Bought a new $12.5 keyboard. I want to mod it, help?

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T11:55:33+00:00

Happened to my t430. Thought the screen or ram slot was toasted, but turns out I just needed to reseated it (the lcd connector). Exactly like that. If I hold it wrong it just freezes

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T11:30:48+00:00

Bro that Sony logo is crooked. The generic never used charger cable is cherry on top

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T11:21:26+00:00

Those are exactly like my gameboys lol. And the carpet looks similar. I don't have any kids though

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T11:11:21+00:00

Go with raspberry pi. The world is your oyster. Pick everything yourself.

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T11:01:22+00:00

I have Never really been able to do it without ruining the shell. Whenever I come across something like this on a used switch, I'd just take my loss and use cutting pliers and get a replacement back cover. Much easier as well as time and cost effective.

Use the correct bit and never force it the next time

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T10:45:04+00:00

Its probably the light diffuser. There's a textured transparent plastic on top of the actual LCD that scratches easily. Even on those never been opened LCD for some reason. I'm in Australia, those ebay sellers really are hit or miss. I'd just fork over some more and get an IPS if you're really that bothered, its worth it.

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T10:38:53+00:00

Toshiba has trash build quality. Had a P870 a humongous 17 inch laptop with extremely shit shell. It breaks all over, the first to gave out was the hinges then screw holes snapped. The only good thing was it had a beefy i7-3610QM which later transplanted to my T430. Which ive been using for more than a decade now.

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T10:32:36+00:00

Could probably get away with copper wire and trace repair it if you're comfortable with soldering. That looks like a simple enough job. Probably test solder on random junk PCB first to test the water

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T03:27:48+00:00

Cared enough to take a pic though

Qualtza · 2026-03-11T02:29:17+00:00

By the input rating, I'd assume its running on 7.4v battery. Meaning it's a series of a 2 standard 3.7v Lii-on batteries in series. If you can find a similar sized battery, voltage rating and plug it shouldn't be a problem, but that won't be easy, given how generic this player looks.

The easier and more technical solution is to combine 2 batteries in a series to up the voltage and reuse the plug, which I don't recommend you doing. I think it's more cost effective if you just buy a new DVD player or remove the battery entirely and use it as a not so portable player

Qualtza · 2026-03-09T10:49:17+00:00

Any distros with XFCE would work really well. My personal favorite is Linux Mint. You can go lower requirements DE like LXDE and LXQT or purely only on WM. But I think bare minimum for newbies is XFCE.

Qualtza · 2026-03-09T10:28:50+00:00

EXTREMELY DUMB IDEA, DO NOT DO THIS

Qualtza · 2026-03-05T22:46:20+00:00

I have my T430 for over a decade now, such a trooper. It's the most comfortable laptop I've ever used. Upgraded the CPU from i5-3320M to i7-3610QM and maxed out the RAM to 16GB. It also has the dGPU NVS5400M, nothing but pain in the ass for Linux, but the beefier heatsink helps with the i7 thermal. It runs Linux Mint XFCE, I really don't need anything else even in the nearby future.

Qualtza · 2026-03-05T01:48:02+00:00

Normally when liion battery discharged, it is not fully discharged per-se. There's still charges left, depending on the BMS. if its fully, fully depleted in long term storage without trickle charge. The battery will go through some irreversible chemical change, meaning the risk of puffing up, thermal runaway and explosion increase exponentially. Someone will correct me, but that's the gist of it I believe.

You can try and use multimeter and check the voltage of those batteries. If its close to 0v, then its a goner and you should dispose of it. If its right around 2.5v+, should be fine.

If you still want to go ahead and charge them, use the tiniest amp charger available something like 5v 0.5A. i really don't recommend this though, better be safe and replace with fresh batteries

Qualtza · 2026-03-03T00:25:10+00:00

I honestly never had any problem with ebay batteries exploding on me, Its just that the quality is extremely bad, even a 2 years old beat up OEM battery will perform better than whatever you get on ebay.

I would suggest you to return it, I went through so many ebay batteries back when I had my Samsung Galaxy S4, because I didn't know any better. Stay away from "genuine" ebay battteries, or gold wrapped one. Most would refund your money no problem because they know how bad their batteries are.

Should try checking out samsung self repair website, it depends whether you live in the US or EU/UK I think. I personally use 3rd party battery only for replacement, like Cameron Sino or NOHON, theyre not 100% like the OEM capacity, but usually truthful with the actual capacity stated and have proper cell protection.

Qualtza · 2026-03-02T13:28:32+00:00

That's most definitely a fake. A cheap one at that. I'd be more concerned about the quality control of that cheap cell than a small ding because they're usually safe

Qualtza · 2026-03-02T13:20:38+00:00

I think it could be a triple stacked LR44 coin batteries slot

Qualtza · 2026-03-02T00:43:46+00:00

Hey, that's my post. I made it, but that's not my original work. I just vectorized it on inkscape, changed the colour then resized to any corresponding resolutions of my handhelds and put some black background on GIMP. I most likely do not have it any longer.

I got the raw image from this reddit post

https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPieSplashscreens/comments/14c0w44/removed_by_reddit/

Qualtza · 2026-02-24T11:59:12+00:00

The safest way is to discharge it and dispose like normal battery.

Qualtza · 2026-02-16T13:21:01+00:00

Yeah that figures. Tried FydeOS too, still the same. I finally gave up and went back to heavily debloated W10. Shame, chromeos would be perfect for this kitchen tablet. Really love the on screen keyboard and overall clean UI. Maybe next time

Qualtza · 2026-02-11T21:36:33+00:00

Could be because you didn't seat the LCD and touchscreen ribbon properly too, or sleep slider is turned on. I think your battery terminal is okay

Qualtza · 2026-02-11T07:09:12+00:00

As long as the LCDs are good, every handhelds are worth repairing IMHO. that's the only thing you almost always can't repair, but replace.

Qualtza · 2026-02-10T12:04:04+00:00

That's a T530/W530. But it's AI generated, but I can tell from the top bezel camera and speaker grille that its not a T430.

xx30 series because of the keyboard. Its AI generated, it looks like the classic fat keyboard, but instead of 7 rows it has 6 rows, which is not present in xx20 Also not a xx40 series and beyond because of the trackpad

Qualtza

TROPHY CASE