Re: //e Keyboard problems

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Martin asked:

>After an absence of 16 years, I have just picked up an (original
>non-enhanced) Apple IIe (also picked up a IIgs last year but thats another
>story).
>
>Now, a couple of things:
>
>(1) One of the keys seems to be very iffy, and more often than not doesn't
>appear to make a good contact. I am assuming its just some dirt or dust, as
>the rest of the keyboard seems to work fine.
>So after many previous explorations and fixes to commodore hardware I have
>in my collection, I started ripping the IIe appart with the hope of finding
>out what the problem was.
>
>After pulling the keyboard out, unscrewing the PCB, the PCB doesn't want to
>come away from the rest of the keyboard.
>I am assuming that I may have to unsolder possibly a few of the solder
>points ? Or do I need to take off particular (or all) Key Caps ? Or is there
>something else I am missing. I couldn't actually see what was holding the
>PCB still on.
>
>Some guidence in this area would be a appreciated, it will probably save me
>a lot of time.

A little late, but DON'T disassemble the keyboard first!

95% of the time, a little contact cleaner can be sprayed into the offending
keyswitch (it sometimes helps to remove the keycap) and working it ten
or twenty times.

Always try to use the least force to solve a problem.  ;-)

-michael

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