I had a very satisfying day repairing backup battery damage to the keyboard controller in my beloved 1996 IBM Thinkpad 760CD.
I'd recently watched @nprofile1q... 's thorough and detailed A3000T battery-bomb damage recovery videos. A seven year old video series by @nprofile1q... showed me what I needed to do to safely remove the 760CD keyboard and wrist rest in order to access the compromised batteries and keyboard controller. Thank you both!
I had a backup battery ready to go (bought in 2024!) and now armed with the right tools, just enough knowledge and a resoluteness to attempt the repair, I carefully pulled out the backup batteries and keyboard controller board. I scrubbed the controller board in distilled malt vinegar (and enjoyed the sizzling sounds coming from the board!) then washed it in distilled water, and finally evacuated all the water with 99% isopropyl alcohol.
I cleaned the keyboard edge connector too, and despite it looking rougher than its neighbour, confirmed that the traces were good by beeping each one out along its length.
Reassembling was a bit of a jigsaw, but these old Thinkpads are designed for repairability, so with some careful but firm manipulation, I was able to get everything back together.
I'd recently watched @nprofile1q... 's thorough and detailed A3000T battery-bomb damage recovery videos. A seven year old video series by @nprofile1q... showed me what I needed to do to safely remove the 760CD keyboard and wrist rest in order to access the compromised batteries and keyboard controller. Thank you both!
I had a backup battery ready to go (bought in 2024!) and now armed with the right tools, just enough knowledge and a resoluteness to attempt the repair, I carefully pulled out the backup batteries and keyboard controller board. I scrubbed the controller board in distilled malt vinegar (and enjoyed the sizzling sounds coming from the board!) then washed it in distilled water, and finally evacuated all the water with 99% isopropyl alcohol.
I cleaned the keyboard edge connector too, and despite it looking rougher than its neighbour, confirmed that the traces were good by beeping each one out along its length.
Reassembling was a bit of a jigsaw, but these old Thinkpads are designed for repairability, so with some careful but firm manipulation, I was able to get everything back together.