Well it's been a week since I ordered the LED's and the place I ordered them from (from what I believe is a credible source) had shipped them on the 4th regular mail. So when they come in I'll write up a tutorial as soon as I can for the LED mod. I'm deciding to do the tutorial in 2 stages.

--Stage one will be LED's for the body, which will include the vents and speaker (5 LED's total), header, and a switch. All of which are connected to a usb port power source.
--Stage two will be the LED for the lcd cover. Which is attached to a 2 pin connector which can be just added on to the 20 pin header. (sounds complicated but it is really easy if you see a picture of it).

Reason for the two stages is because I need to wait for Heath to create my badge which might take some time. And since he has never made a D800/M60 badge before, I need to send him the original Dell badge. only problem is I'm still waiting for the LCD cover to come in. The ebay seller had messed up, apologized, and reshipped the item so it's comming soon.

I also have exams and deadlines approaching, so I'm trying to do this as fast as possible while maintaining my studies. I have posted approximate ETA's on each mod. Does anyone have any other ideas for modding your laptop (this includes fixes for current issues)?

Probably too much too ask but I would like to figure out a way to get the pointer stick mouse buttons to be a little less spongy.

i would rather remove it, the extra mouse buttons associated with it then put an extra fan in the empty space they leave behind

gonna try that keyboard mod tomorrow.
never bothered before. The ESC key top left clicks very loud.
just have to look for the 3m tape.

Man, THANKS!!!!

Finished the keyboard mod about 15 minutes after starting (most of that time was spent cutting tape). Although you give it a difficulty of 3 out of 4 stars, I found it a cinch. The keyboard is outstanding now (ESC key loudness fixed with plenty of tape in the upper left corner "bridge".

Awesome mod!!!!

your a brave man spike i would however insist you focus your studies rather than modding on dell as a priority just a thought

ty machina, after thurs i'm free for spring break, so those tutorials will be up shortly. and ty cyrn, i'm glad it worked well for you.

keyboard mod is done, and now the "clonking" sound from the esc,§,123 buttons are gone.

sound was like plastic on metal, but you all probably now what it was like.
only thing im not sure of is if i managed to get the clip on the left on the keyboard in the right place.

glad it worked out for you bache. yea when i put the foamtape on the bridge the left clip was a lil stubborn, but if you take a small screwdriver and press down gently on the left side it should snap in place.

I think I'm going to paint my m60 body a dark blue this summer because the M60/d800 palmrest has a silver border around the keyboard and blue/silver combination of colors is my favorite. I'm going to start researching how to professionaly get this done with out having the paint get "orange peels"

I'm thinking of doing the keyboard mod. The flex isn't too noticable to be (except at the arrow keys) but the mod looks pretty straight forward so why not? Quick question: I'd rather not stick the tape to any part of the laptop, just have it rest there and act as a cushion. Would there be any problem with the part of the tape the covers the sticky part melting in there? Just curious!

Tim

I don't think you ought to be too concerned about the tape melting. As you'll see when you pry up the keyboard, Dell has already added some cushioning to reduce the flex problem. I agree with Spiike's original recommendation to use 3M mounting tape.

BTW, if you ever scratch the blue area surrounding the keyboard on an I8600, you can use blue pen ink to make it disappear.

Sadly learned from experience. Now I can't even see the scratch!

Just another quick question before I spend $5 on tape and start fixing this thing. Does the keyboard mod/fix void my warranty at all?

Tim

not unless you somehow destroy components after doing the process liek say... taping up vents?

Taping up vents helps air flow (nevermind )