Well, the old Dell X200's keyboard gave up the ghost. Not entirely, but the good old backspace key stopped working, and it's really hard to use a keyboard without a backspace key. Happily, it was easy to fix, as follows: Buy a replacement keyboard (I bought my "like new" replacement keyboard through eBay for about $20) Remove the battery Unscrew the six screws from the bottom of the Dell marked with a (K) Lever out the old keyboard from the bottom left. There is a little latch there. Before fully removing the keyboard, un-snap the ZIF ribbon connector Remove the keyboard completely Slide the new keyboard into place Push the keyboard cable into the ZIF connector; lock the ZIF connector Screw the keyboard back in place with the six screws Reinstall the battery The end result? My 8 year old Dell X200 laptop is still running strong! It'd be awesome to get 3 more years out of it. Its only real shortcoming is its limited RAM.
Useful and Useless Ideas from Lance J.