This guide explains how to fix a broken keyboard connector on a laptop motherboard. I do not claim that my instructions will work for any connector type in any laptop brand, but if I can help a few people, I can call my mission accomplished.
Let’s say the keyboard in your laptop stopped working properly and you decided to install a new keyboard yourself. You disassembled the laptop, removed the keyboard, tried to unlock the keyboard connector and… OHH! MAN!… a piece of the locking clip on the connector got broken!
What can you do? Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of options. The keyboard connector is permanently soldered to the motherboard and cannot be replaced at home. If the connector was damaged, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard, use the laptop with an external USB keyboard, or…. try the following trick. Hopefully it works or you.
The keyboard cable is locked inside the connector on the motherboard. In order to remove the keyboard, you have to unlock the connector and release the cable.
On the picture below you see one of the most common connectors. It has the base (white in my case) and locking clip (brown in my case). The keyboard cable is jammed between the locking clip and base.
To unlock the connector, you have to move the locking clip about 2 millimeters in the direction shown by two yellow arrows.
IMPORTANT! The locking clip must stay attached to the connector base.
After that you can pull the keyboard cable (green arrow) and remove the keyboard.
If you are not careful enough, you can move the locking clip too much and break it.
On the picture below you can see the locking clip is missing the left hook.
On the next picture both sides of the clip are broken.
IMPORTANT! Do not though away the broken clip even though it looks completely useless.
If you insert the cable into the connector and will not lock it with a clip, the cable will not make good contact with pins inside the connector and the keyboard will not work.
Here’s how to install the broken clip back in place and make it work.
Position the broken clip the way it was before. In my case both sides of the connector are broken. What could have been worse?
Carefully insert the keyboard cable into the connector. Note, in this type of connector, the cable goes above the locking clip.
Carefully push the broken clip back in place. You can use a small screwdriver to push on the clip behind the cable.
The clip fits tightly when there is a cable inside the connector.
Secure the connection with sticky tape and you should be good to go. The keyboard should work just fine.
The keyboard connector shown on the following picture is very similar to the previous one. The only difference – the keyboard cable is routed under the locking clip. Fix it the same way as the previous connector.
On the next picture you see another type of keyboard connector. The cable is inserted vertically.
In order to unlock the connector, you’ll have to move the locking clip (brown piece) about 2 millimeters up in the direction shown by two yellow arrows. After that you can pull the keyboard cable (green arrow) and remove the keyboard.
If you move the locking clip too far, you can break it.
In my example the right side of the clip is broken. But you still can use it!
Insert the keyboard cable into the connector, position the broken locking clip correctly (behind the cable in my case) and carefully push it in.
Even with a broken clip the cable will make good connection with the base and the keyboard should work.
Here’s the same connector shown from the opposite side. You cannot even tell if the locking clip is broken.
If this trick worked for you, it means I just saved you a few hundred bucks on the motherboard replacement. 
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
March 10th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
I just want to say THANK YOU for the directions on repairing the keyboard connector. I was ready to give up trying to fix it. This did the trick. THANKS!!!
Deb
March 9th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Thank you, Best info I’ve found for re moving keyboard.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:10 am
I have keyboard issues with My Dell Inspiron 1545 beginning two months after I purchase it. I kept contacting Dell and they would send me a new keyboard. In the beginning the probelem was tht the keys on the keyboard were popping off because they were sending me “cheap” keyboards. After the fifth replace of the keyboard, during the repair and replacement of the last keyboard they sent, a couple of prongs became broken because, like I said this is the 5th time I had to replace the keyboard because the keys kept popping off. Finally Dell agreed to ship me a box to send in my laptop for repair. A couple of days later, they contacted me telling me that they cold not repair it unless I paid them $358 to replace the Motherboard. My point is, “The motherboard would have never been broken, if they had shipped me a quality keyboard to begin with. I can expect that the Keyboard connection on the Motherboard would be broken after, 5 attempts of installing a new keyboard. What pisses me off the most is that this laptop is only 7 or 8 months old, and they don’t want to fix it. So now they are shipping it back to me “unrepaired”. Also in the process, the battery clip became broken, because the battery had to be removed so many times to install the new keyboard. Just wondering if you have any suggestions on repairing the keyboard connection on the motherboard without having to replace the motherboard. Because at this point, I feel like I would be better off to purchase a New Laptop, instead of investing nearly $400 for a repair that I feel is in now way my fault. Through the past few months, I have learned that the customer service at Dell is awful. If they would have requested that I send in the laptop for repair, during the first time I had an issue with the keyboard, then this problem would be their’s, but since I did the install, 5 times because of Cheap keyboards, my motherboard is broken and I am without a laptop.
March 6th, 2010 at 1:42 am
Well, I unscrewed the cover plate and successfully removed the keyboard connector. Hopefully the usb keyboard will suffice for now.
thank you for the excellent directions.