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Keyboard troubles

Submitted by dukbrand on March 4, 2008 - 2:26pm. Apple II

i recently purchased an apple //e off of craigslist. i've been fooling around with basic. out of the blue the i key stops functioning. whats an easy/cheap way to fix this all the other keys work fine

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david__schmidt's picture

Re: Keyboard troubles

Submitted by david__schmidt on March 4, 2008 - 5:08pm.
dukbrand wrote:
out of the blue the i key stops functioning. whats an easy/cheap way to fix this all the other keys work fine
I saw this the other day:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?t=9517

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If the key is truly broken an

Submitted by mfortuna on March 4, 2008 - 9:08pm.

If the key is truly broken and not just dirty you should be able to find an Apple IIe keyboard on ebay. They usually are pretty cheap.

If you can't find one I can scavenge one from my donor keyboard which I used to fix broken keys on a II+ keyboard.

BTW, the II+ and IIe use the same switches, just the key tops are different.

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Hi, This might work. As it h

Submitted by Twilight_Rodent on March 5, 2008 - 12:18am.

Hi,
This might work. As it has worked more than once. Remove the key cap. If you need help on how to do that with out breaking the stem in it just ask.
Use dry compress air and blow the area clean. Now with the stem just exposed. Use a set of small needle nose plyers to work the stem up and down. You do not need to force it down hard or grip it hard. But you do need to have a little more force pulling it up. This has to be done around 40-50 times. The Upstroke is IMPORTANT.

The upstroke is the KEY, it might break the contacts loose so they work. If this does not bring it back then you do not have too many options.
A few people have taken them apart. Trying to remember what it all looked liked. Small contacts and membrane like layers.

There are two types of switches. Long throw and short throw. That is about all I can remember. This has to do with th lenght of the stem.

They had an Ebay auction for one of these switches.

Take Care

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no luck

Submitted by dukbrand on April 5, 2008 - 5:13am.

i've tried to clean it then the pliers approach with no luck.
the keyboard seems to be stuck to the circuit board as i can't get them apart any suggestions?

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"Remove the key cap. If you n

Submitted by arukum17 on April 29, 2008 - 1:22pm.

"Remove the key cap. If you need help on how to do that with out breaking the stem in it just ask"

I am going to need to do this to a very old 1979 Apple II.
Can you please walk me through the best way of removing a key cap without breaking the stem. Many thanks

Arun

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