hey
so, when a key goes bad on your alienware aw768 , dell thinks you should just BUY A NEW one ..
link to their advise : https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/Alienware-Tactx-Keyboard-manual-teardown/td-p/5625889
They were unwilling to release a doc on how to replace parts on this . so fuck it , ill try .
there is another dude with a youtube video .. i found it once .. unable to again on demand.
to take it apart, - -
remove the alienware label, and all of the grommets .
there will be 2 little grommets under the lifts at the upper corners [small ones] under that, remove the screws . there will be another 2 under the label, in the upper middle .. remove that, and unscrew them as well .
on the lower bottom, remove all of the screws.
to seperate the case from the actual keyboard, use something like a putty knife, and wedge it in between the body , working slowly .. and riding the full line around the keyboard . it will snap apart .. almost all of the way .
EXCEPTION : once you get to the stage where it almost apart, grab a flat head . remove the left and right arrow key caps . [with a screw driver, gently] gently push on the left for the left side [curved forcepts is what i used here .. ] and right on the right . there is a u shaped snap together part of the case you are trying to unsnap here .
go slow here . . on this and dont get fustrated . large and skinny screwdriver will work .. or a tire screwdriver .. or a tire hook .. with a right angle will work nicely . ]
regardless , once you get the case seperated, if will come off leaving you with the actual board in the plastic black housing . there will be screws on the outer bands holding it together .. all around the keyboard itself . remove them . [leave the usb ones, in the upper middle . ] one you have the keyboard actually removed flip it over, and gently unhook the usb wire, and remove the screw holding the grounding clip . it will look like the below ==
the black tape .. is where the usb lead is, the screw adjacent on the upper angled left is the ground .
order a few [or a bunch!] of brown kailh switches from here --
https://novelkeys.xyz/collections/switches/products/kailh-switches
I got 30 pack of browns , plus a set of 10 reds . [for the gaming keys -- WASD arrows]
on the back of the keyboard are the keys , named , which is nice .
i marked mine with black marker .. for easy viewing while doing this .
unsolder the two lower bigger solder points , and then, the upper 4 , which are much smaller and harder .the upper 4 is the RGB, so take care on this .. also .
make sure you suck up all of the solder on all of the points . this will take time . i used rosin, and a desoldering iron to do this ..
Here, all of the points with holes with no white filer are removed . i removed and replaced quite a few this time . . i dont want a new keyboard, i really like this one . . and covid has made things impossible to buy like previously .
more --
once you actually have the key you want desoldered remove all of the keycaps around it . get a screw driver, and a pair of plyers . you are going to extract it like a tooth . start from the non led side first on the keyboard side, pry it up towards the top of the keyboard, from the bottom . once it pops off the board slowly rolling it . if you need to , hit the bottom with a solder gun [hot] while slowly removing each point . just go slow . once you have it totally removed, make sure your points are clean, and ready for the new key . put the RGB thru the upper part of the key and then attempt to gently seat the key on to the board . it should snap it . once you are lined up, and snapped it, solder it it .. and put the usb and ground back on it .. and plug into a pc . . test it . .. if it works, and lights up , like prevously , you are good ! i think there may be replacement RGB leds, but i didnt find the exact ones used, if would have been easier to just cut them out, than reuse or attempt to save them . if you do fuk it up, and render an RGB bad, there are 2 or more on the board to steal .. the alien head itself, in the upper corner, .. or all of the macro keys .. if you are able to salvage them .
if some of you want a video , or more detailed desc. lmk . im sure ill end up taking it apart again .. so i may update this, if requested .
hope this helps someone else .. as i found very little online as to how to remove, or service this mechanical keyboard at all !
thanks
-Brian
