Curlygirl said:
I have a new laptop, and three of my keys are not working on the laptop
keyboard. The 'm' 'j' and 'u' keys are not working, and the only way to use
them (as I am doing now) is with the on screen keyboard. I have cleaned the
keys, and there was no change. I also tried Windows Xp "Help and Support" but
there was no answer to this problem. What cases this problem? And can this
problem be fixed by changing a setting on my compter?
Well, you'll notice that the keys you specified are in a line. UJM form a "vertical" line on the keyboard. Under the keypad, there
are two sheets of electrical contacts which get pressed together when a key is depressed. The circuit pattern on the sheets arrange
keys in groups. U, J, and M are one such group. What is likely happening, is that some dust, oil, or other gunk has gotten into
the keyboard and is disrupting one of the contacts that is responsible for that group of keys. If you are comfortable doing so, you
could disassemble your laptop and clean it, otherwise you could either have someone else do it. You could also try to blast it out
with compressed air, or scrub it out with a long-bristled brush although, if the problem is in fact that there is some oil or other
sticky substance beneath the key layer, then opening it will probably be the only solution. Unfortunately, laptops are more of a
pain in the butt to clean. Another problem could be that one of the contacts has gotten a little corroded and grown a patina. If
that's the case, then electrons cannot flow through it, and it will need to be opened to have the patina scraped off.
Another thing you can try is to tap those keys hard or to "scrape" the keys by pressing them down and trying to move them around.
If you can manage to get them to work at all like that, then it is almost certainly the case that a contact is dirty.
