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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
 Posted - 12/30/2004 : 12:54:54
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I bought the Japanese model to get the 60M and DVD+RW, and love the machine but hate the keyboard. I keep missing the control and backspace.
I just purchased the US keyboard and keyboard PCB from Panasonic Parts for only $75! It looks much nicer.
However so far I can't get the machine open.
Has anyone figured out how to take the W2 apart, or gotten a hold of service manual?
Thanks in advance.
Jordan |
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duffy
Junior Member
404 Posts |
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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 01/01/2005 : 10:19:48
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Thanks for locating these instructions from Huga!
Still I am frustrated because I think they are for a slightly older model. (If there is an external wireless antenna, it is under a tiny cover by the power supply socket.)
Having removed all said screws except one from step 5, which I think has too much loktite on it, everything is still quite held together, as if there is another framing of screws, perhaps under rubber feet.
Now the middle of the back of the keyboard lifts, but the sides are quite cinched in over the PCMCIA/RJ11/45 on the right, and the power/ant/serial/usb on the left.
So I invested another 45 minutes, and am stuck again...
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1. 1 screw inside the CD/RW unit underneath the cover on left. Do this before you power down the unit. Otherwise you will have to force open the drive from the bottom.
2. 2 nut screws on the VGA connector on the top left side.
3. Take the plastic cover off the Wireless antenna near the Intel logo on the right side of the unit by prying the cover loose. Remove 2 screws at side of antenna.
4. Turn the notebook over.
5. 7 screws at back. Make a note of the screw positions in a piece of paper, since there are 3 long and 4 short screws.
6. 1 screw for the Memory Cover
7. 3 long screws holding the Honeycomb cover, next to the memory slot. These screws hold the keyboard.
8. 1 inside after the Honeycomb cover is removed.
9. Turn the unit over. Open the lid. Push The keyboard up from back under the battery. The top part comes up. Now lift up the keyboard. Pull the ribbon out underneath the TOUGHBOOK Sign. Unclip the ribbon from the unit very carefully.
10. 2 silver screws on inside just above the logo Intel Centrino under the keyboard
11. 6 black screws under the keyboard
12. Now close the lid and turn the unit over.
13. 4 screws holding the LCD Hinges at back (2 Screws each side).
14. Now slowly pull the back cover up.
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duffy
Junior Member
404 Posts |
Posted - 01/01/2005 : 15:26:13
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| Keep trying. The instructions work..I used them a couple of weeks ago to change a hard drive in a new W2. Make sure that you remove all of the screws on the bottome except the 3 at the front. The keyboard is adheared to the base of the unit with double sided tape and heatsink compound (the keyboard is also the CPU heatsink). |
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derekslin
Starting Member
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 01/02/2005 : 18:13:05
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The instruction works. I just replaced my original 40gb hard with a new Seagate 100gb 5400rpm 8mb cache hard drive and so far I have no problem yet (2 days). I haven't test the battery with the new drive yet, but this new drive really speed up things. To change out the hard drive, you basically have to remove all screws (every single one except 3 screws around the screen) to get to the hard drive. Once you pop out the keyboard, it should be very easy for you. Hope this helps.
Derek
W2D |
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tmt
Advanced Member
2680 Posts |
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derekslin
Starting Member
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 14:51:58
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I did modify Seagate 100gb hd by braking off pin 41 and 44 before upgrade the original 40gb hd. I thought it's ok to do that since others had successfully upgrade the hd. The tempture on the bottom of laptop is warm, not too hot. I will check again today on the new battery time.
Derek
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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 18:03:23
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when you say "pop" the keyboard, how much force are we talking about? Maybe I am just too wimpy out of fear of breaking my new laptop!
Also, will double sided tape and heatsink compound be needed to reassemble it with a new keyboard, do you think?
100G wow!
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derekslin
Starting Member
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2005 : 18:38:01
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If you are sure you got all the screws out, then you push the keyboard from the back side of your laptop, there are holes where you can push in on the keyboards once you remove the battery. I only saw one double sided tape behind the keyboard. I am thinking about reapplying more thermal compound again to make sure I don't get overheat from this monster drive.
So far I have no problem with the new hd. I observe around 20 minutes less on total battery time with this hd. If I put my ear next to the right palmrest I can hear some humming sound from it. Performance from this hd is fast. I am still keeping my old drive as a backup for now.
Derek
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calden
Starting Member
Switzerland
3 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 03:58:55
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| Is there a replacement US keyboard for the R3? |
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duffy
Junior Member
404 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2005 : 15:51:48
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quote:
Originally posted by calden
Is there a replacement US keyboard for the R3?
No, Panasonic does not sell the R3 in the US so there isn't a US specific keyboard available. Panasonic sells two keyboards for the R3. One keyboard has Japanese symbols (Kanji I believe) and the other does not. The key layout is the exact same. |
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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2005 : 18:56:32
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>hi. can you please tell me where i can buy the US keyboard
> for the panasonic W2 please? thanks
I went to:
http://www.pasc.panasonic.com/epartr/
and picked a late model W2 sold in the US (40G/cdrw):
CFW2DWAZZKM
Then I bought the keyboard and keyboard pc card, for around $75.
I am now reporting mostly success on my third opening. I cannot type backslash or bar.
Previously I had stripped out one of the 4 center-bottom screws by using a sub-par jewelers screwdriver. I purchased a precision screwdriver and heatsink compound at an electronics store for the third try.
I was still unable to budge this screw and had to drill the head off.
I followed all the steps except for the wireless antenna. The keyboard is held with 3 long screws under the memory card and neighboring cover. Clever plastic shape, as precise as LEGO, seems to hold the keyboard in place.
Popping it up from the middle of the rear requires a little force, as the keyboard comprises two copper heat sinks which are lightly glued down. I purchased a tube of heat-sink compound in advance.
The clip holding the keyboard ribbon cable to a tiny PCB has a kind of wedge in it which needs to be carefully pried to the right. The new keyboard has a ribbon cable which needs to be folded exactly like the one coming out, then inserted in the PCB. The wedge has to be squeezed back into place.
I am reporting mostly success because I was running out of time and didn't try to replace the keyboard encoder chip (the small pcb).
As a result, the prtsc and Pause keys on the top right are coding for INS and DEL, and I don't have a backslash key operational.
The keyboard is much happier than the Japanese one! I hope when I reopen and figure out how to change the encoder board, the backslash/bar problem will be solved...
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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2005 : 19:24:05
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OK. I opened it again, and replaced the keyboard chip.
I only had to remove the memory card cover, and the 3 long screws holding the keyboard, and the central hidden screw.
The keyboard PCB is pressure fit into a little hole with a metal tab holding it in place. Very simple to remove and replace.
However, it didn't solve the placement of Ins/DEL or the missing backslash problem (:
I then went into control panel, and found that the microsoft japanese keyboard was installed.
I replaced it with the default 101 key keyboard, and rebooted. Still nada.
Now I am stuck again!
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tmt
Advanced Member
2680 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2005 : 20:51:33
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Are any other keys mapping incorrectly? Such as backslash, etc.
If so, go to Control Panel->Regional->Languages->Details button, describe what is
highlighted in the resulting "Settings" tab. Is it English/Keyboard/US? If not, try
using the pulldown "Default input languages" to set English - US.
If not (all other keys are working right) then perhaps it's something in the keyboard
hardware itself. On my Japan model Fujitsu, insert and delete have Fn legends below them
for PrtSc and SysRq, which means there is a hardware intercept for them for Fn...
Tom. |
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huqa
New Member
68 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2005 : 12:39:15
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quote:
Originally posted by professorai
The clip holding the keyboard ribbon cable to a tiny PCB has a kind of wedge in it which needs to be carefully pried to the right.
It is possible for you to post a few pictures. |
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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2005 : 14:02:45
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Here is the exchange I've had with Panasonic over changing out the keyboard and finding out how to remap it. I probably won't go with Panasonic in the future.
Dear Sir ,
This is the reply that I got back from our Japan facility .
Dear Toughbook team,
Thank you for your hard support.
First of all, this PC can not be covered by warranty, so the customer have
to pay repair cost and transportation cost.
The reason is
1) Japanese domestic model PC warranty covers only the PC using in Japan.
(It is written on warranty card)
2) Disassembly of PC is not permitted. If a user disassemble PC, the PC will
be out-of-warranty. (It is written on user's manual)
There is only one option to support this customer.
Step1 The customer sends the laptop to his friend or relative in Japan.
Step2 The man/woman requests this repair to Repair center in Japan.
Step3 The laptop is picked up, repaired, and returned by CASH ON DELIVERY.
(Repair center will charge repair cost to the man/woman)
Step4 The man/woman sends it back to him in USA.
This is the only way to proceed.
We are not able to estimate the repair cost without diagnosing.
And the KBD will be charged Japanese KBD after repairing in Japan.
Thank you for your understanding.
Best regards,
To: Toughbook_Help@p2c2.com
cc:
Subject: Re: W2 japanese -> US conversion help
I am following up on the US keyboard/japanese bios issue. ANy word from
your japanese contacts?
I found an application called keyview which shows the up and down codes
for all keys on the keyboard. It is clear that the home/end and \| keys
do not send any codes at all.
Is it possible that the keybaord I got from panasonic parts is just
defective?
Right now I have workarounds for all but the \ key
Jordan
>
>
>
>
>Dear Sir ,
> I have forwarded your request to ourJapan contact .
>
>
>To: toughbook_help@p2c2.com
>cc:
>Subject: W2 japanese -> US conversion help
>
>
>I am a leading edge kind of guy, so i bought a japanese CF-W2 dw7 axp
>
>Then I found the keyboard completely unusable, so I bought a US keyboard
>and encoder from your parts site, and successfully installed them. It is
>much better.
>
>Now the backslash bar key doesnt work, and the DEL and INS are where the
>PrtSc and Pause keys are located.
>
>I updated the microsoft driver from japanese to US101 keyboard.
>
>The Backslash/bar does not seem to emit any down/up codes at all
>according to a diagnostic program I found, neither does the home key or
>the right-alt key.
>
>Therefore, I think the issue might be a japanese BIOS, or some strange
>issue with the hotkey resident.
>
>If you can help at all, I'd really appreciate it!!!!
>
>
> |
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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2005 : 14:08:21
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The status of my keyboard adventure is this:
The home/end and \| keys do not work at all.
The INS and DEL keys on the bottom row are not coded.
However, the Sysreq key works as INS, the Break as DEL, and the function key works
to bring up the pause/break/prtsc/sysrq as well as home/end on the left/right keys.
The only missing keys are \| and after going blind reading how Microsoft has provided for scan key remapping in the registry using sequences of hex codes, I found a freeware called keytweak which let me reassign the DEL key to \|.
http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/
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bji
New Member
USA
78 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2005 : 15:12:10
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quote:
Originally posted by professorai
Here is the exchange I've had with Panasonic over changing out the keyboard and finding out how to remap it. I probably won't go with Panasonic in the future.
Seems like a perfectly reasonable reply on their part to me. You bought an unsupported product, knowing that it was unsupported. My advice would be to only buy U.S. Panasonic models in future.
I can offer no advice on your keyboard problems unfortunately. If I were you I'd probably install Linux on it and see how well that works with the keyboard. I would probably investigate writing low level drivers to print out the actual key sequences being sent (which I could do in Linux but would have no clue how to do in Windows), because I'm not sure I'd trust a freeware program like keyview to be accurate.
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don
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2005 : 23:47:57
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>professorai
It doesn't seem to be a BIOS problem for me.
because exactly same and similar problems have been reported by customers who using English 101 keyboard on japanese version of Windows, then generally those problems are solved by some methods.
You maybe using default japnaese version of Windows XP , right? let me know which language version of windows you using.
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professorai
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2005 : 02:41:38
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> exactly same and similar problems have been reported by customers
> who using English 101 keyboard on japanese version of Windows
Interesting. I was looking for such reports but didn't find any. Please send
any pointers to these reports.
The localization features of windows seem fairly straightforward to switch
to US keyboard, which I tried.
The machine was built for japanese XP, but I bought it running w2k professional SR4.
W2k crashed (no related to keyboard) and I have had to find CFW2D-downgrade-to-W2k
drivers on the global toughbook site.
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don
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2005 : 00:04:45
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Unfortunately the issues I know occure on japanese version of Windows.
Some japanese people including me would prefer to use 101 keyboard instead of 109 keyboard for desktop and notebook computer.And when we swap 101 keyboard,we invariably come across keyboard problems mostly that backslash and underscore keys are void,and some keys are relocated.
Generally this problem solved by some modify it accounted by some japanese websites.
http://www.diatec.co.jp/support/wxp-101ps2setup.html
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;ja;839391
http://yumii.exblog.jp/m2004-08-01/#71774
The solutions maybe only for the case that using 101 keyboard on japanese Windows.
anyway,I'll tell you how we do in such cases.
I'm not translater nor programer,so I cann't endorse those methods, nor can I take responsibility. In attempting those modify you do so at your own risk.
a)
1.Go to the control panel and Pick "keyboard".
2.Pick "hardware"tab,choose (106/109 keyboard)#,and click[properties(R)].
#No matter 101 keyboard is listed,choose 106/109keyboard.
3.Pick "driver" tab,and click[update driver(P)].
4.Starting hardware update wizard.
choose "Install from a list or specific location(advanced) (S)"
then click[next(N)].
5.choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install"
then click[next(N)].
6.remove "Show compatible hardware",
choose(standard keyboard)in Manufacture list,
choose 101/102 keyboard in Model list,
then click[next(N)].
#DO NOT choose below
Microsoft USB Internet Keyboard
Microsoft USB Internet Keyboard Pro
Microsoft USB Natural Keyboard
Microsoft USB Natural Keyboard Pro
if you choose those default installed model and update driver,
PS/2 service become null,then all device connected on PS/2 port will be invalid.
7.Ignore the caution dialog,click[yes(Y)] to begin installation.
8.Beginning the Installation.
9.Complete update wizard,click[finish]
10.Click [yes(Y)] to reboot.
11.After reboot,establishment is cheanged.
b) The bug rarely occur in Japanese Windows with 101 keyboard.try below
1.Go to the control panel and Pick "keyboard".
2.Pick "hardware"tab,click[101 keyboard] HOWEVER IT'S ALREADY CHOSEN.
3.Click [apply(A)] or [OK].
4.Repeat 1.~ 3. three or four times,then reboot.
5.Repeat 1.~ 4. three or four times.
It's a kind of bug.
Supericially 101 keyboard is shown and chosen,
but 109 keyboard is still chosen in reality.
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don
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2005 : 00:11:09
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c) 1. ~ 5. is same as a)
1.Go to the control panel and Pick "keyboard".
2.Pick "hardware"tab,choose (106/109 keyboard)#,and click[properties(R)].
#No matter 101 keyboard is listed,choose 106/109keyboard.
3.Pick "driver" tab,and click[update driver(P)].
4.Starting hardware update wizard.
choose "Install from a list or specific location(advanced) (S)"
then click[next(N)].
5.choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install"
then click[next(N)].
6.remove "Show compatible hardware",
choose(standard keyboard)in Manufacture list,
#choose JAPANESE PS/2 106/109 keyboard in Model list,
then click[next(N)].
7.Ignore the caution dialog,click[yes(Y)] to begin installation.
8.Beginning the Installation.
9.Complete update wizard,click[finish]
10.Click [yes(Y)] to reboot.
11.After reboot, take 1. ~ 5.,
then choose[101/102 keyboard or Microsoft Natural PS/2keyboard]
12.take 7.~10.
13.After reboot,101/102 is chosen.
d)
1. [start] > [cntrol panel] > [Regional and language option]
http://sakots.pekori.jp/cgi/sn/src/up14350.png
2.Pick "language" tab and click [details]
http://sakots.pekori.jp/cgi/sn/src/up14351.png
3.At "setting" tab,choose "English(united states)-us" as default input language
If [JP]input language is listed in installed service, it must be removed.
http://sakots.pekori.jp/cgi/sn/src/up14352.png
http://sakots.pekori.jp/cgi/sn/src/up14353.png
4.Pick "Regional option"tab,choose "English" for standards,
and choose "united states" for Location.
http://sakots.pekori.jp/cgi/sn/src/up14354.png
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don
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2005 : 02:27:36
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e)
"101/102 keyboard or MS natural keyboard driver" might misidentify 101 keyboard as 102 or 109 japanese keyboard.
this misunderstood driver changes 101 keyboard layout into 102 or 106 layout.
However wrong establishment was rectified, the driver misidentify keyboard and "plug and play" service choose wrong establishment automaticaly every reboot.
to fix this issue,
1.stop"plug and play"service .
2.update driver >remove "Show compatible hardware",then choose
[PC/AT 101 Enhanced keyboard].
this driver has only 101 keyboard layout thus it cannot be changed into another layout.
that is all solutions I know.
As I said those methods maybe only for Japanese Windows,
I may it'll be helpful. |
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yakk0
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2005 : 20:25:46
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Hi all
Professorai: I was wondering if you ever got your english keyboard working?
I just got myself a W2 with a japanese keyboard. It works fine, but there are a couple buttons that don't do anything (eg the one next to the right shift and backspace and those flanking the space) and I was wondering if there was a way to map those to keys. Otherwise I might consider swapping out my keyboard too. |
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