laptop power button, no terminals

McGinty · 11-26-2006, 01:11 AM

hey guys,

i was using a docking station but its performance re: automating VGA out was inconsistent and annoying, so i want to use JUST the laptop to simplify things.

The dock was used for external power button, but now i need to solder to the laptop one. Prob is its a Thinkpad R30, and the power button is part of the keyboard, which doesnt actually have terminals, but presses two of those plastic films together with circuits on them.

Any way to deal with these? Attach one wire to each "blob" and short them?

Chewers

2k1Toaster · 11-26-2006, 01:18 AM

You can press down the power button and see what the voltage is at the controller where the "blobs" turn into solderable wires. Then just cross those 2 paths.

The encoding should be done at the controller chip, so it should be a raw 2 conductors with voltage out of the like 16 by 10 grid of wires, or it could use varying resistance, in which case I would forget that route. Go with wake on lan, or in the bios choose power options boot after power failure, and then you can rig the laptop PSU to cut power abruptly, and next time it gets power on it will go, no button.

McGinty · 11-26-2006, 11:10 PM

i checked out the paths from the button and can probably follow them into the ribbon connector if i remove a few keys, but then the ribbon connector gets all jumbled and confusing

then where the connector hits the board has these incredibly tiny pins, not a very easy solder job at all, even if i knew which ones, at proabably quite likely to **** it up.

i tried again to get the laptop going with the dock, but yeah its doesnt work

So now im faced with the issue of how to externally power on WITHOUT a dock and WITHOUT solderable power button terminals

Is i tpossible for the docking station pinout to show which pins of the dock turn it on?

**** why i am graced with this laptop, im ready to shoot myself