Replacement of laptop keys or keyboard

[renovation]

i just informed today that my gateway 3040gz laptop my daughter has been using for the last year or so needs 2 keys .she said she drop a book on it and 2 keys broke or fell off.said unit works fine just the g & j keys i believe ar off it .one is broken the other is just off.said unit works fine other then this.
well i have never replaced a keyboard on a laptop how hard is it .?
and were the best place to go to fine replacement keys or a whole keyboard ?

[mechmike0034]

Never done one on a Gateway, but the notebook keyboards I've replaced (on Dell and Sony) were easy.

Here's three choices from FleaBay:
http://computers.shop.ebay.com/stores/Keyboards__W0QQLHQ5fSIFZ1QQ_nkwZGatewayQ203040GQ5AQQ_dmptZPCAQ5fMiceQ5fTrackballsQQ_sacatZ33963QQ_tr ksidZp3286Q2em20Q2el1246

[Jeffbx]

:stupid:

It's not hard to do. You can sometimes find individual keys on ebay if there's nothing physically broken on the KB & the keys are just missing. Otherwise, new keyboards are pretty cheap & easy to replace. You might want to take the machine apart 1st & see if you can find a part# on the KB, since even within the same model they might use several different keyboards.

[baggio248]

A key onmy wife's gateway broke, and it was still under warranty so I sent it back and they had to replace the whole keyboard. It's stupid, they couldn't just send me the key.

[renovation]

jeff i wished it was here in michigan . i meet up with you and get a lesson on laptop keyboard 101. it be worth a $$$ to me. but its in clearwater,florida and i not seen it yet will by this coming weekend ~ also have a hp laptop to look at while im there to look at to .my daughters tuff on laptops .but from now on she buy them not me. and she may get the repair bill on the gateway to after i see it.

[GilbertsGrape]

just plug a usb keyboard in and use that