ThinkPad Compact Bluetooth Keyboard with TrackPoint Teardown *PICS*

[Cookie Guru]

I bought this on eBay advertised as "new open box". Instead, I got an obviously-used intermittently-working keyboard. Seller refunded and this left me with a spare keyboard and an excuse to pry it open.

The keyboard is straightforward to open. There are no screws; the top half of the case (trim ring) snaps on to the bottom half.



The keyboard itself is glued to the bottom case. With a bit of prying it comes off. Note the steel reinforcement plates on both sides.



On the far left is the 3.7V 500mAh battery; the board on the far right controls the power.



The part number for the keyboard is nothing like the T430/T440 keyboard.

Finally a close-up of the board below the arrow keys:




This keyboard does work if you can get the power switch to make contact. And if you're willing to pay the postage, it's yours.

[RealBlackStuff]

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[rkawakami]

Nice views! I've got two of these off of eBay (0B47189); one two years ago and the other early this month. I have to agree that the power switch is the most likely source of trouble but otherwise they seem to be working quite well.

[Cookie Guru]

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Congrats to the new owner of a broken keyboard

[RealBlackStuff]

He who laughs last, laughs best!

Received the package already today around 2PM.

I opened up the keyboard, immediately noticed missing connectors.
The clamp for the trackpoint-cable slot was stuck to the bottom of the keyboard. (Left-bottom on picture)
Removed it and put it in its proper slot. (Upper middle)
Another cable was also stuck to the back of the keyboard (RH side of picture).
Removed that cable from the KB-back, put it in its proper slot along the RH-side of the base, then connected it to the connector of the Power Button (RH-top of picture).
Then I reconnected KB-cable and the trackpoint cable, put it all back together, and SWITCHED IT ON.
After installing the tpkeyboard driver from Lenovo, the KB immediately worked.

http://imgur.com/HHHKLRw

By 2:15 I had it up and running!
It took me longer to mark the "mishaps" on the above picture.

BIG THANKS to the unknowing previous owner, who didn't realize what he "donated" for shipping cost!

[Cookie Guru]

Glad you got it working
I disconnected the cables for the photos. I have one each of the Bluetooth and the wired versions. I acquired the wired one after the BT keyboard repeatedly dropped its connection. Hope this one works out better for you.

[iamdmc]

You beauties - I've been looking around for a teardown for a few months and finally stumbled across this

I was hoping that it would be possible to drop in a classic keyboard (say xx20) in the Thinkpad USB compact keyboard I have, but from the looks of it, that won't be possible in this case.

Any idea what it would take to mod in a backlit newer model keyboard?

[ztof]

I was hoping that it would be possible to drop in a classic keyboard (say xx20) in the Thinkpad USB compact keyboard I have, but from the looks of it, that won't be possible in this case.

It is possible to drop-in T420/T520/X220/T410 classic keyboard but in another Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard. The one compatible's product number is SK-8855: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/MIGR-73183 Not sold anymore by Lenovo, and a bit hard to find nowadays.

Just remove the clipped plastic bar around the volume/mic/ThinkVantage/power buttons of the laptop keyboard, and you can swap it in the USB keyboard

I've done that replacement myself: I bought a SK-8855 USB keyboard with French Azerty layout, and swapped the keyboard with a Swiss Qwertz layout from a T420.

[iamdmc]

Nice one thanks!

I found a teardown of the compact keyboard on the forum and it looks like it's a completely different design than any ThinkPad laptop keyboard, so I'm stuck with it a while longer... Not that I'm complaining. It's still the best option for wireless keyboards and gives me the ThinkPad feel on my media desktop

[axur-delmeria]

Nice one thanks!

I found a teardown of the compact keyboard on the forum and it looks like it's a completely different design than any ThinkPad laptop keyboard

I do wonder if it's the keyboard for the X100e/120e or 11.6 inch Edge models...

[iamdmc]

Didn't look like it to me