Got a BIG, BIG problem here

[stevo1210]

My brother has an Asus UL80 VT laptop. It's a nice laptop to be honest. Anyway, he spilt a bit of coffee onto the keyboard and it still worked well... no problems there. Today he decided to get a friend to take a look as I wasn't home in the morning... the point was to clean and make it not so smelly even though it worked. Dunno what they did, but they somehow broke the keyboard ZIF connector!
The ZIF connector is completely broken and I can see metal pins hanging out of it. Not sure what options we have here... but do they sell ZIF connectors so I can solder it back on?
We have option 2 which is spend $80 on a motherboard. But the motherboard will be from the UL80JT with the Core i3 instead of the C2D we have now. Looking at pictures online, these two models are exactly the same exterior, and eBay pictures of the board show similarities too... do you guys think the UL80JT motherboard will fit into a UL80VT? Thanks.

[ben7]

Re: Got a BIG, BIG problem here

My brother has an Asus UL80 VT laptop. It's a nice laptop to be honest. Anyway, he spilt a bit of coffee onto the keyboard and it still worked well... no problems there. Today he decided to get a friend to take a look as I wasn't home in the morning... the point was to clean and make it not so smelly even though it worked. Dunno what they did, but they somehow broke the keyboard ZIF connector!
The ZIF connector is completely broken and I can see metal pins hanging out of it. Not sure what options we have here... but do they sell ZIF connectors so I can solder it back on?
We have option 2 which is spend $80 on a motherboard. But the motherboard will be from the UL80JT with the Core i3 instead of the C2D we have now. Looking at pictures online, these two models are exactly the same exterior, and eBay pictures of the board show similarities too... do you guys think the UL80JT motherboard will fit into a UL80VT? Thanks.

Got any pictures of this 'ZIF' socket?

How many pins does it have? What is the pin pitch?

[stevo1210]

Re: Got a BIG, BIG problem here

Got any pictures of this 'ZIF' socket?

How many pins does it have? What is the pin pitch?

I don't know much about ZIF sockets, but I've attached a few pictures if that helps?

I counted 24 pins, pitch (in between) is 1mm... and the width of the connector is like 27mm (about 1 inch). It lays flat with the motherboard (parallel to) and has a flippy thing which is broken and missing. If I shove the cable in and apply pressure with my fingers, the keyboard definitely works no problems. If I can get my hands on a connector, the hardest part won't be putting it on... but removing the broken connector. I saw some chip-quik or whatever it's called and you apply it and apply heat and it loosens it easily all with a standard iron. I have a 1/64 tip on my Weller WCTPT which I did a similar repair to a Macbook but the connector (Bluetooth 4 pin connector) was intact and someone just pulled that off a bit too hard... here on the other hand is a completely different story.

[stevo1210]

Re: Got a BIG, BIG problem here

Did a quick search on some local component distributors here (RS and Farnell), came up with this:

http://au.element14.com/molex/52207-...way/dp/1509166

Is it what I need?

There's also a similar one, but is a "non ZIF" socket where you just shove the cable in like the optical drive board connectors on a Playstation 3.

http://au.element14.com/molex/52793-...way/dp/1509103

[ben7]

Re: Got a BIG, BIG problem here

Did a quick search on some local component distributors here (RS and Farnell), came up with this:

http://au.element14.com/kyocera/0462...way/dp/1659860

Is it what I need?

From your picture, the pitch is actually 1mm

This may work. I can't guarantee that, but it will be a little big bigger than the original. You do have a bit of extra space there, so that shouldn't be an issue. It does have a different closing mechanism, instead of a flap, the lock slides in to lock the cable in.

Edit: Both of your suggestions are no stocked

-Ben

[stevo1210]

Re: Got a BIG, BIG problem here

From your picture, the pitch is actually 1mm

This may work. I can't guarantee that, but it will be a little big bigger than the original. You do have a bit of extra space there, so that shouldn't be an issue. It does have a different closing mechanism, instead of a flap, the lock slides in to lock the cable in.

Edit: Both of your suggestions are no stocked

-Ben

Reporting in... 8 months later. Finally had time to undertake a repair and I bought the part you specified in the post. It was indeed a little bigger but after soldering it fit in well. I just couldn't solder the two edge pads which lock the connector to the MB but a bit of RTV glue solved that issue. Everything works well and I am typing this off the Asus laptop as we speak.

[ben7]

Re: Got a BIG, BIG problem here

Reporting in... 8 months later. Finally had time to undertake a repair and I bought the part you specified in the post. It was indeed a little bigger but after soldering it fit in well. I just couldn't solder the two edge pads which lock the connector to the MB but a bit of RTV glue solved that issue. Everything works well and I am typing this off the Asus laptop as we speak.

Good job bro!