Today’s laptops have many benefits over traditional desktop PCs, the greatest being portability. Being able to sit with your laptop on the sofa or in a coffee shop without the need of a separate monitor and keyboard is convenient and efficient. Unfortunately, this mobility can come at a price; breakages and damages being the biggest issue. The most common type of hardware problem with laptops is broken keys. Often the laptop key itself doesn’t actually break but either becomes detached from the board or the spring mechanism underneath the key fails. A popular method of accidentally breaking your laptop keys is by either dropping the laptop or something on top of it. Laptops keys can also unintentionally be pulled off should a piece of loose clothing or mouse cable wraps around the key and then is suddenly moved. The horror of not having all of your laptop keys intact can be distressing, but if this disaster happens to you, you can take steps to repair your broken laptop keys.

How to repair a broken laptop key?

Depending on the model of your laptop, most manufactures build a laptop key with 3 separate parts:

• The Key – firstly there is the actual key itself. This is the flat part of plastic that contains the letter, number or symbol icon on the top part.
• The Clip Retainer – this attachment is a little plastic frame that hooks onto the key top and attaches it to the base of the laptop board. It slides away under the key so that normally you cannot see it.
• The Rubber Suction – this is the most important part of the laptop key. Not only is this piece of rubber responsible for registering the key as being pressed, but it also springs the key back again once released.

Now that you how the laptop keys are made up, we can now go about fixing yours. First you should check that your laptop has all of the pieces above. If your keys have recently broken off then you should find most of the parts within the area that your laptop was located. If any of your parts are broken in pieces or snapped, then you will need to order replacement parts off the internet or by calling your laptop’s manufacturer. The most common breakage is when the key with the clip retainer becomes detached. While this is fiddly, you can repair it yourself and we will guide you through the procedure to re-attach the key. Please ensure your laptop is switched off first, before you begin.

First you need to identify the rubber suction part. This will usually be a clear or black color with a silicone type material. It will look like a mini kitchen sink plunger minus the stick. If this is not attached to the keyboard, then you will need to stick it back down. Using a tiny amount of strong adhesive glue, carefully stick and bond the rubber suction down in the center of the key space. You will normally be able to identify this center by a circle marking. You will need to allow at least 20 minutes for the glue to fully dry.

Once the rubber is secure, you can test it works by powering the laptop up again and carefully pressing the rubber down. If you have re-secured it correctly then it should register a key entry as normal. Now you need to attach the key using the plastic clip retainer. This is the most time consuming process but is important as it locks the key in place and stops it from falling out again. If you look carefully at the laptop board, where the empty space for you key is, you should notice clip markings where you can attach your key retainer clip. Each laptop keyboard can be different, but there will normally be 2 or 4 connections that you need to attach the container clip too. You need to ensure that the retainer clip is also connected to the back of the key too. Once in place, apply some pressure to connect the retainer back down onto the keyboard. You should hear a satisfying click. Again, take your time reconnecting the retainer as you don’t want to damage the delicate frame underneath the key.

 

Once you have secured the key using the retainer clip your laptop’s key should be repaired. If you need to repair more than one key, simply repeat the process. Test out your key by typing up a test document. Press the key down several times to ensure each time is being registered and that the rubber hinge is springing the after release. Finally take a look at the keyboard; the keys should all align neatly so that there is no damage when the screen lid is closed. The final check you can do to ensure you have repaired the keys properly is to carefully turn the laptop upside down to check that the key doesn’t fall back out. If it stays in place and appears aligned with the rest of the keys then you can be confident you have securely repaired your laptop keys.