my current fancy laptop (once out of guarantee) is to get a separat keyboard -- a pain since I prefer not to use a mouse. Clip on keyboards might be a product for the future but I guess I will just have to lay the separate keyboard on top of the existing keyboard. Clunky for a machine sold to me as a Rolls Royce. What a laugh.