vB Easy Archive - Treo 650 keyboard not working

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Treo 650 keyboard not working
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Posted by: nieds

My wife is now on her 4th Treo 650 with Cingular. The 1st three all had the same problem and where replaced. What is happening is the keyboard just stops working and no one at Cingular can figure it out. Has anyone else had this problem? We switched sim cards in and outr with no luck. Also, she has downlaoded various games to the phone, do you think any of these could possibly be affecting it?

Posted by: frank sandbeans

My experience is that a key - in my case the "shift" key on the bottom right side of the keyboard - gets depressed too hard and essentially gets stuck on.

To determine if that is your problem, separately press all of your keys. If this is what happened to you, you will notice that one (or more) of your keys doesn't click back up in the same crisp manner as the other keys.

This has happened to me at least four times. In one case, the keyboard worked again when I pulled the broken key out. In the other cases, I filed an insurance claim and had the phone replaced.

I also believe this happens more often than they want to acknowledge.

Hope this helps.

Posted by: Next Steps

Quote:

Originally Posted by nieds

My wife is now on her 4th Treo 650 with Cingular. The 1st three all had the same problem and where replaced. What is happening is the keyboard just stops working and no one at Cingular can figure it out. Has anyone else had this problem? We switched sim cards in and outr with no luck. Also, she has downlaoded various games to the phone, do you think any of these could possibly be affecting it?

I'm a tech for Sprint and have seen this issue on a lot of Treo 650's. What happens is that the "sponge" thats under the keypad gets dirty and whatnot and the keys just simplly stop responding when pressed. I'm not sure exactly what causes it to fail, but its a simple part that when swapped out fixes the issue easily. I would say its the #1 problem with Treo 650's. It doesn't happen to all of them, but it seems to be a known issue with a lot of them.

Posted by: E92Vancouver

Quote:

Originally Posted by nieds

Dude. It has happened to me 3times. Usually happens about a year after you have had the phone, close to when the warranty is going to run out.

My cel phone carrier sent me 2 replacements, both with the same problem right out of the box. 4th one seems okay.

Get the keypad replaced on warranty or if you are out of warranty, a new keypad membrane costs $65.00 from this place:

http://tinyurl.com/f9hfq

You can also buy the actual keypad:

http://tinyurl.com/g7hhp

The fact that a company can make money selling after market keypads and membranes for the Treo 650 tells me that these units have a pretty common problem.

Later.

Posted by: nieds

Thanks. The shift key on the lower right of her keypad is also depressed. Will open up and see if I can fix.

Posted by: frank sandbeans

Quote:

Originally Posted by nieds

Thanks. The shift key on the lower right of her keypad is also depressed. Will open up and see if I can fix.

It sounds like you have the same problem I keep getting. If it is under warranty, you may or may not want to try to fix it yourself. Particularly if it is not under warranty, you might want to consider the keypad replacement from alanw2009 indicated above.

A couple of points on warranty claims:

1. Read the specific language of your warranty before filing the claim. Otherwise, they will try to use a technicality to avoid paying up. Asurion (Verizon insurance) tried to deny my claim on this issue once because I *didn't* tell them I had dropped the phone. If I understood it correctly, their position was that it was normal wear and tear - rather than damage from a drop that they would have to cover under the terms of the agreement.

2. Since this has happened to you in the past, I take that to mean that you may have filed previous claims over the past year. I have been "fired" by Asurion as a customer in the past (and may be again) for filing claims due to this issue. They don't tolerate more than two claims in a year. This is not necessarily a reason not to file. Just consider that you may be able to effect a repair yourself for $25, avoid the $50 deductible, and possibly even still keep your policy for other problems that may occur (though, as far as I know, the repair itself may also invalidate your warranty).

Rant: As a businessman myself, I can appreciate the position of the insurors and recognize that they are in the business of making/saving money. I just wish they would be a little more scrupulous in serving their end-user customers. Using a technicality in semantics to avoid an (in my opinion) obligation to pay a claim to a constituent (in my case through Verizon) is an example. In my opinion, their focus on short term or quarterly earnings at the expense of long term customer (claimants') satisfaction is shortsighted.

Good luck with it and have a great day!

Posted by: icvfd28

I had a friend that had an old 700 that had a keyboard that worked, but when i put the whole keyboard assembly into my treo, the keyboard still wouldn't work.