Thursday, September 27, 2007

HP TC1100 pen fix

Image taken from www.tc-one-thousand.com
I love HP's TC1x00 design and mobility so I decided to upgrade from an old Compaq TC1000 to an (not as old) HP TC1100.
Found it, and it was complete with 2 battery-less pens:
The Tablet PC pen with Tether (DG937A) and the Tablet PC pen with Eraser (DM685A)
I prefer to have the one with tether not to lose it so I tested it; as you can imagine it wasn't working.
The pointer moved but the left click was always pressed, tried changing the tips but no luck, even without tip, it was still pressed!!! so what to do? Fix it!

Checked google but no luck, so let the challenge begin:

First remove the rubber protector, it wasn't difficult, just slide it towards the tip.
Now I tried to unglue the bottom half but it was impossible, so let's cut it.
I chose to cut half the way so I could glue it again easily.
You have to remove the right click button plastic piece.
Whatch out!! there is a pair of thin wires going up, so don't cut too much.
I see the coil with the ferrite bead, now carefully remove it, so the plastic support is free.
Remove the plastic support, it has a small "button" inside, which is pressed by the tip.
Then we find the actual left click switch, it's a conductive rubber pad with a metal+plastic contact and a plastic ring.
The problem is that the rubber pad is curved down so the switch is always on.
Remove the 3 parts, turn upside down the rubber pad, reassemble and there we have it.


Now put the plastic support on, don't forget the little button.
Move back the coil and ferrite bead.
Insert the cover, and put the tip back.
FIXED IT! It works like a charm!!
You just need to glue the parts back, and slide the rubber protector.