My laptop keyboard's up arrow key has become loose and comes off often

Question

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop. The up arrow key on the keyboard has become loose and comes off often. How can I fix this? Do I need to buy a new keyboard or can I get a new up arrow key? The laptop's just gone out of warranty.

My friend's HP laptop's up arrow key also came out and when he went to the repair shop they told him to buy a new keyboard (around 5000 Rupee/100 USD).

If some small part of a laptop is broken/damaged, do I need to buy the complete set/the whole part? Why do I need to waste money?

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Unfortunately due to the design of the scissor keys that laptops use, the keys are slightly fragile and have little bits that tend to break easily if removed without care, and unless you can get a second hand keyboard for donor parts, individual keys are hard to find.

However since scissor keystops often sit on a flat bit of the scissor switches, you could probably stick a small bit of doublesided tape to the back of the key, push it in place, and it should work well enough, least for a few years.