Manually repairing Playbook buttons

Hello everyone, I am here today because of a common problem, that seems to be getting worse as time goes on; depressed buttons. Not everyone has the option of simply sending it back for repairs or buying another one. I want to solve this once and for all, and maybe help some other frustrated users out in the process.

The same button problem has also affected some iPod shuffle owners; the few buttons they have to operate the device have stopped responding, or become hard to use. Super annoying!:mad:

My question is, is there anyone here that has opened their Playbook before? I have watched a few teardown videos online, and it seems the problem can be solved with a few small shims. I never get to see a good image of the top, because the repair videos only focus on the motherboard and batteries.

What I need is a few photos, maybe even a video of the top of an open Playbook, so I can see the contacts before I take the plunge and attempt to find a fix.

Can anyone help me?:o

well i most certainly can give you directions on how to break it beyond repair but serious i will stay clear of opening the pb, i hardly use the buttons anyway.:rolleyes:

I do occasionally use the power button for those times when my Playbook has died, and it is annoying. As I said before the problem is getting worse for me, and some other owners.

The external buttons are supposed to be attached to the back panel while the rest of the components are stuck together on the front. This means I shouldn't cause much damage if any at all when adding the shims. I just want to see how much space there is to work with under the buttons.

If I'm successful, a guide could be produced to help other users safely adjust their button height to be like the new models.

There is a membrane between the contacts and the buttons. I'm not going to take off my back again for pictures but I took a couple screen shots from the teardown video.

It's sort of hard to make out fine details from the images, but your help is appreciated. You have taken off your back, so could you tell me; is there much space to put anything under the button? Does the membrane make it harder to insert things for a raised button?

Great idea here. Looking forward to seeing what can be done!

I realize this is an old post but in case you haven't found a solution you could put very small shims under the buttons but first I'd look and see if the membrane is stretched. I've found that the material used is rugged but also has an elasticity to it and all elastic materials will degrade over time. If it is stretched you could try pressing the buttons up from underneath and place a drop (or less) of glue on each end and hold until it's solid. The button contacts without the membrane are very difficult to push so you will want to use something very small that just covers the contact for a shim and you will have to try and fix them in place or they will fall out and then who knows what havoc they will cause. Just my 2 cents, hopefully you've already found a resolution.