Urgent: Physically repair - or bypass - power button on Asus laptop

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Power button is physically pooched. Can I "short" it to activate power?
Asus Vivobook S14 flip. The power button is wrecked.
Unable to turn it on AT ALL.

We can get into how and why it got wrecked later, but suffice to say a kitchen knife was involved:
1759175786591.webp


These buttons do want to NOT come off, not like other lappies, where they can snap in and out. And they sure don't go back on.

So, in the absence of a longer-term solution that might involve a replacement, is there any way I can activate the power button, like with a paperclip or wire or something?

It looks like an eletrical connection occurs right there in the key. The central rectangle (red arrow) but is metal and the outer bit (green arrow) is also metal. That centre bit (red arrow) makes a tactile "click" when I press on it with a fingernail.

The "knob" in the keyboard "well" (blue arrow) doesn't seem to do much, except I assume act as a conductor.

What I can't figure out is where the current might flow. It's as if the key should make a connection from the central knob (red) to the outer metal "gasket" (grgeen) on the button itself. but I can't find anything that that gasket then connects to in the "well".

If I could find something, maybe I could short it with a wire.

I know there are ways to open the laptop and force a reboot, or set the BIOS and stuff to get around this, but I'm looing for a minimum solution that wil lget me through today. Because the poop in really gong to hit the fan into about two hours.

Help!
 
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First, use a wrist strap.

In all likelihood, it is a momentary contact switch.

I would try to "press" with a paper clip - shorting between that central core spot (near the tip of the blue arrow) and the surrounding metal - a solid press for as long as you needed to hold down the power key to power it on.
 
.Scott said:
First, use a wrist strap.

In all likelihood, it is a momentary contact switch.

I would try to "press" with a paper clip - shorting between that central core spot (near the tip of the blue arrow) and the surrounding metal - a solid press for as long as you needed to hold down the power key to power it on.
The thing is, that's all one piece it's a metal plate with a bump in it. And the bump doesn't yield to pressure. If its an electrical contact, I can't figure out where the other part of it might be.

Articles and videos I checked out say you can short the power button, but you have to open it up and find the cable and short it there. That's no good - not in the short term.
 
It is likely an electrical contact that needs to be in momentary contact with the metal that surrounds it.
So, the paper clip needs to touch the bump and the surrounding metal at the same time - preferably with no more "bounce" than a regular key press.

Also, if you hold the paper clip and touch it to the "bump" without ESD protection, you have a good chance of junking your keyboard. You need a high resistive (say 500K+) path from your skin to that hefty metal part before you use the paper clip. Alternatively, you can work in a very high humidity (>80%RH).
 
I noticed something else. There appears to be a fiber at the 11:00 position of the button part still attached to your machine. If that happens to be conductive, it may be shorting something. I would brush it away.
 
.Scott said:
It is likely an electrical contact that needs to be in momentary contact with the metal that surrounds it.
I find no metal surrounding it. It's all one piece - a big plate with a bump on it. If there's any other contact, it looks to my eye like it must be tucked under the keyboard-proper.

.Scott said:
Also, if you hold the paper clip and touch it to the "bump" without ESD protection, you have a good chance of junking your keyboard.
Well oops.

.Scott said:
You need a high resistive (say 500K+) path from your skin to that hefty metal part before you use the paper clip.
Which hefty metal part? The plate with the bump on it? And connect it to what? What two parts am I jumping?
 
Looking at the part of the switch still connected to your machine, I see a metal plate about 15mm wide and 8 mm high. From the photo, it appears to have a bump in the middle that is recessed below the level of the plate.

But from your recent remarks, I may be misinterpreting the photo. If it is simply a bump fully raised above the level of that plate, and it is electrically connected to the plate, then we do need to find the other contact.

That fiber or wire or whatever at the 11:00 position is a likely candidate. Make sure it is not resting on the plate. If it is, the button would be stuck pressed.

Oh. If that bump in the middle is electrically connected to the plate, then it would be more resilient to ESD (and less likely fried by ESD from your poking). But that fiber (if it turns out to be our signal line) would be quite sensitive - ie, vulnerable.
 
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I am looking at other photo of the Asus keyboard. It's not obvious from the photos exactly how the contact is made. For example, this one:
s-l1600.webp


I am not convinced that is a straight electrical contact.
 
.Scott said:
Looking at the part of the switch still connected to your machine, I see a metal plate about 15mm wide and 8 mm high. From the photo, it appears to have a bump in the middle that is recessed below the level of the plate.
The bump sits proud of the plate. (i.e. up)

.Scott said:
But from your recent remarks, I may be misinterpreting the photo. If it is simply a bump fully raised above the level of that plate, and it is electrically connected to the plate, then we do need to find the other contact.
Correct.

.Scott said:
That fiber or wire or whatever at the 11:00 position is a likely candidate. Make sure it is not resting on the plate. If it is, the button would be stuck pressed.
Far as I can tell, thise four darker areas around the perimeter are rubber pads.

.Scott said:
Oh. If that bump in the middle is electrically connected to the plate, then it would be more resilient to ESD (and less likely fried by ESD from your poking). But that fiber (if it turns out to be our signal line) would be quite sensitive - ie, vulnerable.
I think that fiber is resting on a rubber pad.

.Scott said:
I am looking at other photo of the Asus keyboard. It's not obvious from the photos exactly how the contact is made. For example, this one:
View attachment 365989

I am not convinced that is a straight electrical contact.
Yes, these are connections I am more familiar with. This one is not like those at all.
 
  • #10
Did the power switch have a different feel to it than the other keys?
And how did it operate?

If it was my problem and I needed to get power to it right away, at this point I would be poking around with this tool:
1757336676ebd3cc740749f897182be68caf34beec.webp
 
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  • #11
.Scott said:
Did the power switch have a different feel to it than the other keys?
And how did it operate?

If it was my problem and I needed to get power to it right away, at this point I would be poking around with this tool:
View attachment 365994
I have some of those.

Be it known here that user .Scott has advised me to poke around in the crannies of my laptop with dental pick tools. 🙃
 
  • #12
Get a volt meter lead so you touch one and tap the other.

There may be a keycombo that will turn the laptop on/off like F2 + ENTER or something similar. Search on BIOS and keycombos to wake sleep a laptop.

Some sources said you could replace the button as its a daughter board with a ribbon cable connecting it to the system board.

But the best option is to call it a day, have a beer, and get new machine.
 
  • #13
jedishrfu said:
There may be a keycombo that will turn the laptop on/off like F2 + ENTER or something similar. Search on BIOS and keycombos to wake sleep a laptop.
Pretty sure it's powered down. If it were sleeping, it should wake when the lid is opened.
Last time this happened - a week ago - I got the power button to work and it booted from from off.


jedishrfu said:
But the best option is to call it a day, have a beer, and get new machine.
Argh. This IS the new machine. :sorry:
 
  • #14
I think a piece is missing there. Without the hinge the base is supposed to look like this:
1759218874764.webp

or:
1759218972751.webp

there is that thin foil (with a wire, I think) across the area, with that rubber pad/cup attached. I think that foil is entirely missing.
Those wires-on-foil things are really hard to find contacts with a needle:frown:

This one, maybe? Till a keyboard replacement can be fetched?

Ps.: did you try an external (USB) keyboard with a power button?
 
  • #15
Rive said:
This one, maybe? Till a keyboard replacement can be fetched?

Ps.: did you try an external (USB) keyboard with a power button?
It doubt that a USB keyboard will do it for you.
But that video that @Rive linked to is spot on.

And the tool that I suggested was certainly in the ball park.

The person in the video is not using a wrist strap. But I'll bet the humidity in his room is pretty good (>50%).
I wouldn't open up a laptop without ESD protection - it's just asking for trouble. And the trouble can be very aggravating because it would not necessarily be a hard fault.
 
  • #16
.Scott said:
It doubt that a USB keyboard will do it for you.
Likely it'll depend on the actual BIOS settings about power management and USB-devices for wake-up.
Even if it won't work for the first time it may be an option to delay the matter of the new keyboard if force-start succeeds once.
 
  • #17
Rive said:
I think a piece is missing there. Without the hinge the base is supposed to look like this:
There is no wire hinge. I know what those look like, this doesn't have it.

The tactile 'click' is provided by the tiny rectangular knob in the button itself (red arrow post 1).


Rive said:
Ps.: did you try an external (USB) keyboard with a power button?
An interesting idea. I wonder...
 
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