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

[Sacha]

Is there any information as to how many XOs are suffering from sticky keys? I am getting a friend in Canada to send one to NZ, and will not be able to RMA from there if there is a problem. Will the problem be apparent quickly if she sets it up and tries it out??

[JoelLuellwitz]

I had the sticky keys issue show up at 36 days. I was not able to get an RMA number.

I ran the self test on the keyboard by pressing the left key on the keypad during startup. When I type on the keyboard on keys near the Alt key, the Alt key keeps turning on and off and sometimes it stays on even when no keys are being pressed.

Is there any recourse for those of us with this sticky keys issue past 30 days?

[Steve Holton]

On Jan 21, 2008 7:45 PM, Anonymous <community-support@lists.laptop.org> wrote:

I had the sticky keys issue show up at 36 days. I was not able to get an RMA number.

I ran the self test on the keyboard by pressing the left key on the keypad during startup. When I type on the keyboard on keys near the Alt key, the Alt key keeps turning on and off and sometimes it stays on even when no keys are being pressed.

Is there any recourse for those of us with this sticky keys issue past 30 days?

Best of my knowledge-

- the first units showing the problem and returned for RMA are just
now being made available to the developers for diagnosis.
- There is still considerable doubt whether this is a hardware-only
problem, a software-only problem or a combination. In other words, no
one has yet decided that it cannot be fixed in hardware. So there is
still hope.
- There are ongoing discussions about how to create a spare parts and
repair program, with significant effort toward building a
volunteer-only, cost of parts + donation only spares and repair
system. To premature to announce anything yet.

Hope this helps.



--
Steve Holton
sph0lt0n@gmail.com
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[JoelLuellwitz]

After being told I could not RMA my laptop, I attempted a "field repair". I disassembled the laptop to the point where the green rubber mat comes in contact with the circuit board. I lifted up the corner of the mat with the Alt key to see if there was anything blatantly wrong with it. Seeing nothing wrong, I determined there was nothing I could do so I reassembled my OLPC and turned it on.

Surprisingly, not only did the laptop turn on but the problem with the Alt key appears to be gone. Now, it has only been a few hours so the problem might return, but this indicates to me that the problem is definitely a hardware issue and likely is related to how the rubber mat comes in contact with the keyboard circuit board area. My best guess as to what is causing the problem is either the glue holding the rubber mat down is conductive or the keyboard needs air under it to work correctly.

While I was taking my OLPC apart, I thought of a software work around. I could probably write my own key map and just assign the Alt key to nothing. That way Linux would completely ignore any Alt signals.

[JimH]

I started experiencing the sticky key issue at 34 days.

Given that this is a known problem, why should I not be able to get an RMA?

[greenfox]

Be careful with the green rubber keyboard overlay! While trying to unstick the control key by squeezing the sides of the key, I accidentally tore the very thin vertical side of the rubber.

And it turned out that rebooting (with a full power off) did what all the fiddling with the key didn't. This was the first time I couldn't unstick the control key by pressing it or wiggling the rubber. Is it an electrical problem and/or a mechanical one?

[ericvh]

I sent email 5 days ago about the sticky board issue asking for an RMA. Today I got a form letter stating how sorry OLPC was that I hadn't received my laptop yet. Perhaps two lines of communication should be setup, one for hardware issues and another for delivery issues. The form letter said they'd get back to me in 3-5 days, but 5 days is when my 30 days is up so I'm getting concerned. I guess I'll sit on hold all day tomorrow trying to get through on phone support.

[Kantarjiev]

Call. Even if you get the correct email response, it says to call to get the RMA number.

Have your XO handy when you call.

[newsham]

I got mine on Dec 20th. My keyboard started going a few weeks ago but it didnt get bad enough to look into it more until now. The behavior I see is that the control key sometimes gets stuck. The "a" key almost always turns on the control key, sometimes in a stuck manner but usually just for the "a" key itself (transmitting control-a). The other keys nearby don't seem to have this problem. If I hit "a" repeatedly I get almost 100% control-a's. If I alternately hit control and "a" about half of the "a"s come out as "a" and the other half as "control-a". I verified this behavior in sugar (shell), at the console (control-alt-f2) and at the bios boot prompt. This hints at a hardware problem since its unlikely the openfirmware keyboard driver is related to the one used in linux.

I'm past RMA date. What can I do? I guess next step is to open it up and try to reseat the green keypad and see if that helps at all....
Are there any plans to allow parts purchases? Can I buy a replacement keyboard?

-tim

[newsham]

oh, also forgot to mention -- I powered it down with the battery removed for a minute. I also tested it in joyride (late february after christmas) and ship.2 (reloaded from usb thumb drive). Same results in all scenerios.

[opus345]

newsham,

Search the olpc forums. A number of folks have a way to remap the keys and have effectively eliminated the stuck key from being a player.

Opus

[Ace_NoOne]

I would RMA it, but I've had it for ~40 days now, and I'm in Europe...

A number of folks have a way to remap the keys and have effectively eliminated the stuck key from being a player.

I've taken the liberty to write a quick guide:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sticky_Keys
Improvements are welcome!

[Guest]

Ace,

Nicely done, thank you!

Opus

[Ace_NoOne]

From a private conversation:

Thanks for your guide on the sticky key help. RMA is not an option for us, and that made the keyboard usable...

Glad that helped.
However, I didn't actually come up with this myself; I've just added to the wiki what has been suggested on the bug tracker.

I tried modifying the fix to move my ctrl key to the right hand (right grab is the right term?) button, but couldn't get the right keycode.

So RGrab is affected by the sticky keys syndrome as well? Bummer!
Anyway, you could try the following (found here):

You can find the keycode for any button by using xbindkeys -mk. Just run that and press the key you want.

(You might have to yum install xbindkeys first... )

[ralphw]

There does need to be a way to look at your whole history of interactions with Donor Services....
Using the original order reference # is a good suggestion, but the website and databases would
need to be beefed up considerably.

This is all something that needs to be enhanced anyway, given that OLPC is essentially a "digital business". After the hardware is delivered, everything else is bits.

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.