Sudden Keyboard Issue - Any Ideas?

The keyboard can be replaced individually, but it’s within the realm of do not try this unless you can do it perfectly consistently. The issue is the keyboard is riveted in, so if you’re even a 1/4” to the side it will never mount right again because you won’t be able to replace all of the rivets with screws. You also need to pull them out and if you don’t leave enough metal (or leave even a small amount behind), it’s game over.

In addition, you also can’t mess around with cheap drills or batteries. A good drill is a prerequisite or it will most certainly go very wrong. I wouldn’t trust mine to do the job because of how old my batteries are, which creates a unnecessarily high risk of failure.

Since the odds of getting it wrong are so high, it’s better to replace the entire palmrest assembly for most people.