My computer keyboard starting doing its own thing
I have a Satellite M35X. I use this laptop for work and personal use. It was purchased January 2005, so it’s 18 months old. Recently, I purchased Scan Disk to back up my documents file on a chip that you can carry around your neck, — I don’t know the technical name for what they call this. The day I plugged this in to a USB port, 20 minutes later when I was working in Microsoft Word, my computer keyboard starting doing its own thing. If I hit the shift key, it would take off typing “n” across the page or the backslash symbol. It would reboot but I could not get past the password screen. When I started to enter my password – the touch pad still works well in moving the cursor to an area. It would permit me to enter 3 characters, then it would return wiping the display out and back to reentering again. I purchased a new keyboard and replaced the old. The same thing occurred. I purchased an external keyboard, and unplugged the laptop’s keyboard. For the first 4 hours everything went well, then it did the same thing. When I went into Word it would start typing capital “b” across line upon line. Hitting Escape did not stop it. Holding down the backspace key just caused it to delete the last typed letter, but as soon as it was released, it would continue across the page. Sometimes it would type three characters on a line then return and start with a backslash symbol and type a couple more alphabets on that line, then return and start with a backslash again and a few more characters, return again, and do the same over and over. The alphabet typed on the lines were not always the same – it liked a capital “A” and “n” quite often. When you then go into Microsoft Explorer it will not let you type in the search bar or the address bar but inserts backslashes, continual, never ending Since the laptop keyboard has been replaced, and an external purchased and plugged in, it is not the keyboard, but must be something in the computer. HELP! Any suggestions????
According to the description you’ve provided, I would assume that the keyboard is bad, but you already replaced it. That is a very strange problem. I assume that it might be a software problem.
You can try to reinstall the keyboard drive. Open the device manager and find the keyboard line. Click on the plus sign to expand it. Right click on the “Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard” line and click on uninstall the driver. After you reboot the laptop, Windows will reinstall the driver automatically. Try it first – it might help.
Also you can try this. Revert the operating system back in time when the keyboard was working properly. You’ll have to use the system restore utility. Go to Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – System Restore. Choose date and time when the keyboard worked fine and run the restore. This process will revert only system files and you shouldn’t loose any personal data.
If it still doesn’t help, you can reload the operating system from a recovery DVD. It will take the laptop software back to original factory defaults. When you re-image the drive all data on your hard drive would be erased. BACKUP all important files before you run the recovery DVD. This process should eliminate any software related problems.
One more thing. Try to re-flash or update the laptop BIOS. May be the BIOS is corrupted and it causing the keyboard problem.
If it still doesn’t help, then I would assume that the keyboard controller on the system board can be bad and the system board has to be replaced.
January 27th, 2007 at 6:00 am
Hey,
here’s an update about my sony vaio’s keyboard.
Like you suggested I disconnected the internal keyboard and tried the external one. At first it worked fine, but after a while, one of the keys also get stuck. If I reboot the computer, the problem is solved again for a while. But when one of the keys “gets stuck”, and I unplug the external keyboard, the key that got stuck still appears so I don’t think its a keyboard problem. However, when I plug in the external keyboard again the laptop won’t boot. The bios keeps beeping so I think I have 2 problems: the internal keyboard really has some keys that are stuck and then a motherboard problem?
Lately, I have another problem comming up, the laptop won’t boot at all. When I turn the laptop on I hear the fan and the cd drive but nothing appears on the screen. After a few seconds the fan stops and the harddrive turns off. Sometimes I can hear soms beeps but this doesnt always happen. After trying to boot a couple of times it works again. I don’t know what to think about this. Could this also be the keyboard? The internal keyboard is still detached so that can’t be the problem. With the external keyboard detached the problem still exist. Could there be something wrong with the bios? Would I risc to reflash it with the faulty keyboard?
Thx
January 26th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Hi “Laptop Freak”!
I found article about reparation of the keyboard before posting.Keyboard has been disassembled fully and there are no mechanical defects. so all keys can be pushed, the problem seems in to the flexible board with the contacts from the plastic that Toshiba use for this laptop, is anyone know may be there are this board compatible electrically with other Toshiba laptops?
In fact replacing keyboard here is annoying and cost about 50euro for keyboard and 30euro and 20 euro for French layout (135USD). just may be common advice how problem can be resolved, as its seems problems in the thin plastic board with contacts(its type of board where crossed lines change color do not receive unnecessary contact).After my previous HP its seems to be very cheaper and not reliable decision.
January 25th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Derek,
I think you’ll have to replace the keyboard, as it shown here.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hello,
I have a Dell Inspiron 2200. Certain keys on the keyboard have started working incorrectly. All keys in a certain section, when typed, also enters the key beside it. A typed sentence would look like this: (A typerdf srenternvcer woulfd look liker this.) Clearly, this is annoying. (The keys sticking are: 3,4,e,r,t,d,f,g,c &v) All in the same section. Could you please offer me some advise? Thank you,
Derek.
January 25th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Leon,
I’ve never repaired a laptop keyboard myself but this guy did.
January 25th, 2007 at 9:01 am
As I read these links I wonder if we have a case against Toshiba’s laptop keyboards. Seems to me that more cases than not are Toshiba issues.
What do you all think…it may even be a recall thing.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Hi!
I have strange problems on Toshiba Satellite A45.
When internal keyboard not detached (its usual way:)
The key ‘n’ seems to be pressed, and buffer of the keyboard of course become full after several second and you can hear specific sound in the BIOS.To cancel it just need to press ESC, when windows XP loading the same situation ‘n’ apper in any input field until I press any key from the last row where ‘n’ is located. N and VBF keys are not working.I tried to disassembly internal keyboard but seems there are no mechanical defect and no pressed key detected visually and by tester. Anyone have advice how to repair keyboard ? Its a laptop keyboard of not very expensive series.Any advise? I do not want to pay 50euro for new keyboard as it too much.thank you
Leon
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Rob,
I believe it could be a problem with your Keyboard Language settings. Most laptops work fine only with the US English language setting.
My own 2 laptops started erratic key-prints, e.g. # for \ and @ for ” when I changed the default language to UK English.(Guess this is more of a bug with Microsoft Windows XP…and ain’t THAT a surprise!)
Probable Solution:
Go to Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages (tab). Click Details and ensure that the Default Input Language is set to English (United States) – US
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Rob,
I think it might be software issue (I hope so). Reinstall the operating system from scratch; you can reimage the hard drive using the recovery DVD. If the same problem still exists, probably you have a faulty keyboard controller on the motherboard. In this case you’ll have to replace the motherboard. Just in case upgrade/reflash the BIOS. Who knows, it might help too.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Rosie,
I think your friend advices you to replace the “internal” laptop keyboard. Of course you can connect a replacement USB keyboard without turning the computer on, but the question is if you would be able to use it.
If you are talking about BIOS password then most likely installing an external USB keyboard will not help, because the keyboard will not be initialized on the BIOS level.
If you have only Windows password, then an external USB keyboard should work and you would be able to type the password.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Anand,
I think I found it. Spent about 5 minutes playing with the accessibility options on my laptop running Windows XP.
Here’s how you can turn of this “useful” feature.
Go to Control Panel, then press on the Accessibility Options icon and uncheck the “Use FilterKeys” box. Click OK and enjoy the silence.
January 21st, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Hi,
I have a Toshiba Qosimo G10, it has a problem where the keyboard is not doing the right thing, ie: when you push enter it comes up as #, when you push backspace it acts as home, any suggestions, i have had the keyboard replaced but the fault still exists.
thanks
January 21st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I have an ACER TravelMate 4001LCI laptop. A great number
of keys (about 40%) have stopped working. I plugged in
an USB keyboard and everything works fine. The problem
was progressive – - – first I noticed that one key didn’t
print. Then 4 or 5 – - – eventually a bunch didn’t work.
While under warranty ACER would never reply to my online
inquiries of their tech support. After warranty period lapsed they said “Sorry, out of warranty.” Needless to
say I’ll never buy ACER again – - -
January 20th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Ducatisto,
Probably it’s just a bad keyboard and you’ll have to replace it. You can use an external USB keyboard as a temporary solution.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Hi,
My laptop keyboard is broken, some keys stick and type at random and others won’t work at all. A friend advised me to install a new keyboard, but I can’t log into my computer as its password protected. Is it possible to connect a replacement USB keyboard without turning the computer on, and if so do I need to remove the broken keyboard? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks
January 18th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
hi- i own a dell latitude d600 and have an annoying problem with its keyboard. one fine day it decided that its going to make “click” sound for every key you use. i have tried to muck around with all software controls- funny thing is that this sound probably comes from some internal speaker – as even muting the sound using software doesnt stop this sound.
anyone any ideas??
thnks
anand
January 18th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Hi there,
I have a bit of an issue here, The keyboard on my toshiba satellite just stopped working properly! Certain keys type correctly, some type something different and the others type nothing at all or send the cursor back… Very frustrating because i can’t even log on as an administor to be able to troubleshoot the problem since i cannot enter the password correctly because of this keyboard issue… Any guyding hand will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
January 16th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Jean,
It’s pretty simple to replace the keyboard on a Toshiba Satellite P25 notebook. Here’s a disassembly guide I’ve created for this model. Remove the battery first and then follow steps 7-11. Removing the keyboard strip on this laptop is a challenge, keep trying. Be very careful with the keyboard connector on the motherboard. If you break it, you’ll be in trouble. Otherwise, everything is simple.
January 16th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I have a Toshiba Satellite P25-S526, and I’m really sorry but I haven’t taken care of it so I want to replace the keyboard, I know I’ll have to buy the part and I’m going to, but I’m not sure on what to do after I have the part in hand..so how do I go about this? The reason I want to replace it is because I’m missing some keys and also because my J key doesn’t work and I think replacing it would be he easiest solution. (I found one that cost 26 dollars =D)
January 13th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Francis,
You already replaced the keyboard and reinstalled the operating system but still experience the same problem with the internal keyboard. I think you have a problem with the motherboard, I don’t know what else could be wrong.
The keyboard connector is located on the motherboard.
Motherboards for this model are very expensive. If you search by the part number (K000002020) you’ll get an idea how expensive it is. Think twice before you put this money into a 4 year old laptop. May be it’s time to buy a new one?
January 12th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Hello again laptop freak,
i wrote on 12/11 about my keyboard issue. i may not have been clear, the external keyboard was working just couldn’t get the laptop to let me change boot order. somehow it finally did, reinstalled everything again, reflashed bios and still no internal keyboard working. then the next day it started to work. i couldn’t believe it, it lasted about a week plus then it died again. if it helps any, there were other odd things happening, like mousing on a desktop icon only to have 5 icons trying to open up at once. a desktop file icon automatically copying itself onto the desktop mulptiple (over 80) times. i am using the external keyboard right now and it is working. although occasionally i accidentally type on internal keyboard and after no response go back to external and get odd things like “find” windows appearing, or windows asking me if i am sure i want to delete something when i didn’t even have that open. i usually just shutdown and then reboot or try later in the day as i am exasperated by this time. so my question is, this is a nice laptop but i have had it for 4+ years i think. if i get a new system board is it highly likely that is the problem? you mentioned the keyboard connector, i am hoping a new system board comes with that, just in case? any info is greatly appreciated before i shell out that kind of money, thanks in advance, francis joshua
January 11th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Xavier,
I thought that you reinstalled the OS from scratch.
I think it’s possible.
Here’s what I would try:
1. Reinstall the operating system. Test the laptop.
2. If you don’t want to reinstall the OS, you can download a live Linux OS (I use Knoppix). This operating system runs from a CD and you don’t have to erase everything from your hard drive. You just download an .iso file, burn it on a CD (I use Nero or Alcohol software) and boot the laptop from the CD. It will boot the laptop into a Windows-like environment and you can test the keyboard in there. If you still experience the same problem, it’s not OS related.
3. If you still have the same issue after you accomplished steps 1 and 2, you’ll have to go inside the laptop. Disconnect the laptop keyboard from the motherboard and test it with an external USB keyboard. If the problem still there, probably you have an issue with the motherboard. If the laptop works fine with the USB keyboard when the internal keyboard is disconnected, probably it’s just a bad keyboard.
January 11th, 2007 at 1:51 am
I hope it’s not the motherboard or cpu.
Execpt for the keyboard en the touchpad everything seems to be normal. I didn’t reinstall the os though. I used system restore from windows to set the system back to the date the keyboard worked fine. Also the thouchpad doesn’t work very normal. When I select a shortcut and then I press on another one both of the shortcuts stay selected. It’s just like the control key is pressed down. And when I want to open something form the control panel for example, the new window opens after the control panel.
Could it be that one of the keys of the internal keyboard is stuck and that this affect the external keyboard too?
January 10th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Xavier,
So you are getting the same problem with internal and external keyboard on a laptop with freshly reloaded OS? I don’t think it’s a keyboard related problem. Hard to say what is wrong. Motherboard, CPU?
January 10th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Hey,
to complete my story, the keyboard I attached was an external one. I used a usb to ps2 converter.
thx
January 9th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Milos,
It looks like you might have a software related issue. I had to repair a similar problem about 5 days ago. One lady complained that her keyboard doesn’t work in Windows. I tried the keyboard in Windows (in safe mode too) and it didn’t work. I booted the laptop from a live Linux CD and the keyboard worked fine with Linux. I fixed the problem by reinstalling the operating system. I guess you should try reinstalling the OS too.
January 9th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Xavier,
You said that attaching another keyboard gives the same result. Are you attaching an external keyboard or actually replacing the laptop keyboard with another one?
If you replaced the keyboard with another one and the laptop still has the same problem, most likely the motherboard has a bad keyboard controller. You’ll have to replace the motherboard.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:27 am
My keyboard is not working in xp. I need password and i cant type it but I can use keyboard when computer is booting and I can press f8 and select safe mode or other mode. When i need to type password keyboard isn’t working. Please help.
January 8th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
hey,
I have a sony vaio notebook (can’t tell you the model cause I don’t have it with me) and I have serious problems with the keyboard. None of the keys work properly. When I push a key nothing happens except for some function keys and the escape key. When I press one of those there are some symbols that keep coming just like I was holding a key down. They keep comming until I press backspace. Don’t know if I can stop it with an other key… I can’t enter the bios of the computer cause F2 doesn’t work. I did manage to restore the computer before the keyboard problem and I also reinstalled the drivers but the problem is still the same. Attaching another keyboard gives the same result. Is the keyboard broke or is there another problem?
thx
January 7th, 2007 at 6:33 am
press CTRL + SHIFT + ALT for a couple of seconds. (maybe 5 or 6) and then try the keys again.. if this doesnt work its just a faulty keyboard i think