Chuwi Aerobook keeps switching off as if power button is stuck

It’s not fixable on our side – not counting holding the tilde key and that isn’t much of a solution.

You will need to contact their service email or contact the seller of your laptop. Better if the latter.
They will probably ask you to do a video of the problem so they can see it themselves and do a little bunch of tests (involves HDMI cable and a monitor).

In my case, I’m getting ready to ship it back to them via fedex. The sending is expensive but that’s the only support we have.

I managed to repair this fault. The cause: the keyboard flex cable is somehow misaligned in the socket, causing the “power-on/off” line, which should be 3.3volts, to be pulled down to 0.2volt, unless you hold down any key on the keyboard. The solution: split the flex cable into two parts – it has 28 lines, with the lines for the power button on lines 27 and 28 (counting from the left, and looking into the socket). Lines 26 and 27 are NOT connected on the flex, so I cut between lines 26 and 27 for about 2 inches. When I reinsert the flex cable, I make sure all the lines are aligned with the pins in the socket – splitting the flex into two allows you to do that. After that, reassemble everything, and there’s no more need to hold down a key to avoid the laptop powering itself off.

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Thanks for sharing. Can you share images of the process?

I did not take photos of the steps. But I did take photos of the end result, which should be sufficient to show the alignment problem.
Note the yellow Kapton tape at the bottom of the photos – it is to prevent subsequent further accidental splicing of the flex, which can ruin the entire flex cable. You can see that lines 26 to 28 are just slightly moved away (about 0.1mm) from the rest of the flex cable, to maintain correct alignment to the pins. You will need a magnifying glass or a microscope to eyeball the alignment correctly.
Precautions: the screw sockets are very fragile, do not over-tighten the screws when you put back the casing – stop when you notice slight resistance.

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Update to the solution of this problem:
The keyboard/power socket has 28 pins. In normal operation, the power button shorts pins 27 and 28 to do a power-on action. Pin 27 should be at 2.0 V (or 3.1V if charger is plugged in) and pin 28 is at 0V (start counting the pins from the left, while looking into the socket from the ribbon side), when the keyboard ribbon is unplugged. On my Aerobook, pin 28 is somehow pulling down pin 27 to 0V if the ribbon is plugged in, even if I am not pressing down on the power button.

My solution: pins 25 and 26 are not in use, so I cut out them out on the ribbon connector, and align the pins this way: pin 26 to wire 27 on the ribbon, pin 27 to wire 28 on the ribbon (look at the new photo). Given that pin 26 is 0V, this will allow the power button to short the 2V(or 3.1V) on pin 27 to 0V, yet avoiding the problem I have with wire 28. On the photo, you will see that pins 25 and 28 are now not connected to anything on the ribbon connector. Voila, the laptop now will power up/down reliably, without shutting down inexplicably.

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Hi, i have the same problem as your. until now, cant ship the unit back to SZ for them to fix. Can’t travel due to Covid. Really bad move to support the crowdfunding.

The repair I did back in Nov 2020 got undone by itself – new short-circuits in the keyboard membrane were shorting the power button (which goes through the same flex connector as the keyboard) to the ground. The best guess I have is that the coating on the keyboard membrane has fallen off and is shorting traces, or the thin layer providing insulation between the two contact traces is somehow failing, leading to too many short-circuits, and more short-circuits will appear over time. Cause: manufacturing quality.
The only resort is to disconnect the keyboard flex connector, and leave only the pins 27-28 (they connect to the power button) on that connector connected. This will ensure the power button works reliably and there will not be unintended on/off/shutdown problems anymore. I have to use an external keyboard, since the built-in keyboard is now disconnected, but the trackpad (which uses a separate flex connector) is working.

Assuming the same manfuacturing process/contractor made the keyboard membrane used in other Chuwi laptops, the same problem (and hence solution) is to be expected, i.e. short-circuit in the keyboard membrane causing power button to be permanently “connected”, leading to spontaneous on/off/shutdown and, ultimately, boot failures and incessant “automatic repair” loops. By extension, any repair done by replacing the keyboard with one that is manufacture by the same factory/process will only lead to the same problem at a later date.

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dear ptsash,
thanks for sharing. I have written to Chuwi, and wish to purchase a new keyboard from them to fix this problem.

Hopefully, will get to hear from them…( if they ever reply )

: (

The keyboard is molded to the bottom casing, as far as I can tell. It is not as difficult as swapping out the bottom casing of a MacBook, just be careful with the wires/flex (i.e. don’t tear or cut them by accident) and do NOT over-tighten the screws because the whole casing (and the screw posts) are just plastic.

  1. The laptop’s power circuit is malfunctioning
  2. The memory may be loose or take up a lot of dust, remove it and wipe it before plugging it in
  3. The system is broken, reinstall the system

Thank you very much. I have disconnected the keyboard ribbon cable and separated pin from it pin 27 and 28 and reconnected only the two power button pins. My aerobook is useable again just without the keyboard. I will just use an external one. I had this same wont turn on problem a few months after i bought this laptop and had it shipped to shenzhen China for warranty repairs. It had cost me more than 100 dollars via DHL. When i got it back i asked for a service report for what was done. They would not give information. Now i know that they just replaced the keyboard and now that the warranty has expired i have to buy from chuwi a keyboard that will only last several months. Such poor quality. Total waste of time and money.

Glad to know that you solved the problem, and thanks for sharing and thus confirming that the keyboard in the Aerobook (and probably other keyboards in the Chuwi lines of laptops as well) has manufacturing quality issues, and a keyboard replacement will not solve the problem for long. Those who still want to get a keyboard replacement after warranty expiry should take note.

Hello,

I agree that this problem seems to be repetitive. I had sent my aerobook for repair to China early last year. And right now, I’m experiencing the problem again. My problem is, the warranty is already out so I’ll have to pay for the repair. I hope it’s not too expensive. I do like this laptop and it and I would like to be able to use it more.

Regards,
Joseph

I have been researching and realised that it is a hardware issue for me (keyboard). Likely due to the poor quality connection that had been mentioned be others. How I finally resolved it for myself is to choose a key that I have no use for and glue it down with superglue (see photo). Simple but functional solution. A suggestion that if you are trying this, to pry out that key and glue the plastics underneath down first, otherwise it can be springy. Then glue down the key itself.

Hope it helps some of you.

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First I’ve had issues with the trackpad (that I was never able to fix, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t), about one year ago I’ve had the battery issue. I’ve had my Aerobook waiting for more than one month on the Spanish repair center waiting for the battery, but it did got repaired.
After repair, from time to time, I would get some unexpected power down, but I’ve always thought that it was something related with the power circuit. From time to time I would also found it turned on inside my backpack (and hot as hell!), when I was sure that I’ve shut it down.
Today it shutdown unexpectedly and it won’t boot at all. Eventually I was able to turn it on, but it would shut down some seconds later.
I’ve found this thread and after locking the key between ‘Alt’ and ‘Ctrl’ (as suggested by @SCST) with duct tape, I was able to boot and login successfully.
@SCST can the key lock be a long term solution? Can’t this cause additional stress on the power lines of the keyboard flex cable?

I’ve bought a Corebook X for my sister 6 months ago. I wouldn’t dot it again after facing this new issue.
I just hope that it be a model without all these quality issues…

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Hello,

This is the same behaviour I am having right now. This started about 14 days ago.
Suddenly the computer won’t turn on. I am able to turn it on some seconds and then shuts down
Thought that it is the battery but now I don’t think so.
Also from Spain (I’ll continue in english for the rest of the people in this forum) and also repaired in Toledo because of the battery issue.
I think @manonegra222 had better contact with the technical department in the past.
I contacted aftersale-service@chuwi.com 10 days ago without response.

I really like this computer for light load work but man, too many issues came with it.
Maybe a moderator can check this thread.

Let’s hope!

Lol, Tried this and worked. In the very moment I release the button, it shuts down.

Seems we have a way!

Well, This is my SPAM day.

I performed a very ugly Fix in combination with others above.

  • I cut the 27 and 28 pins apart and connected the rest leaving these hanging
  • Once the charger is connected, I shorted the 27 and 28 pins with a thin tweezer on the motherboard connector for a second and it powered on.
  • Checked all the keys on a web and all were working

Seems that the only short comes from the power button and once removed everything is working as expected. It is not possible to remove the keyboard to see what happens with this button but seems its difference with the other keys makes it vulnerable… Also its location at the border of the computer makes possible that some moisture came in.

I did this ugly repair with a veeeeeery thin soldering iron and caution.
Soldered a small cable in the 27th pin and another whenever you can get GND. finally you get these both cables outside and this is my new power button.

I will feel like stealing a car every time I power it up put it is not stupid if it works.
Probably i will hot glue some switch to make it a little better but I will still wait for a support response.
Hope this helps.




Finally here go some thoughts.

  1. Had a problem with the battery
  2. The plastic chassis is so bad that almost every screw holder is broken and also the hinges fixings are soooo weak.
  3. Now the problem with the keyboard.
  4. Very bad support
  5. Once you open the device you can see that it is not very well built and engineered.
  6. In the past, they told that if you install windows on the ssd instead of the flash, it would void waranty

I normally don’t have issues getting any techy thing that you have to tinker around with it, but this has been simply too much. In only two years failed twice and now it is out of warranty. If this was my working machine I would be pissed off and would have to buy another laptop for sure.

I will hold this computer for a year more or so (or until the next failure) and throw it to the garbage. I really like the size, the weight, the outside design and keyboard layout and I feel sad about it but I don’t feel like getting anything from CHUWI again.

Goog luck everyone!

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@HuMbUcKeR since my last post, my laptop still works normally. So far so good! :slight_smile:

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