Replacing mouse button on an EeePC
A couple of weeks ago the left button on the touch pad of my EeePC 901 stopped working. At first it only skipped a click now and then, but it soon became completely unusable. It appears that I'm not alone with this problem.
I took the laptop apart and it was immediately obvious that the SMD tactile switch wasn't making a contact when it should be.
The switch itself is pretty special, so it wasn't easy to find a replacement. It has a standard 6x6 mm footprint with gull-wing SMD connections, but a very low profile (the top of the button is only 3.1 mm above the circuit board). Plus, it has a fifth connection for grounding its metal case.
After some time consuming searching (where's that semantic web when you need one?), I found a perfect match: APEM DTSGZM-62N. However, it turned out to be impossible for me to get it in any reasonably low quantity.
The Diptronics DTSMW-66N, as pointed out by Carl on his blog, proved to be a satisfactory replacement and was available from the local electronics shop. This switch has the same outside dimensions as the original, except the button is concealed inside a raised edge. The 901 has an extra millimeter of space under the touch pad (unlike 701) and the button is pressed by a needle that fits inside the circumference, so the raised edge isn't a problem and no other modifications were necessary. This Diptronics switch doesn't have a grounding connection, but as far as I can see, this doesn't affect its operation or the operation of the capacitive touch pad above it.
When I replaced the switch, the left click still wasn't working. After some more extensive searching for further faults I found that I must have had accidentally broken a minute PCB trace running from the button's contact to a tiny SMD capacitor nearby. I did a quick fix by bridging the gap with a blob of solder (you can see it at the button's top right pad on the photo above).
Now the left click is finally working again. Although the replacement switch has the same rated operation force (1.6 N) as the original, the button now feels slightly softer.
I must say that by now I'm severely disappointed with the quality of buttons and switches I'm seeing lately. I had to fix 901's hot keys when the computer was brand new and I'll only mention my terrible experience with the Happy Hacking Keyboard.
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