Slashdot Mirror
Widespread Keyboard Failures on OLPC's XO-1
otakuj462 writes "Many participants in OLPC's 'Give 1 Get 1' program of last November are now encountering what has come to be known as the 'stuck key' problem, in which one or more of the keys on their XO-1 laptop's built-in keyboard become stuck in an activated position, or are activated when adjacent keys are pressed. As of January 30th, the official word from OLPC is that the root cause of this problem is unknown because '[t]here are several manufacturers of the keyboards.' ('So far we don't know of any _reliable_ method of fixing the keyboard or the exact root cause.') It is unknown just how widespread this problem currently is, as the 30-day manufacturer's warranty has already expired for most G1G1 participants. However, the OLPC forums are full of reports. OLPC is currently deploying the XO-1 to children in Mongolia and Peru, as well as other developing nations. If OLPC is actively deploying units with known, critical hardware bugs, without a dedicated support infrastructure in place, to children who have never seen a computer before, should they still be considered to be a responsible organization? Did OLPC deploy their hardware too soon?"
(Replying to my own posting ...)
Actually in Europe consumer goods are required to last for a reasonable length of time. Two years is the minimum period mentioned in the consumer sales directive but member states are free to institute their own (longer) periods and higher consumer standards.
In the UK, the period is six years, under the Sale of Goods Act 1979
Rich.
libguestfs - tools for accessing and modifying virtual machine disk images
Better text resolution, if you need to use it to read actual books.
Better battery life (3x) to read books.
Networking capabilities that the EEE doesn't have.
Preinstalled software suitable for learning, teaching and collaborating.
Available quality support in your country.
Aside from that, EEE would not even exist without the OLPC project. Laptops exist since the eighties.
The OLPC was needed for this kind of machine to even exist. Even if their machine wasn't the best, their objective would be accomplished.
The summary does read like something out of a consumerist society -- "Product break, what we do now?" Well, you fix it.
I wonder if OLPC is regretting G1G1 at all, putting thousands of XO's into the hands of people for whom it was never intended. The XO is for children and geeks, and if they ever plan to release one to the general North American consumer public, yes, they've got a lot of work to do. In fact, I'm not even sure it would be possible in the near future at the price point they're aiming at.
Loose lips lose spit.
In Uruguay, the first country where they are deploying, there are electronic stores as close to home as in any US town. I don't know about Europe.
Electronic technicians are very easy to find there.
Anyhow, I don't think they could be of much help.
The computers come with a very reasonable support contract with Brightstar, and they should be taking care of the repairs.
If you received an email confirming your order, and you have not received a Fedex Tracking Number, we recommend:
1) Try the Order Tracker at http://laptopgiving.org/ using your original email address, OR your 10-digit reference number.
2) If that fails to clarify, please send:
* Your 10-digit Reference / Order Number
(or PayPal confirmation number if you have no such records)
* Order Date
* Order Method (PayPal/Phone)
* Shipping Address
* Day and Evening Phone numbers
to Help [at] laptop [dot] org with SHIPPING and your Reference/Confirmation Number in the subject line of your email
REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
For what it's worth, there's nothing under the XO's keyboard that gets hot. The motherboard is behind the screen, the keyboard piece is just the keyboard and touchpad.
I was the first one to report the bug here:
http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/5658
Although the cause is still unknown, I do believe that the way I was holding mine could have accelerated the issue in my case:
I held it in my left hand with the lower left corner of the base in my palm - My fingers being under the base and my thumb being over the base in the left corner. I would then type and scroll with my right hand, so the entire weight of the laptop was being held at the point where my thumb was pressing on the lower corner - The laptop would essentially flex down and to the right.
The problem presented within 4 days of receiving the laptop.
Since I have received my replacement, I have not held the laptop in same fashion - not even once - and will not.
And luckily, so far so good - I've not experienced any problems with it.
-- start rant ---
I was also the first person to send mine back based on the bug, *BUT* I wasn't the first to be mailed a replacement.
If you read the threads on the bug you'll one of the tech guys next-day-aired some other dude a laptop after his was returned for testing - I was a little bummed!
All of the official messaging from OLPC says that a replacement cant take as long as 30 days. I waited for 30 days and then called support.
They informed me that it would be several more weeks before they shipped my replacement.
Actually, I received it less than 48 hours after getting off the phone with them.
By the way, the support staff are incredibly nice!
-- end rant --
Cube On! (http://stores.ebay.com/PuzzleProz)
This is not a charity.
Uruguayan kids have their laptops without _any_ help from the G1G1 program. We have the money to buy them, and to pay for support. We just don't have the infrastructure or influence to build them that cheap, or to even embark on our own on a project like this. That is the help we needed, and it's appreciated.
The G1G1 program is nice, esp. for testing. But it's just another part, even if you yell that it's a CRITICAL part. Real kids have tested them in proyecto CEIBAL, in Cardal, Uruguay. We can live without the G1G1 program, don't worry.
In places where they are being deployed, a localized keyboard layout is developed and provided. Go read wiki.laptop.org for more information.
The XO uses a gel-type keyboard. Individual keycaps are not replaceable. The entire keyboard, however, is easily replaceable.
That being said, I purchased two XO machines (and several more as gifts) and only one machine has developed the stuck-key problem. Of course, I don't use them intensively (or at least I stopped once the keyboard started sticking).
This keyboard problem, unfortunately, is quite serious, in that it's cause has not been isolated, and the degree to which it is widespread is not known. I will say, however, that this is *old* news. The majority of what's in the Wiki was created in January. The problem was first reported to OLPC's trac system in December. I do wish that OLPC would publish the conclusions of their investigation of this, though. I talked to an OLPC operator two months ago and she said that she stopped getting complaints/RMA requests in early January. From reading some of the postings, it seems that this is a more persistent problem.
Since I have basic shop skills and know how to solder I did just that, spending about $35 for the keyboard and about 4 hours making the modifications. I couldn't be happier with this modification. The action of real keys doubles the usability of the XO, especially for people like me who have big, clumsy hands. I used to dread having to enter enter text on the old keyboard. The new mini keyboard is a joy to use and I can type in my normal style and rate. Highly recommended if you are up to the task.
I'm personally quite disappointed in both the OLPC manufacturers as well as the response by some of the G1G1 donors. The faulty XO-1 keyboard may be the downfall of the whole project and all we in the US can do is whine, and hope a factory in China can fix the problem.
I fully disassembled my original XO keyboard and found the sticky key problem is clearly a design flaw in the way the two membranes are held apart. The bottom membrane has a serpentine array of traces which are exposed to contacts attached to the upper membrane and are arranged in small groups under each key. The top membrane has small circular contacts, with clusters of 2 -17 contacts under each key Separating the membranes, and holding the contacts apart from the traces below, is a pattern of rubbery glue, printed into linear traces between key rows and small diamond shaped dots internal to the rectangular groupings of contacts above. Most keys have an array of 4 contact dots with a 2mm, diamond shaped spot of glue directly between all 4 contacts. However the Ctrl, both Hand and Alt keys as well as the ] key have 6 contact dots with only 2 super tiny dots of glue to hold the membranes apart. Apparently these keys are the ones which stick the most often. For these keys, the designer placed the center pair of contacts in the group of 6, directly over a trace below with little separating glue. The only possible repair would be to separate the membranes and place additional dots of glue over the traces on the sticky keys. OLPC need to come clean about this mistake and build a better, more robust keyboard and make them available to all XO-1 owners.
(PS. This message was entered on my hacked XO, under Opera)
The keyboard is designed to be replaceable at home (as is the touchpad, the LCD, just the LCD lightbar, and even the bumpers...). Sophie & Philip demonstrate separating the display an motherboard (similar disassembly of the bottom half allows for replacing the keyboard and touchpad).
At the moment, the bottleneck for people in the US is getting replacement parts -- in the meantime, you can install an ASK-3100 keyboard instead (for +clickiness and -waterproofing).
SJ on en: