Killed Helix Keyboard

hi everyone, this is a desparate post from Singapore. Accidentally spilled coffee on my 2 weeks old Helix and killed my keyboard almost instantaneously. Quotation from Service centre for repair is SGD1200 .. a really hefty price to pay for a keyboard repair. Tried the option to buy a new keyboard but Lenovo don't seem to sell them in parts.
Anyone has encountered similar situation and found a more economical way to resolve? Thank you and praying hard that i get some help here. thank you.

Same happened to me... (with tea, but thankfully without suger)
1. You must decide if you are able/willing to disassemble and replace the damaged FRU.
For this, please consult the factory videos:
http://service.lenovo.partner-management.com/content/CourseWarePublic/18124/player.html
and the Hardware Maintenance Manual:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?DocID=UM017304
2. If yes, you have to check which parts are damaged: is it only the keyboard, or others like Keyboard Dock I/O Board?
Then download the Helix FRU list (Field Replaceable Unit):
http://download.lenovo.com/parts/ThinkPad/helix_fru_bom_20130520.pdf
You can find a description of the Keyboard Dock:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/detail.page?DocID=PD026782
Here is also a link to the Online Shop (in my case, it was IBM Part Sales Germany) My keyboard had only problems with 3 keys, so I just ordered a new one. The shop shows a delivery time of up to 4 weeks, but I was told that they expect the German keyboard for Oct-16.
Price: 145 EUR + Tax + Shipping.
For info: If the I/O Board is OK and only the Keyboard makes trouble, you can use the Dock and connect in parallel a Bluetooth Keyboard meanwhile...
Hope it helps

Similar Messages

These power settings will kill your keyboard dock

This scenario will kill the power in your keyboard dock, rendering it lifeless:
* Go to the "Lenovo Settings" Windows 8 app
* Enable "30 Day Standby" (may not matter)
* "Battery Stretch" On or Off (doesn't matter)
* Go to "Battery Health Mode" and choose "Automatically optimize for battery life"
Leave your laptop plugged in for a few hours. Battery #2 (the keyboard portion of your Helix) will drain to 0%, and won't resume charging on its own.
At first, I thought my Helix keyboard had lived a really short life. But it turns out you can go back to "Battery Health Mode", change the option to "Always fully charge" and then close the lid to make the Helix sleep. Eventually, your Helix will recognize that Battery #2 is dead and start charging it again.
This is obviously a problem with the software, and should be able to be resolved easily by Lenovo once they see this message. Please comment on this post to draw attention to the matter.
Thanks!

Hi,
We are aware of this problem where the setting for "Battery Health Mode" does not work in the following case:
1. the setting is changed while the system is undocked
2. then, the system is docked.
The dock battery will not know that the setting for "Battery Health Mode" has been changed.
The work-around is to toggle the setting for "Battery Health Mode" while the system is docked, as you noted.

Replace battery in Helix keyboard by myself?

Hi!
I was looking in the maintenance manual and it seems fairly easy to replace the Helix keyboard battery. However, I cannot find anywhere to buy a genuine Lenovo battery. Is it possible to buy this?
/Fredrik

Thanks! I see. Is it the same with Thinkpad Yoga? Also seems easy to replace. Although I understand it is not a "consumer replaceable unit", it's a shame if they won't let the customers who are willing to take the risk to replace it do it...
The maintenance manual also states: "A battery FRU should not be replaced unless this diagnostic test shows that the battery is defective. The only exception to this is if the battery is physically damaged or a customer is reporting a
possible safety issue."
I don't really understand what they mean? Does that mean it's actually impossible to replace the battery after two years when it will last for only about 2 hours?

Helix keyboard stops working when dock battery reaches 3%

My other post has more details but the title says it all. My Helix keyboard stops working when dock battery reaches 3% even though the tablet battery has a charge. This seems to happen every time. A hard reset of the dock gets the keyboard working again. Any ideas on how to fix this?

This is my daughter's college computer so I have not used it. I just get the panic call when it locks up.
Is there any way to get a warning when the battery is low? I assume that it has a light on the base but I can see how she could miss it when focused on what she is doing. I am not sure it comes on since the tablet battery still has capacity. I find it odd that this happens when the tablet battery still has a decent amount of charge. Effectively it eliminates a fair amount of the battery capacity available for the computer.
I have other electronics that force you to shut done at low battery levels. I am surprise that a high end laptop performs this way.

10.4.3 killed my keyboard

I upgraded to Tiger following the procedures provided by Ken Stone on the LA FCP site. My MacAlly keyboard worked fine in 10.4 but the 4.3 upgrade disabled it. Now it only works with my Mac keyboard with the too short cable that is not set up for FCP. Any ideas guys? Desperation is setting in. Thanks.

Hi Jarkko,
From your info it does indeed sound like the battery is dead. (Sorry)
Or... it was killed, if OS 10.4.3. indeed kills batteries.
In any case, 351 cycles is probably normal to be pretty used up, but the real giveaway is the remaining capacity: 0. As long as there is some remaining capacity, the battery at least has something in it.
My old 4 year old battery with 549 cycles says 333 mAh, which is enough to power my TiBook for about 20 seconds (or less).
So if yours says zero, it's dead. You might leave it plugged in for a long time to see if that makes any difference, but you've probably already tried that.
The question is, what made it go dead? Did it get worse and worse then die, or did it suddenly go dead within days after upgrading to 10.4.3?
If you do not plan on keeping the PB, then you can still use it plugged in. A new battery will cost around $140. (yep, they are not cheap). If you plan to sell it, though, you'll probably need to get a battery first.
Hope this is helpful.

Windows 8.1 Ent. Helix - Keyboard and touchpad issues (device code 43)

System:
Helix 3701XXX
Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit
Third Apps installed
Latest Lenovo Drivers installed
Problem:
Keyboard and Touchpad on the keyboard dock intermittently stops working altogether. The UltraNav pointing device also reports device code 43. The user is unable to type or move mouse cursor. Sometimes the touchscreen will also not work when this problem occurs. The problem has been reported by 3+ users/systems. Some users also experience "Keyboard Fan Dock error" which may or may not be attributing to this issue.
When it occurs:
The problem is intermittent; it often occurs after waking the system up from sleep. As a workaround, the user has to restart the system a couple to several times in order for the device to be recognized. User also experiencing this issue without UltraNav installed.
Any advice from Lenovo staff or others experiencing this would be appreciated.

users at my organization are experiencing device issues indicated in this Lenovo solution article; the solution in the article points to the latest drivers being the solution; however, the users are still running into these USB device errors with the latest USB hub/keyboard drivers/fw.
article below:
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-helix-series-laptops/thinkpad...

Helix keyboard issue

I'm a big fan of Lenovo keyboards and their joysticks, and having used them for years now, they are second-nature to me. But the joystick on the keyboard on my Helix, which I've been using for a couple of months, is not nearly the quality unit I''ve become used to.
The problem is actually not the joystick, itself, but the absence of the tradional 'mouse' buttons below the joystick. Clicking the touchpad as a substitute for real buttons I'm finding to be problematic. Even with the touchpad turned off for use in positioning, i.e., when it is used soley for button clicking, a left click frequently does not work until the keypad is hit sharply, and squarely in the lefthand corner, too often in frustration!
Is this a problem others are having, or should I consider taking it in for a warranty service?
CWDavis

Thanks!
For now I use "KeyTweak" I just leave Fn-Lock on to use the F-Keys...
Then I remapped the Insert key to be End
I found the link from here:
http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/remap-keyboard.htm
Thanks!

Helix keyboard loose, screen jiggles?

Is it normal for the Helix to have some play in the screen/keyboard when docked?
This is how I replicate the issue:
Dock Helix with its keyboard
Open it to normal laptop typing position
Grab the top right side of the screen and lift up
Notice that the gap between the screen and the keyboard dock increases on the right side
The gap is only about 1/16th of an inch, so it's minor, but the "jiggle" is very noticeable. It doesn't seem to happen nearly as much on the left side... the left side feels solid.
So is it normal for the right side to be a little loose and jiggle? Whereas the left side feels solid and snug, and doesn't move about?
I found this customer's experience from the TabletPCReview forums:
"I have had 3 of them already and they are all loose and slightly wobbly back and forth when docked. The right side is worse on all of them. I have looked at about 10 others and all the same. Just the way they are manufactured. It is kind of annoying to me, but I will learn to live with it. I have an on-site warranty for 3 years so if it continues to loosen up on the right side I will get it replaced. Lenovo is already aware of the issue and hopefully will fix it in some later builds. Keep the one you have because you might end up getting one that is worse."
I don't want to send in my laptop for 5 days just for them to send it back saying it's normal. It's going to be tough to be without the laptop for that amount of time.

Added a GIF of what it looks like. This makes it look more severe since it's a closeup, but you get the idea! (sorry if it's slow to load).
Link to picture
Moderator note; picture(s) totalling >50K converted to link(s) Forum Rules

Can "Helix keyboard dock" run separately?

Hi,
I want to use "keyboard dock"s keyboard everytime and external monitor when I am in my office.
When I plugged external monitor's VGA cable directly to helix, it wasn't good. Because in laptop mode, helix's screen was in front of the external monitor.
I should use "keyboard dock" separately if it is possible. Are there any solutions for me?
For example;
- Can I connect "keyboard dock" to tablet with a cable when they are seperate? Is there any cable?
- Can I connect "keyboard dock" to "USB 3.0 dock" and can "keyboard dock" run?
- Or any other solutions... ?
Thanks for your answers.

Hi Jin Li,
Thanks for your answer and suggestion.
I found the keyboards: bluetooth keyboard & USB keyboard. They seem good but not the best solution for me.
Because, my helix's keyboard is Turkish. There are little differences between English keyboard and Turkish keyboard. For example, enter key is like vertical on Turkish keyboard. Little differences is important for me, because, I will type with all ten fingers. I should use same keyboard.

W510 Lenovo Bluetooth windows update killed USB Keyboard

Hi all,
Yesterday afternoon (14 M!R 2012) I ran a windows 7 update that included a Lenovo update. It was some kind of bluetooth thing, but I'm not really sure the exact name. Foolishly, I chose to include this in the update. When I performed the updates and restarted the machine my USB keyboard no longer works. There were 13 updates available for install. 9 of them were critical updates and 4 were optional. I installed 3 of the 4 optional and all of the critical. So when I discovered that the keyboard didn't work, I rollback the update to the last good configuration and the problem persisted. When I looked at what updates were available, 12 of the 13 were there, but the Lenovo bluetooth one wasn't on the list, leading me to believe that it didn't get rolled back.
What I've noticed is that the keyboard is recognized by windows, but I can't type anything. Furthermore, when I do type a few characters with it, after about 5 seconds I hear the "disconnected a USB device" sound. So something is definitely strange, but I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any ideas? I really need the full sized ergo keyboard. The tiny laptop keyboard kills my hands. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and I really need my big keyboard or my hands are killing me.
Thanks,
Tripp

Totally generic. I have no idea why the bluetooth update would affect it. I'm just pointing the finger there b/c that was the only update that doesn't seem to have been undone by the windows restore operation. At one point last night windows performed an update on the usb drivers, but sadly that didn't solve anything. It's bizarre because windows can see the keyboard, it just doesn't work. Windows doesn't seem to think that there's anything wrong with device and it says the drivers are up to date.

Last upgrade killed KDM keyboard/mouse input

Hi, I performed a pacman -Syu last night and a few packages were upgraded. Now, when I reach the KDM login, it does not detect keyboard or mouse input. However during the boot process it detected the keyboard properly. Of course, now I can't use ctrl-alt-f1 to reach a VC from the KDM screen.
The relevant snippet of pacman.log is below. I took a look and I tried downgrading a few packages from a livecd: xproto and xorg-xinit, but without success. I actually cleared my pacman cache a while ago because of a pacman error, so I don't have very many package backups unfortunately. Perhaps somebody can pinpoint the package that is giving me all this trouble?
Thanks!
[2010-12-20 02:05] synchronizing package lists
[2010-12-20 02:12] Running 'pacman -S -u'
[2010-12-20 02:12] starting full system upgrade
[2010-12-20 02:20] removed pycairo (1.8.10-2)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded arandr (0.1.3-5 -> 0.1.4-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded bash (4.1.009-1 -> 4.1.009-3)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded bluez (4.80-1 -> 4.82-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded run-parts (3.2.3-1 -> 3.4.1-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] Clearing symlinks in /etc/ssl/certs...done.
[2010-12-20 02:20] Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs... 141 added, 0 removed; done.
[2010-12-20 02:20] Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d....done.
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded ca-certificates (20090814-3 -> 20090814+nmu2-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded cdrkit (1.1.10-1 -> 1.1.11-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded chromium (8.0.552.215-1 -> 8.0.552.224-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded device-mapper (2.02.77-1 -> 2.02.78-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded dhcpcd (5.2.8-1 -> 5.2.9-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] warning: /etc/profile installed as /etc/profile.pacnew
[2010-12-20 02:20] warning: /etc/hosts installed as /etc/hosts.pacnew
[2010-12-20 02:20] warning: /etc/gshadow installed as /etc/gshadow.pacnew
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded filesystem (2010.10-1 -> 2010.12-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded libpulse (0.9.22-1 -> 0.9.22-2)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded fluidsynth (1.1.3-1 -> 1.1.3-2)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded foomatic-db (4.0.5_20101024-1 -> 4.0.6_20101215-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded foomatic-filters (4.0.5_20101024-1 -> 4.0.6_20101215-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded foomatic-db-engine (4.0.5_20101024-1 -> 4.0.6_20101215-1)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded zlib (1.2.5-2 -> 1.2.5-3)
[2010-12-20 02:20] upgraded ghostscript (9.00-1 -> 9.00-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded git (1.7.3.3-1 -> 1.7.3.4-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded gnutls (2.8.6-1 -> 2.10.4-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded gparted (0.7.0-1 -> 0.7.1-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded gpsd (2.95-7 -> 2.95-8)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded graphicsmagick (1.3.7-3 -> 1.3.12-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libdrm (2.4.22-1 -> 2.4.22-3)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libgl (7.9-1 -> 7.9.0.git20101207-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded intel-dri (7.9-1 -> 7.9.0.git20101207-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded opencv (2.2.0-1 -> 2.2.0-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded kipi-plugins (1.6.0-1 -> 1.6.0-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libdbusmenu-qt (0.6.4-1 -> 0.6.6-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libdvdcss (1.2.10-1.1 -> 1.2.10-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libindi (0.7-1 -> 0.7.2-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libmpdclient (2.2-1 -> 2.3-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libogg (1.2.1-1 -> 1.2.2-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded libpcap (1.1.1-1 -> 1.1.1-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded lvm2 (2.02.77-1 -> 2.02.78-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded mesa (7.9-1 -> 7.9.0.git20101207-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded mpd (0.15.15-2 -> 0.16-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded pkg-config (0.25-2 -> 0.25-3)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded procps (3.2.8-2 -> 3.2.8-3)
[2010-12-20 02:21] installed python2-cairo (1.8.10-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded pycups (1.9.51-2 -> 1.9.53-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded pysmbc (1.0.9-1 -> 1.0.10-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded python-beautifulsoup (3.0.8.1-1 -> 3.2.0-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded raptor (1.4.21-1 -> 1.4.21-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded rasqal (0.9.20-1 -> 0.9.21-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded redland (1.0.12-2 -> 1.0.12-3)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded sdparm (1.05-1 -> 1.06-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded system-config-printer-common (1.2.5-3 -> 1.2.5-4)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded telepathy-glib (0.12.5-1 -> 0.12.6-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded unrar (4.0.2-1 -> 4.0.3-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded vpnc (0.5.3-2 -> 0.5.3-3)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded xorg-xauth (1.0.4-1 -> 1.0.5-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded xorg-xbacklight (1.1.1-1 -> 1.1.2-1)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded xorg-xinit (1.3.0-1 -> 1.3.0-2)
[2010-12-20 02:21] upgraded xproto (7.0.19-1 -> 7.0.20-1)

Alright, disabled KDM and logged into virtual console and startx. Same issue when I get into X/KDE, keyboard and mouse input not detected. Any idea as to which package might be the culprit? Unfortunately I am away from home for a couple weeks and can't get to my backup clones...

T410 external monitor kills mouse/keyboard with dock

WinXP with SP3.
Hi there! I'm trying to use an external monitor. I also have a usb mouse and usb keyboard connected to the dock, When the external monitor is connected I have have keyboard and mouse function both external and on the laptop. I also have display on the external monitor. Once I boot windows, I loose function of the mouse and keyboard both externally and on the laptop. It's driving me nuts!! Any ideas??
If I just boot at the dock with only the monitor plugged in, I loose the mouse/keyboard on the laptop. Using the VGA plug.
Any help would be so grand!

I've tried 3 different mice and keyboards. The issue presents even if I just plug the monitor into the laptop without the dock either vga or div-x. The dock is a series 3 mini.

4.2.1 killed the Keyboard Clicks on my iPad

Keyboard Clicks worked right up to the point that I installed 4.2.1. Now they don't work at all. Or almost at all. They will work on the initial password screen. They also work on the Settings->General->Sounds page. But no where else.
I've turned all of the sounds (including Keyboard Clicks) off and on again several times. I've cranked the volume up all the way. I've also played with the new Mute switch just in case that was giving me the problems. Nothing seems to work.
Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Just a thought- have you got the new Airplay feature turned on in iTunes or the video app?
Now this is an interesting question. However I checked it out and I don't think so. First because I don't own an Apple TV or compatible speakers. Indeed I've never even used Airplay and had to consult the web to find out how it works.
So I checked. I brought up a video and then a song, and did not see the Airplay up arrow icon on the control window as shown in the Apple demo videos. So I'm pretty sure it is not currently enabled on my iPad. I also went into iTunes, and the only reference I could see to Airplay was under iTunes->Preferences->Devices. There were options to look for remote speakers and for remote devices. Those options were selected so I turned them off. I didn't see any other Airplay features in iTunes, that I could find. So I'm guessing this isn't the problem for me.
I did find one other place where Keyboard Clicks works. In addition to the initial screen-lock password page, and also the Settings->General->Sounds page, I also discovered that Clicks works on the search page that you get when you swipe to the right on the home page. But, other than those three pages, Clicks doesn't work anywhere else.
I'm still thinking that it is a 4.2.1 bug, since it appeared exactly when I did the upgrade, but it is odd that no one else has (yet) reported this same problem. It's still possible that there is a weird configuration issue (like Airplay - thanks for the suggestion) but if so I haven't found it yet.

Quick question re: Helix keyboard

So for the life of me I can't figure out how to fold the keyboard dock holder flat when I remove the tablet. I.e., if I'm typing away and then decide to remove the tablet, the docking piece sits at a 90 degree angle (or whatever angle I had the screen at).
But I can't seem to get the section flat without docking the tablet, then folding it down flat, then removing the tablet from the keyboard.
I'm sure there's something simple I'm missing, some sort of latch or something?!
Thanks!

You can pull it out from the flat position. Just open the flap cover, press the button and pull out.
You can also force the closure but it requires much force without the leverage of the screen height.
It is just tight to keep the screen in position.

10.4.8 killed my keyboard buttons

On my iMac G4 20" I have now lost the ability to control the volume or eject a CD from the keyboard. This problem isn't true for my PowerBook G4 which I updated at the same time.
Does anyone have any suggestions to resolve this probem as it's bleeding annoying.
Marky

I haven't installed 10.4.8 yet, but in 10.4.7, go to System Preferences:Keyboard and Mouse:Keyboard, then look at, and toggle-a-few-times the "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features"-checkbox, and make sure it is un-checked.
On portables, with this setting, one must hold-down the "fn"-keyboard-key and hit a function-key(F1-F12), to affect an application. If you don't hold-down the "fn"-keyboard-key, and type a function-key(F1-F12), you get-to-control hardware-features (for example, the "F12"-keyboard-key on some Mac laptops does an "Eject").
Got it?

Killed Helix Keyboard

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