keyboard problem: some characters won't type

[Sam Bede]

Hi

My Toshiba Satellite P30 laptop (XP 5.1.2600 SP2) has suddenly developed a
keyboard problem:

It'll mostly type everything fine, but some characters just won't type at
all. For example i, j,k,l,m and o don't appear; p becomes a dash; u a
backspace.

It was working perfectly while I was trying out some Toshiba utilites to try
and zoom an Adobe PDF document. Just then Google applied an update to its
toolbar in Internet Explorer.

The problem with the keyboard is across all applications, such as Word,
Explorer and Outlook.

I've unistalled Google Desktop and Toolbar and I've done a system restore,
but still the problem persists.

As it is, the machine is pretty much unusable except for mouse/pointer
activities.

I've checked the Language Bar settings, tried some Toshiba diagnostics,
checked the keyboard driver -- nothing appears to be wrong.

Now I'm running deep virus and spyware scans using Zone Alarm.

I used a different machine to submit this post.

Any help on how to fix the problem would be a real saviour.

Thanks for your time and kind assistance.

Sam

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi

My Toshiba Satellite P30 laptop (XP 5.1.2600 SP2) has suddenly developed a
keyboard problem:

It'll mostly type everything fine, but some characters just won't type at
all. For example i, j,k,l,m and o don't appear; p becomes a dash; u a
backspace.

It was working perfectly while I was trying out some Toshiba utilites to try
and zoom an Adobe PDF document. Just then Google applied an update to its
toolbar in Internet Explorer.

The problem with the keyboard is across all applications, such as Word,
Explorer and Outlook.

I've unistalled Google Desktop and Toolbar and I've done a system restore,
but still the problem persists.

As it is, the machine is pretty much unusable except for mouse/pointer
activities.

I've checked the Language Bar settings, tried some Toshiba diagnostics,
checked the keyboard driver -- nothing appears to be wrong.

Now I'm running deep virus and spyware scans using Zone Alarm.

I used a different machine to submit this post.

Any help on how to fix the problem would be a real saviour.

Thanks for your time and kind assistance.

Sam

Have you considered the possibility that the keyboard itself might
be faulty? Boot the machine with a Win98 boot disk
(www.bootdisk.com) and you will know straight away.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi

My Toshiba Satellite P30 laptop (XP 5.1.2600 SP2) has suddenly developed a
keyboard problem:

It'll mostly type everything fine, but some characters just won't type at
all. For example i, j,k,l,m and o don't appear; p becomes a dash; u a
backspace.

It was working perfectly while I was trying out some Toshiba utilites to try
and zoom an Adobe PDF document. Just then Google applied an update to its
toolbar in Internet Explorer.

The problem with the keyboard is across all applications, such as Word,
Explorer and Outlook.

I've unistalled Google Desktop and Toolbar and I've done a system restore,
but still the problem persists.

As it is, the machine is pretty much unusable except for mouse/pointer
activities.

I've checked the Language Bar settings, tried some Toshiba diagnostics,
checked the keyboard driver -- nothing appears to be wrong.

Now I'm running deep virus and spyware scans using Zone Alarm.

I used a different machine to submit this post.

Any help on how to fix the problem would be a real saviour.

Thanks for your time and kind assistance.

Sam

Sounds very much like a hardware problem. As noted, if you boot from a
floppy and just type, you will immediately know if the problem is the
keyboard. This is a pretty straightforward repair or replacement for a
service shop.

You can also try plugging in an external USB keyboard, which will give you
immediate use of the sytem and confirm that the problem is the keyboard.

HTH
-pk

 

[Sam Bede]

Thanks to everyone for your advice and taking the time to try and help.

This morning in dim light I noticed that a small LED was glowing on the
keyboard under the F10 key. With some experimenting I found that pressing
Fn and F10 turned the LED off -- now the keyboard is working fine.

It seems to have been diabled by having earlier pressed Fn + F10 while
trying the Toshiba utilities.

If anyone else has a locked up keyboard, you might try to experiment with
these weird functions that seems to control the keyboard.

Thanks again.

Sam

 

[Guest]

Hi

My Toshiba Satellite P30 laptop (XP 5.1.2600 SP2) has suddenly developed a
keyboard problem:

It'll mostly type everything fine, but some characters just won't type at
all. For example i, j,k,l,m and o don't appear; p becomes a dash; u a
backspace.

It was working perfectly while I was trying out some Toshiba utilites to try
and zoom an Adobe PDF document. Just then Google applied an update to its
toolbar in Internet Explorer.

The problem with the keyboard is across all applications, such as Word,
Explorer and Outlook.

I've unistalled Google Desktop and Toolbar and I've done a system restore,
but still the problem persists.

As it is, the machine is pretty much unusable except for mouse/pointer
activities.

I've checked the Language Bar settings, tried some Toshiba diagnostics,
checked the keyboard driver -- nothing appears to be wrong.

Now I'm running deep virus and spyware scans using Zone Alarm.

I used a different machine to submit this post.

Any help on how to fix the problem would be a real saviour.

Thanks for your time and kind assistance.

Sam