Shoutbox

My house mate's laptop keyboard has spazzed out.
Shes using Windows Vista Home Premium
Basically, all of the keys that have functions attached to them (so the keys with the keypad numbers and signs, volume up and down, etc.) don't work and the computer beeps whenever they are pressed, and the F keys (F1, F2, etc.) have different keys assigned to them so like F1 acts as the Windows key, F3 is "Z" and F4 is "N") but the other keys work fine. Also the return key doesn't respond. I've tried doing a system restore and that didn't help and I uninstalled the keyboard and reinstalled it but it has not changed.
I also noticed that even on the Vista boot options the keys were not working.
My house mate tells me that she hasn't modified anything on her laptop to make it do this (she was on Facebook at the time)
Any ideas? Its an Advent laptop and ERT model.

is there a "Function Lock" button on the keyboard or something like that

my keyboard has that, without it the F buttons wouldn't work, because they all have other functions assigned to them

quote:

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Originally posted by Reaper
I also noticed that even on the Vista boot options the keys were not working.

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Hardware problem.   Take it to be fixed (hopefully under warranty).  Use an external (USB) keyboard if she needs to get off any personal information first.

quote:

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Originally posted by Adeptus

quote:

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Originally posted by Reaper
I also noticed that even on the Vista boot options the keys were not working.

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Hardware problem.   Take it to be fixed (hopefully under warranty).  Use an external (USB) keyboard if she needs to get off any personal information first.

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Is it likely to be a hardware problem over anything else then?

quote:

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Originally posted by Reaper
Is it likely to be a hardware problem over anything else then?

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If the keyboard was only "screwing around" one the O.S. has loaded, it could be a software issue.

Yet, since it seems to not even respond to the up/down arrows keys on the bootloader, it confirms it is a hardware problem.

(At leasts I think that's what Adeptus means, let him confirm).

Like I said, is there an F-Lock or Function lock button?

It's similar to caps lock/num lock which can be enabled pre-os....if this needs to be pressed to get the F buttons to work, then that would explain why they won't work

quote:

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Originally posted by albert
Yet, since it seems to not even respond to the up/down arrows keys on the bootloader, it confirms it is a hardware problem.

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Exactly.

The stuck Fn / F-Lock issue should be considered, but it sounds to me there are keys affected that do not typically change their function depending on that.  Check it, but I have a feeling that won't be the problem here.

As for software issues, I can't even imagine what kind of a Windows problem would cause that, and the fact the boot menu is affected suggests it is not.  At that point, Windows native drivers have not even been loaded.  You can boot some Linux LiveCD if you want to test it completely different environment, but I wouldn't consider that necessary.

Is the proper keyboard layout set?

There is no function lock key on the keyboard.
The up and down keys work on the boot, its just the keys I mentioned that don't work at any time.

quote:

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Originally posted by rav0
Is the proper keyboard layout set?

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Yes it is.

I have a sony laptop and when i type keys "uiop" it displays as 7890 and when i press 0 it showing /, but  all the other keys are working fine. Could anyone please help me out with this problem?