deskthority

I have a Cherry G80-8113LRAUS. I went to sit down and touched my keyboard and got shocked from static electricity. My keyboard stopped working immediately. I unplugged and replugged and all three indicator lights continually flash, but the keyboard doesn't work.

The trackpad, however, does work. I plug it in using a PS2 -> USB Y adapter.

Any hope for recovering this or is it done?

If the trackpad is working it shouldn't be totally dead since it connects through the controller pcb too. Does it still work over native PS/2? Maybe you only killed the PS/2 to USB adapter.

IvanIvanovich wrote:If the trackpad is working it shouldn't be totally dead since it connects through the controller pcb too. Does it still work over native PS/2? Maybe you only killed the PS/2 to USB adapter.

Im pretty sure they have two seperate controller chips on one shared pcb...one for the keyboard, one for the trackpad.
Gagne, could you please check the PCB and confirm whether there are two controllers?

I guess it depend a lot on the PCB revision. I think ran into this problem with different revision when I tried to help before.

I'll open it up tomorrow, but from what I remember it goes like this:

trackpad -> ribbon to keyboard pcb layer -> controller pcb. There's only one controller pcb, but I didn't pay enough attention to the trackpad to know if it has some of it's own logic on the keyboard pcb layer or if it's just a passthrough.

UPDATE:

I borrowed a multimeter and opened my baby up!

Picture Gallery: http://sdrv.ms/10cWCPf

So far I haven't figured out what's broken.

I measured the connections on the ribbon cables, and tried pressing buttons to see if they change, and they do! Which makes me think the keyboard layer pcb isn't shorted (probably obvious since it's just wiring).

I also double checked my poor resolder jobs (on the grounds) and they seem to have held ok so it's not that.

Here's my multimeter measurements from the ribbon cables:

Ribbon #1 (19-pin)
1-16 = 4.75
17-19 = 5.12 (LEDs)

Ribbon #2 (8 pin)
1 = 5.12
2-6 = 0.37
7 = 0.82
8 = 0.37

What should I check next? Should I give up on this board? Sell it for parts?

All 3 LEDs are perma-lit, no keys register. card swipe doesn't either, but trackpad does (uses a second PS/2 connector, never touches controller PCB).

EDIT: I also tried native PS/2, same result.

If anything is damaged, it is the controller chip in the board. If that is fried, thats it.
I guess you could try to check the solderpoints of the chip, but finding documentation on the wanted values is going to prove very difficult. Perhaps you can find someone here with an identical board that can take measurements for you to compare to.

The fact that the trackpad works and that it has a seperate controller definitely indicate the keyboard controller is toasted.

Your options if this is the case are as follows:
1. use the board for parts
2. make it a modding project: remove the old controller and replace it with a teensy. You could also hack it into a TKL or 60% if you feel like it, since you will be taking it apart anyways
3. check in with cherry if they can provide a controller chip, which you should have a pro install for you (take it to a tv repairman, they can solder tiny stuff really well). Chances are this will lead nowhere, but you could try giving robin from Cherry UK a shout...he did mention they repair stuff for businesses and keep spares on hand.

I've thought about a teensy, but before I go that route, I have another controller board for a similar model, but it's USB. When I tried this before it didn't work, but I'm not sure the ribbon cables connect to the right places.

This one:

Ribbon #1
1-7 = 0
8-11 = 0.01
12-13 = 0
14-15 = 0.01
16 = 0.02
17-18 = 0.17
19 = 0

Ribbon #2
1-8 = 4.96

Ribbon #3 (this has a third set of slots for ribbon, 10x)
0
0.17
0
0.13
5.14
0
0.24
5.15
5.15
0

I posted pics to that skydrive folder above, so if anyone can give me a clue on whether or not that controller can work with this keyboard layer, that would be great.

EDIT: It just struck me that the third ribbon is likely to be for the trackpad, since there is not another connector for trackpad on this controller.

theGagne wrote:I went to sit down and touched my keyboard and got shocked from static electricity.

I posted this the other day on GH when the topic of ground wiring in some Model M space bars came up: years ago I could "reliably" reboot a friend's computer simply by touching his keyboard (don't remember which crappy keyboard he had, but it was crappy) when I was wearing specific shoes. It never damaged neither his MB nor his keyboard but the thing would simply instantly reboot!

Maybe from now on you should first ground the static by touching whatever grounded appliance before touching your keyboard?

(not that it would help fix your currently broken board)

If you do determine that it's the controller, I have a PCB out of a USB G80-8113 that I'm not using. You can have it for $shipping if you like.