[olpc-help] Sticky keyboard keys; Please RMA the laptops

[Richard A. Smith]

Everyone with a Sticky keyboard please RMA your unit.

There are several manufacturers of the keyboards and we need the units
to help us work with them and isolate if its a single manufacturer or
common problem across units.

So far we don't know of any _reliable_ method of fixing the keyboard or
the exact root cause.

Various acts of voodoo seem to make the behavior different and in some
cases make it stop but nothing that I would give out as a fix.

Thanks.

--
Richard Smith <richard@laptop.org>
One Laptop Per Child
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[Steve Holton]

To request an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) please contact:

OLPC Donor Services

Phone: 800-201-7144 (Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 8:00 PM EST)

Email: service@laptopgiving.org

[Andy]

Hi!

not sure if this is the ideal place to post this but i have been doing some experimentation with mine, sticky ctrl key mainly for me.

I have found that it is mainly related to the flex of the plastic surrounding and backing the keyboard. I never experienced any problems with the unit when typing in my lap but as soon as i used it on a hard, flat surface things went crazy. By manually flexing the case in your hands (only very gently) you can also replicate the problem. I would hypothesise that if the unit was always flush with a hard surface that the problem would be minimised or even eliminated. How this relates to the internals of the machine i don't know, but you can certainly replicate the problem 100% with this method on mine.

I will be RMAing my unit on Monday.

[vince]

To request an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) please contact:

OLPC Donor Services

Phone: 800-201-7144 (Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 8:00 PM EST)

Email: service@laptopgiving.org

I did so in the evening of Jan-3rd and got the bot response, but nothing since then....

FWIW, I also offered to try to install a replacement or even fix the bad kbd if it didn't void the warranty. Better than waiting a month for a replacement in transit

My symptoms were a sticky (not working) ctrl key after about 4 days of relatively heavy use. I was doing a lot of terminal-based work so I probably was using the ctrl key more than most folks.

Is there any tracking of keyboard manufacturer vs. serial number on the X O from the manufacturing process ?

[Frank]

I did so in the evening of Jan-3rd and got the bot response, but nothing since then....

Yikes, what the heck is a "bot response"? If you didn't get a "person" from Brightstar who spends about 5-10 minutes taking all your info and giving you an RMA number, nothing's gonna happen.

[Steve Holton]

Based on (admittedly scant, but personal) empirical evidence, I'd have to concur. The email response times (glad to see they've at least got their email bot working again) seem to run upwards of several days.

If there is critical business one needs to discuss with Donor Services, I would recommend conducting that via telephone.

On the upside, it seems they have recently added many additional operators, as call hold times are recently way down.

[Kantarjiev]

I sent email, as instructed above, and got a quick but canned response.

Two days later, I got a message that said, in effect, we're sorry you're having problems, please call (800) 201-7144 and be sure to be near your laptop.

[KayTi]

Yes, you'll need to call the 800 number, and you'll need to be near your laptop only to get the serial number (starts with CSN, is located under the battery). I was also asked for date of purchase and date of receipt of laptop. The operator had no issue with my approximate dates.

Be sure to be clear that you are requesting a RMA at the specfic direction of the OLPC team (evidence is Richard A. Smith's top message on this post dated 1/6/07), as you can shorten the script that the operators are working on, I believe. They need to ensure you're within the 30 day since receipt of laptop window, then they need to ensure this is an RMA-returnable event. Clearly it would be a pain for a bunch of non-broken laptops to be returned, etc.

Good luck. Mine shipped Friday to arrive at the Brightstar return center on Monday. UPS, under $10 (though I live only 3 zip codes from the return location - was tempted to drive it up there. )

[Kantarjiev]

Glad I kept all my packing materials... took forever (and several redials) to get past the ringing phone, but my XO is on its way back. Sigh.

[aconbere]

I don't want to sound grumpy, and I can't claim to be particularly familiar with RMA practices in the rest of the industry. But after talking with a customer support rep and getting an RMA number for my laptop it sounds like I'll be paying shipping to have my laptop sent back, with no refund on for the cost of shipping.

It certainly feels to me like I got shipped a defective unit (One that I'm happy to help diagnose, fix, try stuff out), but not one that I'm particularly happy about paying to have shipped back for what appears to be a problem with the manufacturing.

Is there something I'm missing here?

~ Anders

[Kantarjiev]

Nope, not missing anything. Same here - FedEx ground shipping cost me $11.47.

But this isn't particularly out of line - many companies expect you to pay the freight for warranty returns.

So it goes.

[aconbere]

Nope, not missing anything. Same here - FedEx ground shipping cost me $11.47.

But this isn't particularly out of line - many companies expect you to pay the freight for warranty returns.

So it goes.

Eh... *sigh* it's not like it's a big deal or anything, just feels wrong.

So it goes.

~ Anders

[matt91]

Can I assume that no one has heard from Brightstar regarding their RMA'd laptop?

I further assume that one will automagically show up on my door in another few weeks (or more) without any advance notice.

[Kantarjiev]

It certainly would be nice if Brightstar, the logistics experts, provided a visible way to track the progress of the RMA'd machines. But I imagine that's too much to ask ... especially given their performance so far :-/

[Guest]

It certainly would be nice if Brightstar, the logistics experts, provided a visible way to track the progress of the RMA'd machines. But I imagine that's too much to ask ... especially given their performance so far :-/

There may be a way - you can go to the UPS and FEDEX web sites and use their "Track by Reference" method, using your donor confirmation number as a reference number - at least that worked for the original shipments.