You know, I used to build fibreoptic circuit boards for a living. That's why this is funny.

[apocalypsos]

Okay, so I think I've figured out why the keyboard and touchpad both aren't working.

I'm probably wrong, but I'm already floating on a high because I figured out why the speakers weren't working. (Dear Compaq, maybe the sound would come out of the long black thing if you'd plug the little wires back into the fucking motherboard. Idiots.)

Anyway, you know when you lift up the motherboard (and I'm only guessing that big flat green thing is the motherboard -- no, really, that subject line is ACTUALLY TRUE), and there's those two flat wire thingies coming out of the laptop from where the keyboard and touchpad controls should logically be? Mine are just taped down. They're not connected to the motherboard. And they should be, right? I mean, they look like they should be stuck in something, and they're not actually IN anything. They're just there.

Does anybody know enough about the internal organs of a laptop to tell me whether or not I'm right? Because if I'm wrong ... well, hell, why is that any sort of surprise? And if I'm right, ha! Then I only have to figure out why my USB ports won't work and I become a god.

Comments

[ralob.livejournal.com]

they should be connected. taping the wires servers no purpose except to keep the wires from flailing about. everything connects to the motherboard in one form or another. i.e.: keyboard connected to a desktop is through the usb jack which itself is connected to the motherboard. so, either there is a slot on the mobo for the keyboard, or something else connects to the mobo which the keyboard should be connected to. er...if that makes sense.

[ralob.livejournal.com]

oh, and this is just from my experience on building 2 desktop computers from scratch. laptops are a slightly different (but related) beast. hope that helps. sorry i couldn't give more :/

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought. And I was terrified that maybe I'd done it when I lifted it up yesterday but then I was like, "Oh, I definitely would have remembered doing that." They so weren't connected when I opened it up yesterday.

*headdesk*

I feel a complaint call to Compaq coming on ...

[malhablada.livejournal.com]

If you've got a camera, you might consider taking a picture of it. There'll be no proof that you take them down yourself, but it still might come in handy to have some sort of proof that there was a problem at all down the line, if you get into some sort of squabble with Compaq over restitution.

[paintmydays.livejournal.com]

Are you serious? They didn't plug the wires of the speakers into the motherboard? Maybe they didn't plug the keyboards, touchpad and the USB ports neither.
Can you call some service to confirm their error? Or you maybe can check some manual, there might be some online.
Sorry I can't help, I never worked with laptops.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm going to have to have my mom's friend's husband take a picture of it when he looks inside. Now that I know that's all it is, it'll probably be a hell of a lot cheaper to get him to fix instead. (I'm not going to bother with playing with that when I'm not exactly sure how it connects.)

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just picked it up out of the computer yesterday and I didn't even think about why it wasn't working until I set it down for a day so it could stop frustrating me. Then I sat down it tonight thinking to myself, "Okay, common sense -- if none of them are working, then something's not connected." And that's what I started to look for.

I don't know about the USB ports, though. Not that I really need them to work to use the laptop, but they're on opposite sides of the laptop and I can't figure out why they'd both be fucking up. (Still don't see any spill damage, though. *eye roll*)

[vass]

Yes, they should definitely be plugged in. (My current job involves taking computers apart and putting them back together. I haven't had much to do with laptops beyond the super-easy stuff, i.e. RAM upgrades, but I know enough to know that you're right.)

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Laptop keyboards connect via ribbon cables consisting of usually transparant plastic with conductive lines printed on them, and yes, they plug into the motherboard. The connectors typically have a narrow slot. They also typically have a fragile extra piece of plastic that you need to lift up slightly to insert and rtemove the cable and push down to seat the cable. Basically a plastic wedge. Keyboard is one or two fairly wide cables and the touchpad a very narrow one.

Jesus christ, the repair guys at compaq are incompetent fucks.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

That is, if the cable ends in just a flat piece of plastic (probably slightly thickened and stiffened from the rest of the cable, but still flat plastic), that's the kind of connector they are, sometimes they have more durable plugs with actual plugs on both sides that simply pull out and push in.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Found it! The little plastic wedge for the touchpad connecter looks like it's missing, though. I'll have to talk to the family friend who repairs and builds computers and see if he can fix it for me.

Jesus christ, the repair guys at compaq are incompetent fucks.

Honest to God. I mean, I'm a dumbass but I figured out what they fucked up. Sheesh.