Widespread Keyboard Failures on OLPC's XO-1

otakuj462 writes "Many participants in OLPC's 'Give 1 Get 1' program of last November are now encountering what has come to be known as the 'stuck key' problem, in which one or more of the keys on their XO-1 laptop's built-in keyboard become stuck in an activated position, or are activated when adjacent keys are pressed. As of January 30th, the official word from OLPC is that the root cause of this problem is unknown because '[t]here are several manufacturers of the keyboards.' ('So far we don't know of any _reliable_ method of fixing the keyboard or the exact root cause.') It is unknown just how widespread this problem currently is, as the 30-day manufacturer's warranty has already expired for most G1G1 participants. However, the OLPC forums are full of reports. OLPC is currently deploying the XO-1 to children in Mongolia and Peru, as well as other developing nations. If OLPC is actively deploying units with known, critical hardware bugs, without a dedicated support infrastructure in place, to children who have never seen a computer before, should they still be considered to be a responsible organization? Did OLPC deploy their hardware too soon?"

First post?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Amazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing!

I don't think that...

[raving griff (1157645)]

I don't think that it is so much a problem with not testing the hardware enough as it is a problem with how OLPC designed the laptops. These are computers that are being used widely by children all over the world, and, regardless of how you look at it, kids have a tendency to break things. Now, it is obvious that the XO-1 is designed to be a sturdy piece of equipment, but I find it downright silly that the keyboard is non-replaceable. The keyboard, of all things, should be easy to swap out for a new one--it is after all the primary input device on the computer, and if you lose that, you lose the computer. OLPC should have thought ahead to possible broken parts and made everything--from the touchpad to the keyboard to the LCD to the hard drive--removable and replaceable.

Re:I don't think that...

[acidrain (35064)]

Agreed. And the competition is going to make as much hay with this as possible.

While this kind of thing happens to the major manufactures, having had this happen right out the gate is going to be a permanent black mark that intel, asus and the rest are going to use in their advertising. OLPC should have been more careful to ensure that faults could be repaired. After all, these are going to the third world, and over there they fix all kinds of things we would throw away.

Re:I don't think that...

[fyoder (857358)]

Perhaps in consumerist societies, but I bet they take more care of stuff when they know it can't/won't be replaced.

The summary does read like something out of a consumerist society -- "Product break, what we do now?" Well, you fix it [olpcnews.com].

I wonder if OLPC is regretting G1G1 at all, putting thousands of XO's into the hands of people for whom it was never intended. The XO is for children and geeks, and if they ever plan to release one to the general North American consumer public, yes, they've got a lot of work to do. In fact, I'm not even sure it would be possible in the near future at the price point they're aiming at.

Were you grown in a vat?

[SuperKendall (25149)]

Perhaps in consumerist societies, but I bet they take more care of stuff when they know it can't/won't be replaced.

In "non-consumerist" societies, kids are equally rambunctious and can easily drop or knock things over.

Long before I was a "consumerist" to use your venom-dripping terminology, I was breaking stuff. Haven't you ever heard a parent complain that kinds understand the value of nothing?

If a kid has no real concept of value anyway, what on earth would motivate him to be more careful than with anything else they are used to playing with?

Re:Were you grown in a vat?

[grcumb (781340)]

If a kid has no real concept of value anyway, what on earth would motivate him to be more careful than with anything else they are used to playing with?

I don't want to be seen to be defending your snarky reply, but it's relevant to note that the issue of caring for the XO laptop is a real one.

It is not, however, because of children's inability to see the value of such a device. I work in development, and I've tested the XO. I've also written about it [imagicity.com] a fair bit. The big challenge for children using this device will be the lack of ready infrastructure in the village.

When you have to walk several miles to school in the rain with nothing more than a banana or a taro leaf to cover you, the XO is vulnerable. When you have to wade across one or more small rivers on your way to school, the XO is vulnerable. When you live in a house with dirt floors, the XO is vulnerable. When you have to contend with the fact that your many siblings might well want to share the laptop, the XO is vulnerable.

BUT... I've tested a late prototype and seen for myself that, whatever its faults, there is nothing else available that even begins to approach the XO for robust construction. Try to imagine any other computing device surviving what I've described above. The XO laptop is the best available technology today, and that's why we'll shortly be deploying our first pilot project.

Re:I don't think that...

[Cal Paterson (881180)]

consumerist societies

That is a ridiculous term: humans consume resources in every society. We're not "consumerist", we're just rich, and we can afford to consume more.

Fix it yourself

[Marcion (876801)]

The idea of the laptop is to make schools and children responsible for and in control of their own technology, rather than being passively spoon fed technology.

Therefore the idea is that people fix things themselves. This is a good thing if things are built with this in mind. Repair your own thinkpad (no problem), repair your own ipod (no chance).

If we have any hope of saving the planet from being one giant landfill dump, then we really need to learn to fix electronic devices ourselves.

Re:Fix it yourself

[mellon (7048)]

Face it. It looks like the OLPC didn't have enough testing at the manufacturing level before settling on the cheapest keyboard supplier. The other strange thing about this is that despite the laptop's intended market being people who would normally not have access to computers because of cost or location they only provide a 30 day warranty.

The ignorance of this statement is astonishing. There have been reports of a problem with OLPC keyboards. People have had success repairing the problem. You don't know anything about the service strategy of the OLPC (as witness your statement about the 30-day warranty, which is for G1G1 OLPCs, not end-user OLPCs).

And yet, you're fully prepared to make a harshly critical and categoric statement about the failings of the project, as if it were proven fact, not your completely ignorant conjecture.

Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but really, "face it?" Face what? A completely random statement from a random person? Why should we "face it?"

Easily fixed for many

[fyoder (857358)]

Not quite sure what is meant by "we don't know of any _reliable_ method", unless perhaps it means something that works for everyone the same way 100% of the time, and there's some small number of units that can't be fixed by disassembly and wiping the area under the affected key with isopropyl alcohol. I didn't even go that far with mine, I just pried up the edge of the keyboard mat near my stuck alt key just enough to get the q-tip in.

The XO is designed to be like the old Volkswagen Beetle -- cheap and easily fixable by non-experts in the field. Yes, it would have been nice if they weren't prone to stuck key syndrome, but it's not the end of the world, and these are fricken amazing devices at twice the price.

Be realistic.

[bcrowell (177657)]

Let's be realistic. First off, there is no information to show how common the problem is: 1 in 100, 1 in 1000, 1 in 10,000? Also, note that it appears that everyone on the forums complaining about this is someone in a developed country who bought one via give-one-get-one. The blog at olpcnews.com linked to in the slashdot summary seems to be saying that there needs to be a system for distributing spare parts. Well, actually that wouldn't do any good with the stuck key problem, because the OLPC folks don't have enough information yet to know which keyboard supplier or suppliers are causing the problem. They could ship spare keyboards to Mongolia, but there's no way to know yet whether the replacements would have the same problem. OLPC does have a plan for dealing with hardware breakage. The plan is that they're trying to get the defect rate very low, and then have people in the communities receiving the laptops take care of the small number of defects by cannibalizing machines. That seems like a very reasonable plan for a village in Mongolia where 100 kids have 100 laptops. No, it's not a very reasonable plan for an affluent adult in the U.S. who isn't part of a community that has received a pile of these laptops -- but, uh, sorry, that isn't the main mission of OLPC. Some of the buyers in developed countries seem upset that the warranty period is only 30 days, and that they have to pay for shipping. Yeah, sure, OLPC could extend the warranty to a year, and pay for shipping, but that would cost money, and they'd have to pass on those costs, driving up the cost of the laptops. The goal right now is to continue decreasing the cost of the laptops.

Some people are simply delusional

[zenyu (248067)]

Some of the buyers in developed countries seem upset that the warranty period is only 30 days, and that they have to pay for shipping.

Some people are simply delusional. When I participated in G1G1 I assumed there was no warranty. My guess is the 30 day warranty is only there because of some stupid law. The way I see it, I made a donation to the OLPC Foundation, and got a neat little example of the technology I was funding. If mine had experienced any problems I would never have dreamed of draining OLPC's resources by returning it for replacement. I would have attempted a repair and reported on the success or failure of my repair, so that the knowledge could be disseminated to the children using the laptops.

I haven't experienced any problems, and I really wish commercial companies would adopt a technology like its screen or its ability to take falls and keep on ticking, and especially the power-saving technologies which makes this thing the only laptop that has never run out of juice one me; I carry around three heavy batteries with my regular laptop and run it in its maximal power saving mode and it still doesn't hold a candle to the OLPC.

The keyboard doesn't have the best feel, and I would only want commercial companies to copy it when making a keyboard for children. It is spill-proof. When I've spilled hot coffee and cold soda on it, I just had to wipe it off. Again, this is unlike my Sony Vaio and Lenovo T-61 keyboards which I've had to replace when even take-it-apart-deep-cleaning did not restore functionality post spill.

From what I've read, it appears the stuck key problem is fixable with a cleaning. Taking apart an OLPC is _much_easier_ than taking apart a commercial laptop, so I think this whole complaint is completely overblown. I'm not going to go so far as to say the article poster is an Intel sock puppet. I've seen they crazies who talk about having "bought" an OLPC right here on slashdot. Since the OLPC has never been on sale to individuals, you know these people are delusional right off the bat. The apparently large number of these folks either speaks to the success of the G1G1 program at reaching many many people, or it speaks to the sorry state of the war on drugs at it's goal of combating the crack epidemic. Either way, these idiots should be ignored, and I hope the folks at OLPC do not take these jokers seriously.

My only disappointment with the G1G1 program is that it wasn't G2G1, Give 2 Get 1. That could have resulted in more laptops in the hands of children, and fewer laptops in the hands of these complainers.

Guess what? You're not our mission, slashdot

[by Anonymous Coward]

Amazingly, there IS a support mechanism in place for the target countries. There isn't one for the people who received laptops in return for a charitable donation. Support for the G1G1 program is volunteer-based. Sorry we're not as quick to fix everything as the billion-dollar companies you morons keep comparing us to. The manpower we have is being devoted to target countries, so forgive us if we seem to be neglecting the rich white demographic who has time to harass us on Slashdot. Posting anonymously for obvious reasons.

New Rule!

[pembo13 (770295)]

Stop pointless speculation in the summary. This isn't CNN or Fox news. Just give us a summary of what the topic is about, give relevant links, and allow us to form opinions. Thank you.

How come we don't see anything now?

[poetmatt (793785)]

Okay, there were some problems. NOTE THE DATE: As of January 30th. Nothing has been posted since March in there. I think it's safe to say the situation may have changed since january, seriously thats almost 4 months ago.

Really why is this even a post today that far back?

Re:saw that coming

[CastrTroy (595695)]

The real problem is it only has a 30 day warranty. That`s worse than game consoles.

Re:30 days warrenty?

[schnikies79 (788746)]

No it's not normal. Almost everything here comes with at least a one year warranty. A lot of computers and computer parts come with a three year warranty.

They are not required by law to have a three year warranty here or even a one year but I have never seen a new computer have under a one year warranty.

Re:30 days warrenty?

[Richard W.M. Jones (591125)]

They are not required by law to have a three year warranty here or even a one year but I have never seen a new computer have under a one year warranty.

Actually in Europe consumer goods are required to last for a reasonable length of time. Two years is the minimum period mentioned in the consumer sales directive [europa.eu] but member states are free to institute their own (longer) periods and higher consumer standards.

Perhaps this is the reason why the OLPC wasn't sold in Europe ...

Rich.

Re:30 days warrenty?

[Richard W.M. Jones (591125)]

(Replying to my own posting ...)

Actually in Europe consumer goods are required to last for a reasonable length of time. Two years is the minimum period mentioned in the consumer sales directive but member states are free to institute their own (longer) periods and higher consumer standards.

In the UK, the period is six years, under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 [bbc.co.uk]

Rich.

Re:30 days warrenty?

[orasio (188021)]

It is.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_Giving/Europe [laptop.org]

The OLPC is not a consumer product. They don't have the infrastructure to sell it as such. If you buy millions, they can sell support, including hardware, and warranties.

They are not iXO's. Their goal is not to sell laptops for everybody. They are making this for kids who might use them to learn. Both objectives don't have to be acheived together, and don't even need to be compatible.

Re:Live with it

[Dr. Cody (554864)]

I've only got one key left, but I managed to whip up a nifty morse code keymap.

Re:Clean keyboards

[roto3 (1160113)]

The whole point of having the sealed membrane keyboard design is that it's a lot harder for dirt to get into it. The whole top of the keyboard is a rubber membrane with no openings, so there's nowhere for dirt to get in. Also, unlike other membrane keypad designs, the membrane itself does not provide one of the contacts for the key. It merely applies pressure to the underlying plastic layers that actually have the contacts. The top plastic layer also has very few openings. It would be very difficult to get enough dirt into the keyboard through normal use (even in dirty conditions) to cause the keys to stick.

Mine developed a sticky control key after a few months. Opening up the laptop (compared to most laptops, it's easy to get into) and peeling back the top rubber membrane (it's lightly glued down to the plastic layers), rubbing the affected area to make sure the contacts were not sticking together, and reassembling the laptop seems to solve the issue; I haven't seen the control key stick since.

Re:XO review

[orasio (188021)]

Better text resolution, if you need to use it to read actual books.
Better battery life (3x) to read books.
Networking capabilities that the EEE doesn't have.
Preinstalled software suitable for learning, teaching and collaborating.
Available quality support in your country.

Aside from that, EEE would not even exist without the OLPC project. Laptops exist since the eighties.

The OLPC was needed for this kind of machine to even exist. Even if their machine wasn't the best, their objective would be accomplished.

Re:you get what you pay for...

[Lemmy Caution (8378)]

$100 doesnt buy much these days...there is a reason that laptops dont sell for under $450...they cost money

One problem is it that $100 buys plenty in the places that a lot of these laptops are supposed to be going.

Re:you get what you pay for...

[gradedcheese (173758)]

For what it's worth, there's nothing under the XO's keyboard that gets hot. The motherboard is behind the screen, the keyboard piece is just the keyboard and touchpad.