tl;dr: how to turn a librem 13v4 on, without the builtin keyboard connected?
We have a librem13v4 in the office that worked for a couple months then showed a bunch of problems (hinge broke, keyboard had keys that didn’t registers, other registered twice when pressed, etc)
Now i took it out of the closet to build a make shift dashboard using an HDMI tv.
But the thing is, the keyboard issues got worse when stored. The label says that the “-” key didn’t work. and the “g” key would register twice when pressed). But now, besides the things mentioned in the label, the “n” key triggers all the time. Making it completely unusable. Already tried to douse it on +90% isopropyl alcohol. And attempted to remove it to scrape the contacts or something, but the motherboard seems to be glued (or have screws i can’t find. Got 5.)
So my first idea was: abandon all hope of fixing the keys, remove the keyboard connector and use it. But, now i have no idea how to turn it on
So, Question: is there a way to turn it on via a USB keyboard? Is it possible to solder a switch for a makeshift power button? Any other ideas?
Btw, I managed to get the mainboard out. 2 of the 3 screws holding the fan pass trhu and secure the board too… of course i had only removed the one that does not pass trhu to check if needed to remove the fan screws before
But the actual keyboard is a glue sandwich with the chassis don’t think I can try anything to improve the contacts without ruining it entirely. which i might do if there’s no pads on the board i can use.
the inventory sheet has some rants how support didn’t help at all on the last months of warranty and that was why it was shelved so i assumed i would have more luck here. but you raise a good point. that was years ago too. let me ask them too.
Yes in L14 the main power button is together with keyboard too, however there is another power button on mainboard. Recheck ur mainboard to a extra button.
interesting. I couldn’t find on L13, but I didn’t look very well on the back side now that i think about it. Didn’t want to remove the display cable so i just tilted it a little.
When i raised the motherobard I was also distracted because I also found that my L13 might have been a lemon! There was a plastic part, one of those rotating anvil latches that goes on top of the ribbon cable receptacles, smashed between the back of the soft keybard and the motherboard… from the size of it, it is clearly not even from the librem 13! oh well. And it was right near the first key that started to fail.
I ended up ‘fixing it in software’ monday by disabling the input associated with the physical keyboard. So I boot it up, seaBIOS get’s flooded in "n"s, grub get’s all the "n"s it ever wanted. but as soon as the kernel takes over the keyboard is gone.
I was surprised there was coreboot updates from a few months ago for that machine. But also surprised it still lacks basic fetures like password to boot from USB. oh well. At least the flashing was better than anything levono or HP i have to deal with.
If you can get it on just once, fet into the bios, and set the system to power on when AC power is restored… then you can just plug it in to power on after that and just bypass/remove the battery.
Those two pads are the power switch terminals; short them and the system will turn on. Do not be misled by the additional footprint between the silkscreen label and the marked pads; it’s those two larger pads nearest the keyboard connector.
I’m very sorry to hear that…I’m not sure how this would have happened. We might have a few Librem 13 keyboards available but I don’t have the cost offhand, and it may depend on which keyboard layout you had, Support would have this but they are still working through a substantial ticket backlog. (They are making net progress compared to the incoming flow, but it takes a long time to clear as more tickets continue to come in.)
Yep, I test everything back to our oldest devices for each firmware update. PureBoot now has optional USB keyboard support for all laptops as well (though it is off by default for security reasons; if you need to enable this without a working built-in keyboard it is possible to insert the configuration before flashing).
New features are being added to PureBoot, which now has Restricted Boot as well as some authenticated boot features that came from upstream Heads.
don’t think I can try anything to improve the contacts without ruining it entirely. which i might do if there’s no pads on the board i can use.