Operation onlyfans #3, and more

Yeah, another OnlyFans update.

Again 😛

Not the spicy platform. The spinning 12V PWM-controlled ones.

But this story doesn’t begin with RPM charts and heatpipes. It begins with a completely different hardware component.

The keyboard.

A few weeks ago I noticed that some keys started failing intermittently.

Specifically the numbers 1 through 4. The odd part?

The shifted versions — ! through $ — worked perfectly fine.

My first suspicion was a Linux kernel update I had installed the day before. After restoring a Timeshift backup, the issue disappeared.

Or so I thought.

The problem returned.

And this time it slowly got worse.

Until all four keys stopped working entirely.

Then came the real issue. On a Lenovo Legion the keyboard isn’t a simple replaceable module.

It’s integrated into the entire top chassis.

Replacing it is less “swap a part” and more “open heart surgery”.

Everything has to come out.

The motherboard. The cooling assembly. The battery.

Even the display needs to be detached and mounted onto the new chassis.

Solid design choice, Lenovo!

Nothing says maintainability like disassembling half a laptop to replace a keyboard.

The fans ( and more )

And this is where the fans enter the story.

Even though I’m quite handy, I’m not going to completely disassemble my laptop just to replace the keyboard. I’d rather spend some money and have it done by someone with more experience.

Not only will the job be done faster, there’s also a reasonable chance it will be done better.

And if someone is already opening the patient for surgery, you might as well consider replacing a few other aging organs.

So it wasn’t just the keyboard anymore.

If the laptop was going to be opened up anyway, I decided to replace the entire cooling assembly as well.

Heatpipes.

Fans.

Thermal pads.

The works!

HardwareExperts Lelystad

I brought it to HardwareExperts Lelystad. Yes, that’s actually the name of the store.

I bought the laptop there in the first place, so I asked if they were willing to perform the surgery for me. They quoted a price.

I said yes.

If you’re already paying for major disassembly, incremental parts make sense.

This morning I brought the patient in for surgery, fully expecting the procedure to take all day.

But after only two hours, I got the phone call.

The patient had made it through surgery, was already awake in the recovery room, and ready to be picked up.

Yay!

The verdict

The keyboard works perfectly again.

Finally, keys 1 through 4 behave like actual keys.

The fans spin the way they’re supposed to, and the faint whine from one of them is completely gone.

The system is quiet again.

Completely quiet.

Finally!

The machine is back in action. Ready for code-bashing nights, long Factorio runs, LLM inference sessions, and of course…

YouTube!

Brain out!