Caps Lock / Bloc Num problem

[stewiggle]

Whenever I press the Caps Lock or Bloc Num buttons, the keyboard gets
disabled, and it doesn't work anymore.. I have to restart the system.

I installed the last windows vista update few days ago, and also my touchpad
now doesn't work (it's not a problem of drivers update), I don't know if this
one can be the reason of the keyboard problem.

Anyone has the same problems? Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Do you have a usb keyboard you can try?

 

[stewiggle]

Oh, sorry.. I didn't specify that I'm talking about a notebook.
I'll try to verify if an external keyboard works.. however this will not
solve my problem..
:'(

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I understood it was a laptop from your mention of a touchpad.

 

[stewiggle]

Ok, this is the situation. When the caps lock ON window appears in the right
bottom corner of the screen (it's the same thing with the Num Lock), the
laptop keyboard completely die. But connecting an external USB, I checked
that everything is fine with the external keyboard.
To restore the functionality of the laptop keyboard I have to restart the
system.

What could I do? The Caps Lock is not so hard to press, even without
intention..

 

[Carlos]

Smells like a hardware failure to me.
The fact that you have a non-working touchpad together with the keyboard
freezing is suspicious.
Is your laptop still under warranty?
One last shot would be to restore your Windows Vista to a date when you
didn't have this problem.
If the problem persists, then we would be sure it is hardware related.
Or make a bootable DOS floppy and test the keyboard in a different
environment.
Carlos

 

[stewiggle]

"Smells like a hardware failure to me."
It would be very strange.. the keyboard works fine if I don't press buttons
lock.

"Is your laptop still under warranty?"

Yes, it has 2 months, so I'm taking some time to investigate all the
software possibilities before surrendering to an hardware problem and
exploiting the warranty..

"One last shot would be to restore your Windows Vista to a date when you didn't have this problem."

Already done for the touchpad problem, but it didn't solve anything.. I
could try also for the keyboard problem..

I think that the latest step could be the complete format of the laptop.. if
some problem still exists, then I could be sure that is an hardware problem..
The fact that searching for the web I can't find anyone with the same
problem is quite strange..
Thanks.

 

[Carlos]

And what about the last suggestion of a bootable floppy for testing the caps
lock key?
That would cut the problem in a half.
If it still fails it is hardware, if it doesn't fail: it is Vista.
Carlos

 

[stewiggle]

Yes. It would be a smart test.. but I have some problems. I did a MS-DOS boot
disk with a PC with Windows XP (and it works on this PC), because the laptop
with Vista hasn't the floppy drive. Then I tried on Vista, but the system
starts with Vista and completely ignore the CD boot.
I was looking for MS-DOS boot ISO image on internet, but I can't find
anything.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The boot order may be set in the BIOS such that PXE is first, the hdd
second, and the cd drive third. Change the order so that the cd drive is
ahead of the hdd and then it should boot from the cd.

 

[stewiggle]

Well done! The MS-DOS boot now works also on the laptop.. but the Caps Lock
problem still remains, also in the DOS configuration. So I think Vista can be
not guilty this time, I can lean towards the hardware problem and I'll stop
searching for software solutions..

Thank you very much both to Colin and Carlos!

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You're welcome.

Well done! The MS-DOS boot now works also on the laptop.. but the Caps
Lock
problem still remains, also in the DOS configuration. So I think Vista can
be
not guilty this time, I can lean towards the hardware problem and I'll
stop
searching for software solutions..

Thank you very much both to Colin and Carlos!

 

[Carlos]

You are quite welcome.
For boot disks/CDs images try here:
http://www.bootdisk.com/
Carlos