yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[XPERIA X1 General] poetryrocksalot:
I have finished cleaning the keyboard (internally). Your advices were useful, and now the V key works perfectly.

There were some parts that freaked me out.

Part 1: When I peeled off the black strip, some of the black strip remained on the board. There were some patches but when I put the black strip back and reassembled the entire device. There were no problems with performance or aesthetics.

Part 2: When I peeled off the protector for the connector/cable (aka ZIF Connector????), white patches remained. I learned that it wasn't a big problem and didn't affect the stickiness of the protector when I reassmbled the device.

Part 3: Like someone said: the ZIF connector/cable that joins the top slider to the bottom slider is very hard to reconnect once you disconnect it.

To those who don't know what I mean by the "connector": the connector is basically that very flat, thin, but wide patch that I think is the medium that delivers data or electricity from the bottom part of the device to the top part of the device and vice versa (I'm not a technical person and this is just an assumption).

Here is an example connector:

http://img.directindustry.com/images_di/photo-g/high-speed-connector-267158.jpg

Doing the entire thing took me an Hour and a half at most, but connecting the "ZIF Connector" probably took a quarter of that entire time.

So here are my advices about this part:

1) Get this kind of tweezers: http://jawproducts.com/images/tweezer_longcurvedsolder.jpg

(I suggest using the tweezers as suggested in the picture because the curved shape allows a greater a area of affect to by applied when you try to connect the ZIF Connector/Cable with the female slot). A greater AOE for this means greater accuracy.

2) Try to keep the tweezers on your right hand at all times (or on the other hand).

3) Keep your other hand free of tools

4) Align the ZIF Connector to the female end until you think it is approximately touching

5) Move the ZIF Connector around very sluggishly until you sort of feel that the connector doesn't want to move. This is a sign that the male is ready to penetrate the female.

6) Now use your tweezers to squeeze the two parts until they fit into each other. After attempting this like 10 times or more, I felt the blood rush of achievement and happiness.

Also, thank you very much for OG's tutorial and for the useful responses.

Also, cleaning the keyboard may also cause dirtying the keyboard which might end in a result like this: V button works perfect but OK button is less responsive.
[XPERIA X1 General] Feel:
Verified

Hi everybody,

this worked for me and I would like to thank HKT for this guide, really appreciate it! I had this issue after 6 months of using X1. It started with Spacebar key and then it was the same for V,B,N,M keys. First of all I tried warranty claim. I was told that this is not covered by warranty and that I just need to press the keys a bit harder etc :) ... which was really funny suggestion. They did not understand that it was working fine before. So I decided to do this under warranty. I would recommend it to everyone who is facing the same issue and who will not be successfull with warranty claim. Now it is working without any mistake, exactly as it was before! It's not as difficult as it seems to be, so don't be scared and go ahead. Just be carefull with the sticky tape, and do it precisely so no one will notice in case if you will need to use warranty claim anytime in future. Someone was asking which cleaner or detergent use?

I used St-tissues: http://www.dezenfektan.com.tr/pdfing/sttissuesi.pdf

I am using this for any other cleaning of electronic devices.

Let's just hope that it will not be repetitive issue

Thank you once again HKT for this usefull thread!

Greetings from Czech Republic, Prague.
[XPERIA X1 General] thomasteo:
Hi Everyone,

This process worked for me on my 08W45 device. Keys all working like new again!

Once i disassembled the keyboard, it seemed as though there were contaminants (like small water marks) on the insides of the metal contacts; it makes me wonder how they got there and whether they will return. Perhaps the keyboard is not sufficiently isolated from sweat/breath/water vapour and this collects on the inside of the keys.

The ZIF connector is very difficult to reattach - it took me about 5 minutes to get that in. If you wedge a business card (or other small cardboard) in between the slider you can have it stay open in the middle position where the cable is longest - the video makes it look much easier than it is. I did it without tools as I was worried about puncturing the fragile LCD ribbon with a sharp tweezer leg.

Thanks to those who were brave enough to take it apart! :)
[XPERIA X1 General] randolph2000:
at last this is what im looking for.. :D

thanks :D
[XPERIA X1 General] sanydahne:
Great, it worked

Thanks for the very detailed Description! It works fantastic. The only thing I struggled first was the hexagonal tool. I had a normal hexagonal one first, but the screws were TORX screws size 6. So I needed to get that one and take a second try to open the mobile.

Thanks again,

Daniel.
[XPERIA X1 General] Sichroteph:
Thanks A LOT for this thread.

My xperia felt into my bath water yesterday ...

Starting to make strange things so i decided to disassemble it to make all parts dry for the night.

And .. . while i am here, why not clean the keyboard huh ? ;)

Now it works perfecly ... I used ear swabs with a cleaning glasses spray (i mean glasses for seeing, not the windows ones)

I confirm that reasembling the ZIF conector is difficult, loose 30mn on it.

The best advice is to use a card (like a visa one) to block the mecanism at the half.

Thanks again i have a brand new xperia now, my keyboard sucked so much before that i used the soft one !
[XPERIA X1 General] darkhalf520:
I went all the way through the disassembly......up till the last two screws....the ones holding the keyboard "plate"....those are impossible to get get off....I spent hours on em and nothing....they seem glued.....I even think I forced on em too much....and not the face is no longer a (+) It faded.....

Seems like my Kb will stay shiZZy as it is !
[XPERIA X1 General] darkhalf520:
DID IT....FINALLY I CLEANED MA KEYBOARD AND IT IS LIKE NEW......

srry for shouting but it's out of joy.....thanks JKT .... I really owe you one !!!!
[XPERIA X1 General] vynz:
Worked Great but big fail for X1

Was having the same problems as described. Seems like this is a common problem with the X1?

Well i cleaned the kb as described and lo and behold it works well again! Feels realy stiff now though, then again i seem to remember the keys being really still when I just bought it.

Good as new then.

However its not a simple prodedure by any means and am not looking forward to doing it every 6 months.

This is a big FAIL for the X1 keyoard :-(

EDIT: Used ear-buds and celulose thinner as the solvent.
[XPERIA X1 General] palmwangja:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-awKSHF7oE

Thinking about applying this these days... :(
[XPERIA X1 General] reneimas:
ive just did it on my x1 and i cant believe it worked :O took me about 30min to clean it ;) taking apart was easy bit but putting it together omg ;) thank you sooo much for tutorial :p:)
[XPERIA X1 General] rickysio:
Not including the time used to clean, I spent one hour on the device, and among that time 45minutes (really) was spent trying to get the plastic body on the rear back onto the device, because apparently the 'rubber' around the camera unit was a pain in the ass. Apparently it stuck to the matt plastic shroud and I had no idea I could remove it. >.>

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about...

Tools I used : 3 screwdrivers (2 slotted and 1 philips), 1 guitar pick (Heavy PlanetWaves SurePick. [Link in URL is ripoff, I got 3 for SGD1.20, which is about USD0.90. The link sells 5 for USD4.00...]

I assure you, a tweezer is not necessary, but will make your life hell trying to disassemble the unit without it. A torx (the exagonal[sic] screws threadstarter mentioned.) screwdriver will ensure you won't damage the screw, but not really necessary, either.

A trick to keep it in perfect alignment (more or less) is to peel off three quarters of the white sticker (I left the black with the white, so both came off together), clean, paste back, and peel off from the other end half of the sticker, clean and paste back. Easy alignment. ;D
[XPERIA X1 General] Hannigan174:
Everyone complained about the ZIF connector, but I simply didn't remove it. I detached the main board with the camera assembly still attached. Just gotta be real careful.
[XPERIA X1 General] rickysio:
IT would be even more of a pain in the ass if we did what you did and in a stroke of bad luck, the cable tore.
[XPERIA X1 General] circleofomega:
since morning im looking for a better virtual keyboard..i dont know which one to install. there are reports in some that the physical keyboard malfunctions..now i obviously dont want that..is the fingerkeyboard 2.1 good for X1??

lemme knwo thanx!
[XPERIA X1 General] rickysio:
I'm perfectly happy with the stock WinMo keyboard, but I find HTC's decent, albeit the T9 prediction system is subjective, but the X2 keyboard didn't work for me, so I can't advice you on that particular one.

All in all, try a HTC keyboard.
[XPERIA X1 General] phanquangkhanh:
Thanks so much. I have just opened my black x1. It was harder than I imagined. Now, the keyboard is better than before.
[XPERIA X1 General] njordan:
Will it last (forever)?

hi all,

i also did the cleaning procedure last week, works like a charm, great.

The only thing I'm asking myself is if this fix will at least keep the keyboard working for about 1year or so. what is your experience here.

Does anyone have cleaned the keyboard and after a certain time experience the same issue again??????

Thanks for your feedback, I'm really curious as it now works like never before....I almost wanted to put it away and switch to android, but now its 100% different from what pain it was before....
[XPERIA X1 General] Hannigan174:
Somewhat true, but after fiddling with it for a bit I figured it would be more likely for me to cause serious damage fighting with the ZIF connector.

If you look at it very carefully you'll see that it is completely unnecessary to separate the board from the camera assembly for the purposes of cleaning the keyboard.

I am sure it goes without saying to anyone who is reading anything in this thread that one should always be careful when disassembling and reassembling their device.
[XPERIA X1 General] denk:
Cleaned my keyboard as well without reading any of this material.

Separated all the keyboard layers, gave them a wash in a deep plate with warm water and just a splash of dish washing liquid. Dried it on the sun, put it all back together - works perfectly. But i guess this procedure has to be repeated once every year or so.

Anyway was gonna post photos of my procedure but came across this post. Well done!.

Thanks.
[XPERIA X1 General] pptn:
cleaned out my kb yesterday... worked a treat on most dodgy keys. :)

wrt zif connector, if you don't remove the sticky back plastic holding onto the zif connector ribbon to the board, ie, detatch the connection, but leaving it attached to the board via the sticky, it is much easier to reattach. there is no real reason to remove this, other than to separate the board completely. this is probably the same as what Hannigan174 mentioned... ?

got it first go, in two seconds (holding the screen halfway open to gives loads of ribbon leverage).

good luck...
[XPERIA X1 General] inaw234:
Just finished cleaning my keyboard base on this tutorial. It's true, there is no need to disconnect the ZIF connector, just slide the keyboard half way then you'll have sufficient work space to open the mainboard to reach the keyboard.

Just have to be really careful guys...

Thank you all .... :)
[XPERIA X1 General] Hkt:
Looks like I'll have to modify this tutorial... thanks a lot guys for your research! I'll modify this and publish newest pictures!:D
[XPERIA X1 General] mca1490:
heyyyyyyy :D !!! im very happy!!!, this finally solve my typing problems!!!!

very helpful tutorial!!!!! !!!

thanks man!!!
[XPERIA X1 General] prenpren:
i used pencil eraser to clean the board.

it works properly too :D
[XPERIA X1 General] xdax1:
Another successful X1 owner

Thanks very much for the tutorial. I too had problem "wiith the keybooard", it got worst and worst and I went to Swype. Now a quick clean makes it perfect.

TIPS: The others are right, I managed to keep the Camera cable connect, and so is the keyboard connector to the mainboard (I just use tape to makes the slider to stay in half open position) That actually save a lot of time. Overall, it's not that bad as I first thought.

Thanks again
[XPERIA X1 General] :
hi, after cleaning the keyboard.

I put everything together again. But I don't know what's wrong with the antenna. The signal is very week. Almost time the phone lost signal.

I never see this happens before.

Can anyone give me some advice?
[XPERIA X1 General] Reversedhex:
I used drinkable alcohol but it did not work, probably because my keyboard isnt dirty but broken....

I will try later with my brothers x1

@ vragon

make sure that the module with the speaker and antenna is in place.
[XPERIA X1 General] rotastrain:
i had the same problem..

it got resoved when i open it up again and reassembeled it!!

tighten all the screws
[XPERIA X1 General] 8SE8:
Hey does this cosmetically damage the phone at all if done right? I noticed he breaks off some plastic.. is this all 100% reversible or not?

I can't live with the crap performance of the keyboard, the small screen is not nearly optimized enough for a touch keyboard and I really can't afford buying an upgrade as I'm just a poor student tryna get my edumacation :(
[XPERIA X1 General] virtual_law:
I have similar questions too.

My Xperia has faint cracks exactly as depicted in the Cracks Complain thread. I fear it might just break into two if I try to disassemble.

Should I still go for it?
[XPERIA X1 General] Hkt:
Well... if you dont feel so confident, you can also ask for a phone technician to disassemble it and clean the keyboard. You may need to show him the youtube video and the procedure (maybe he can suggest some other stuff to clean the keyboard) and pay him to do the job, but it will be much cheaper than take it to an official sony ericsson center.
[XPERIA X1 General] virtual_law:
Didn't most of you attempt this on CRACKED xperia shells? Were they further damaged in the disassembly?
[XPERIA X1 General] briian_:
OMG, thank you so much for the guide.

I just finished assembling it and now works so GREAT.

But i do have a tip.

When trying to unplug the cable at the video "3.19" part.

I recommend, rather than taking the yellow tape then the white tape, i recommend you straight away from the end, just take the connector off and let the yellow and white tape, all connected.

I hope that makes sense, but it makes the job hella easier. I couldn't get the yellow tape at first, so then i decided to try the method i mentioned above and worked like a charm :)

Thank you so much for this guide (:
[XPERIA X1 General] pauljorgy:
Works perfectly now, thanks!

Thank you to all who have contributed to this post. You gave me the confidence to give this a try. My keyboard was having the same problems (had to push some buttons hard, others were repeating 2, 3 or 4 times, etc). My phone is 09W28. This tutorial made the whole process seamless! My case had a crack in it, but it did not become worse.

My keyboard is now working perfectly! It brings a smile to my face. This is a brilliant forum, keep up the great work. :)
[XPERIA X1 General] Ekigon:
Works great!!!!! :))))

I can't believe it!!! my hands were shaking while doing it but it all end up perfect!!! Everything works like day one!

Thanks so much for your great post!!! And to all the other brave users who did it and replied!!!

That's awesome!!!!!
[XPERIA X1 General] Philip B:
thanks Hkt, i was wandering if that would work and after seeing that someone had done it i too did it according to your method. Mine works well now. I mistakenly cleaned the glue of all my sticky parts so had to just add some glue too.
[XPERIA X1 General] fhir:
i already try it!!and i would say is-it works!!!..in my opinion, da not responsive key is becoz of da gum or stick agent, melt n covered da metal part or da contect suface, it block it from touched with da silver plate..myb da gum is melt when we charge da phone, n da phone become hot n melted da glue or da gum..
[XPERIA X1 General] allenx1:
how did u guys remove the 6 pointed screw? even the smallest 6 point i have isnt small enough and its REALLY small. its prolly 1 sizes too big. Also I cant get service ever since i took part of my phone apart... Any solutions? I know its that small black box below the battery that gets u service... i think
[XPERIA X1 General] BoyC:
You rule!

This solved my keyboard problem perfectly!

It was one of the scarier things i ever did to any piece of electronics i still intended to use.

The tip about not removing the glue strip from the ZIF connector but instead disconnecting it with the strip still attached will save you a lot of trouble when reconnecting it.

Now all I need is a stable firmware to be happy with my phone again :)
[XPERIA X1 General] :
Is there a place in Canada or the US where I can send my phone to have the keyboard cleaned? My warranty ran out about a month ago and the SE contracted repair center in New Market was useless. They just reflashed my phone twice and sent it back to me. I have never really taken apart electronics. Also, what would the approximate cost be?
[XPERIA X1 General] giack79:
Weel 3 months ago when keyboard was still unusable, I opened it and cleaned.

I can confirm that the use of tape or card to lock the slide in middle position helps a lot to manage the phone (as most of you have wrote, in this case cable is long enough to disassemble the keyboard without removing the ziff connector).

I used pharmaceutical alchool, after the procedure all was working well, i can suggest to align very well the white sticker (with silver plates) on the keyboard, in my case a little error makes one key (colon) harder to press.

Now after this small period i noticed that keyboard is beginnig to miss some key and sometimes to double the letter. This is at beginnig, so it occours rarely but i am sure is a degenerative process (from nowadays the frequency of mistakes will increase as keyboard will be unusable). In my case doesn't start with the same keys (the first time the issue was witn N key, now with O).

Maybe i will change the keyboard with a new one, are available on the bay at 20$ (shipping from Honk Kong).

I hope this will help someone.

Thx for the good guide and help provided.
[XPERIA X1 General] sr2:
One new clean keyboard

I just finished cleaning my keyboard. I didn't even know that my shell was cracking up, but along the way pretty much every reported X1 crackings become reality in my unit aswell. "Thankfully" my phone has already a bit rugged look&feel in it, so not a big deal. ;) Only thing worth feeling sorry for is the left one of those small pads covering the TORX screws that had cracked and got totally messed up.

The process itself was a walkthrough, even the so feared ZIF cable was a piece of cake to reconnect. I did take it completely off while disassembling and afterwards just slid it back with my finger. Im definitely not a professional, but this also weren't the first device I disassembled and got working again. :)

I could just have brought this back to SE for repair, it is (was) still under warranty, but this was just so much more fun than going through the warranty procedure.

So thanks for everyone sharing their experience with this issue (and whole XDA for everything, X1 wouldn't be even nearly the same without you).
[XPERIA X1 General] waxingsatirical:
If anyone is worried about the fiddliness of actually cleaning the old keyboard, you could do what I did and just buy a new keyboard on ebay and install it.

I got one for about £20 + p&p + tools.

Good as new.
[XPERIA X1 General] altae:
I cleaned the keyboard of my phone too and know it works flawlessly again. I encourage everybody who encounters keyboard issues to do it (unless the phone is still within it's warranty time frame). It's by no means as difficult as one might fear when watching the tutorial videos on Youtube. In fact it's easy except reconnecting the flex cable which can be really annoying. And if done carefully there is only a minimal chance to damage the phone since the whole dis- and reassembly process is pretty much self explaining.
[XPERIA X1 General] palmwangja:
I just realized that the whole issue of this phone is not matter of the dirty metal dome or PCB.. It's because the attachment between the sticker holding metal domes and PCB got loose, and they trembles while you type....

I didn't clean this time and only tightened them up and it works like a charm: However, I know it'll get bad sooner or later.

We might need the stroger adhesive that can cement them altogether :(
[XPERIA X1 General] quickm:
i finally cleaned my keyboard, too. it was quite easy and the result is amazing. a thing worth to mention is that my x1 had some visible cracks. i never cared about this before as my phone looks a bit rugged anyway. when i opened the phone it was the first time i really saw how bad the frame is cracked..or better said broken into three pieces. it took me some time and some glue to reassamble the phone as the frame is not one piece but a puzzle of three...

i am not sure if i would open it again as long as i do not have a replacement frame.

somewhere around the camera i missed the original place of two golden metal 'springs'. i reassembled the phone without them. i attached a picture of them...anyone who knows where they have to be placed? i am not too worried about them. everything is working and firm but i felt a bit stupid when they were left over ;)
[XPERIA X1 General] superweijie:
I have to report that this works. Took me about half an hour. (Not the first time I opened, the first was to check out why my screen blacks whenever I open keyboard.)

Opened it up and was really sceptical as both the plate and the contact points were clean cept for some glue marks. Cleaned it nonetheless since I opened it. -.-

I am pleasantly surprised to find that this cleaning actually works and all is smooth with the typing after the clean.

It is ridiculous though why the tolerance is so messed up. -.- Opening up spoilt devices are my kind of thing, so I actually found it fun, can't imagine people having to spend time and effort "repairing" the keyboard of a pristine condition phone though. No phone is deserving of so much maintenance.
[XPERIA X1 General] altae:
They are there to ground the phone at 4 spots (there are 4 of them) through the battery cover. So in fact they balance out static charges that might occur. If I remember correctly one touches the usb port, one the metal plate under the battery, one touches a certain spot on the mainboard and where the fourth makes contact I cannot recall. I don't think it's fatal to loose one or more of those "things" since having lost all of them would be the same as using the phone without a battery cover. But it's certainly not ideal if a possible static charge is never eliminated.
[XPERIA X1 General] christojr1:
One great THANKS from Greece for this guide! Worked like a charm and I am enjoying a like-new keyboard responsiveness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
[XPERIA X1 General] Medulla_Oblongata:
Sweet tutorial. My keyboard isn't what it used to be and now I have my mind set on doing some cleaning of my own. Thanks for the tutorial :)
[XPERIA X1 General] cliffordlee:
Well these belong below the two gaps where the sliver underside fingers of the battery cover inserts into the phone chassis to ground it if that helps. From my experience, they're attached to the back of the plastic frame. Don't have an underside shot of it tho.