ASUS Chromebook - Left Touchpad Jammed

[Guest CityFan 06]

Hi,

 

As of this evening, the left side of the touchpad on my Chromebook has jammed. It will not click, nor will it move much at all. I have tried cleaning the sides out with cocktail sticks, paper and fine sharp equipment. Still no improvement. I've now got a few scratches in the fine sides of the left pad as I was cleaning it out. The only thing (last resort) I'm looking at is a can of air which is apparently useful for cleaning out dust etc underneath... is it worth it?

 

The option looking likely now is taking the pad apart and refitting/cleaning the springs underneath. However, if I went for this option, is it even possible? I also seem to think the spring could be broken, is it feasible/easy to replace?

 

 

If anyone has any experiences of things that have worked, I'd very much appreciate comments. Also feedback on my questions would be a great help. 

 

Thank You all.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

They must use the same parts on other laptops - I've got an Asus T300 Chi (convertible laptop) and after a couple of weeks use, the left button on the touchpad would stick down, never spilt any drink on it or anything and it's kept in a bag so wouldn't have any dust trapped in there. Tried to delicately prise the pad up to see if a spring had shifted but couldn't move it

 

I got so pissed off with it when it stuck down once I forced the underside of the pad up with my thumbs and by god I fixed it! The plastic base of the keyboard is a bit warped as a result but the touchpad key doesn't stick anymore. So that's an option...

[Guest CityFan 06]

Thanks for that @Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo

 

Last night it unjammed itself for a short period of time, but then it jammed again. I think it's happened once before where it's unjammed itself which is why I wanted to avoid taking it apart. 

[red5]

Don't use the compressed air, depends how it works, usually a broken piece of plastic, but it'll need stripping for repair, I can look to see how it works but just back from Denmark so will look when I've woke up.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

3 minutes ago, CityFan 06 said:

Thanks for that @Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo

 

Last night it unjammed itself for a short period of time, but then it jammed again. I think it's happened once before where it's unjammed itself which is why I wanted to avoid taking it apart. 

Haha no problem, although I wouldn't recommend doing what I did as it could have broken the part. Before I resorted to that I tried to just buy a replacement keyboard as it's detachable on my laptop but it seems Asus don't stock them. I couldn't be bothered to send it back for repair either as they wanted the whole thing, not just the keyboard. But it did solve the problem, and it sounds exactly like the problem you have - it would stick, sometimes for a few seconds, then it might be fine if you were very delicate with it then it would stick indefinitely until you tapped it hard a few times. Really annoying design flaw I think

[Guest CityFan 06]

24 minutes ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

Haha no problem, although I wouldn't recommend doing what I did as it could have broken the part. Before I resorted to that I tried to just buy a replacement keyboard as it's detachable on my laptop but it seems Asus don't stock them. I couldn't be bothered to send it back for repair either as they wanted the whole thing, not just the keyboard. But it did solve the problem, and it sounds exactly like the problem you have - it would stick, sometimes for a few seconds, then it might be fine if you were very delicate with it then it would stick indefinitely until you tapped it hard a few times. Really annoying design flaw I think

To be honest I can work around it and doing stuff on the laptop isn't really affected by it which is positive, I can still click etc. It's just one of those things which I wish was ok and unjammed, but perhaps it's wear & tear.