Studio Illuminated Keyboard into XPS M1530? They look identical! - DOES NOT WORK!

[Bauer418]

Yep, that'd be the guy he was talking about lol. Guys, if I were you I'd give it up. A backlit keyboard would be nice to have...but nice enough to where you're going to tear your computer apart and solder a wire to your mobo just hoping it outputs the right amount of power?

[h3nG]

well you can take a multimeter and measure the voltage and current first.

[Laggy7]

prolly a good start

[Tricks.]

So what exactly happened to the guy that showed us the picture with the studio keyboard and claimed it worked but didn't take a picture with the laptop switched on lol ???

He got our hopes up...!

[Forte]

He just didn't attempt turning it on. Theoretically, it could be that the 2nd power strip just gives it more juice, but it might be able to work except at a slightly dimmer state with just one strip.

There really is no way to know for sure until someone actually tries it out.

[Bauer418]

Greaat. So now if I wanted a backlit keyboard I have to find someone with a multimeter too. That's not something I keep around the house.

Point: is it really worth it? Do you actually look at your keyboard when you type anyway? I know I don't.

[Forte]

You don't need a multimeter, you just gotta plug in the keyboard and try turning illumination on and see if it lights up dimly or at all. It could be the electricity from the single connector will provide enough light for illumination to some degree.

Even if it doesn't light up due to not enough electricity... there is still hope!

There has been word about the M1530 possibly having an extra UNUSED Sata Connector on the inside where a second Hard Drive would have gone. Due to form factor of the M1530, there is an extra SATA connector that is UNUSED since Intel's Turbo manager detects two SATA ports, so while the port may not be available for a second hard drive, the connector may still be physically soldered on the motherboard.

What this means, is all you'd need is a small converter (similar to DVI to VGA converter, no electricity, very cheap) to allow it to be plugged into a sata connection on the motherboard which would provide more than enough juice for it.

[sleey0]

I'm not reading this entire thread, so if this has been covered already - I apologize

Anyway, you won't be able to swap keyboards as there is a power slot (similar to the 1730's lighted keyboard) that isn't on the 1530's motherboard. There is no way to do it unless you can create pcbs's and slot connections. If you can do that then you should be working for Dell as an engineer and not modding a laptop....

Would be pretty sweet though!

[purplegreendave]

I'm not reading this entire thread,

Maybe you could just read the page you're posting on ???

[sko105]

What about trying to tap a USB port for power?