Annoying Tech Faults

[DeskJockey]

Having repurposed my old T460s as a gift for the eldest DJlet (set up his account, upgrade to W11, put a big Harry Potter sticker on the cover and set a Gryffindor background) all was well until the touchpad randomly stopped working. Close the lid or reboot and it would work again for a few minutes, then stop. Much head scratching ensued, searching forums, looking for driver updates, and whatnot. Reinstalled W11, still no joy. It just didn't make sense, until it stopped working completely and disappeared from the device manager.

Took the laptop apart and ignoring the dirt (duly cleaned), nothing seemed amiss. I reseated the ribbon cable, still nothing. So, I ordered a replacement touchpad. Once it arrived I took it apart again and realised that the ribbon cable had snapped clean in two at one of the folds. I guess the action of closing the lid pushed the ends together again?

10 minutes later everything was back in working order. Not sure how a cable that hadn't been touched could snap.