What is this piece and where can I get it

[audi911]

Hello guys I have a Toshiba Satellite A660-0V3 laptop. The laptop works perfectly fine but someone tried to change the keyboard on the laptop and broke the little plastic piece that holds the keyboard ribbon in place.
Does anyone know what the name of this piece is or where I can find it?
I don't even know what to search for on Google because I don't even know what it is called.
I went to some stores and everyone is telling me that I cannot buy this piece I need to buy the entire motherboard.
I know the motherboard works fine and I don't want to spend a lot of money when I know this plastic piece is probably 50 cents.

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[Eximo]

Plastic though it may be it still has metal pins and is soldered to the motherboard. Such a repair would be quite the task.

If you can get your keyboard to work in there, superglue it in.

 

[Saberus]

Is it the little plastic friction/hold-down bar, or the connector itself?

I agree with Eximo, but I would tape it down so it stays in place, in case you ever need to change the keyboard. If tape doesn't work, then superglue.

 

[audi911]

I am missing the plastic piece tohugh. I don't actually have it anymore.
So I can't superglue it I would need to know if I can actually find that piece anywhere

 

[Eximo]

If tape, it would have to some really sticky stuff. It wouldn't be fun to have to go back in there constantly putting it back in and re-taping it.

 

[Eximo]

I am talking about keeping the cable in there, not repairing the plastic.

 

[audi911]

I know I tried it doesn't seem to work.
I cant seem to get a good contact in it.
I ran out of idea on this one.

 

[Eximo]

If the connector itself doesn't work, those people were giving you good advice.

Unless you are familiar with soldering (surface mount soldering) then this isn't something you can repair easily.

I can probably find you the part, but I don't know how much that will help you.

Check back in about twenty minutes.

 

[Saberus]

If tape, it would have to some really sticky stuff. It wouldn't be fun to have to go back in there constantly putting it back in and re-taping it.

Looking at the pic again, yeah, not much room for a good taping job.

 

[audi911]

The piece to connect isn't broken. It's the actuall plastic flap that broke. If I have the plastic flap I can connect the keyboard
http://pc-level.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hp620-keyboard-connector.jpg
Picture 1 the plastic piece
That is what is broken
There isn't anything to solder I just need the piece to hold the ribbon down.

 

[audi911]

I can't see how soldering would fix it the ribbon is paper I dont know what I would be soldering

 

[Saberus]

Have a coffee stir straw you can trim to length, then use a plastic spudger to wedge that in over the ribbon?

What Eximo is talking about is desoldering the connector on the board and soldering in a new, intact connector.

 

[audi911]

I guess I'll try the coffee stir.

 

[Eximo]

Getting closer:

http://www.newark.com/molex/54104-3496/connector-fpc-zif-receptacle-34/dp/56R1922

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Omron-Electronics/XF2M-3415-1A/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMs7i6cT6ogu49xOo%2faw5C3QLDFgSU3Tesc%3d

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Hirose-Connector/FH12F-34S-05SH55/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMs7i6cT6ogu4xlGNJo5ajfxbUmfuhy9y%252bA%3d

You might be able to tell a little better since you may know what the missing piece looks like.

ZIF Receptable (Zero Insertion Force) and FFC & FPC connectors appear to be the common names for these.

 

[Eximo]

Or just take replace the missing piece with the one from the new connector. Couple of different ways.

Picture is slightly blurry so I can't quite tell if the receptacle is intact.

 

[Eximo]

Usually deal with higher power electronics. These kapton and plastic membrane style ribbon cables aren't something I deal with except when fixing friend and families laptops.

 

[audi911]

I would have to buy all 3 because I cant really tell. To me it looks like the entire piece is there including the plastic connector.
I can't really tell which connector is the right one.
I tried a few different connectors from broken laptops I had and sadly they come in all different shapes and sizes :\

 

[Eximo]

Indeed. If you can see a brand stamped on it that would help.

And there are far more then three out there...

 

[audi911]

Sadly I don't actually have the piece anymore and the little mechanism on the laptop has no piece at all.
I find it odd that these pieces have no part numbers or no identification.
What happens if during assembly it is defective? How do they know what to replace?

 

[Saberus]

If it was found defective at the factory it would be desoldered and replaced, possibly by hand. They usually source these parts by the thousands so they would just get one from bin/reel TH-X1138 or whatever it was ID'd as.