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.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Hi all,
I have fujitsu siemens Amilo Ax645. My keyboard suddenely stopped working. First my computer froze and when I turned it off and on and started to type the text, I realized that the keyboard is frozen. Only the mouse work. I’m know using an external keyboard and it works fine. Do you have any idea what that can be? Lap-top warranty expired just 3 months ago and I’m worried that the new laptop keyboard will cost me a fortune. Please, drop the line if you know the solution! Thank you!
February 20th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Jeff,
It looks like a lot of different people use the same computer. Ask other users if somebody accidentally spilled water on the laptop. Water is much more destructive than any virus.
Yes, the keyboard might stop working because of software issues.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:44 am
I just wanted to relay my current experience, maybe it’ll help someone else. I was using my laptop (Compaq Presario 2000) on the sofa 2 weeks ago and as I set it down my finger grazed the keyboard and I heard a static zap of electricity, about in the center of the keys. I left it for about 5 minutes and when I came back and tried to use it the keys I typed were not the characters being displayed. I rebooted thinking it some kind of software temporary corruption. On reboot I get a loud continuous beep, stuck key indicator right? Not good!
The full version of this comment you’ll find here.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:25 am
I woke up this morning to find windows popped up all over my computer I first thought it was a virus. But when I went to sign back in it would just start typing then deleting. This worked for awhile but then the keyboard completely shut down. The mouse still works fine though. Apparently water was spilled on the computer at some point last night. There was no water on the keyboard but some was came out of the hinges for the screen. Could a virus possibly shut down your keyboard or is it the water?
thanks
February 15th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Hi.
I’m using a Medion 6100. I’m pretty sure I have a stuck ‘a’ key from the descriptions in the posts I’ve read here.
Sometimes the ‘a’ key just starts shooting off uncontrollably and I can stop it for awhile by pressing backspace or other keys. During this ‘lull’ period, however, the ‘a’ key is unresponsive even when I press it.
What I’ve done is to attach an external keyboard into one of the USB hubs and it works fine. For eg., the ‘a’ key on the external keyboard functions okay during one of the ‘lull’ periods when the ‘a’ key on the laptop is unresponsive.
However, I can’t tell for sure as I don’t know how to totally disable the laptop keyboard. I’ve tried to uninstall it from the Device Manager but it’s still there after I reboot.
Can someone help me confirm to the best of their knowledge whether I indeed have a stuck key and whether it’s a purely physical hardware problem or something more nasty in my laptop?
And teach me how to totally disable the laptop keyboard as well? Thanks!
February 12th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Jeff, Henry,
Looks like this is a common issue. I’ve published your question and some suggestions here. This way more people can see this post and probably help you to find an easier solution then just reloading the operating system.
February 11th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
jeff: I GET THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM! Email me at hizzeh@gmail.com. I’ve been trying to fix this FOREVER. Of course the warrenty just ran out, so they won’t help me.
“She sells seashells down by the shore, thiHP laptop’s keyboard s a ****” – me typing without correcting the keyboard.
February 11th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
My laptop is an HP Pavilion zd8000
For some reason every 5-10 key strokes by laptop doen’t put a letter on the screen. I know I am hitting the key and yet it doesn’t want to put work properly. I end up with something like this without going back all the damn time to fix it—-> “Helo, my name is jeff and i ha a serious roblemith y laptop an the keys don’t sem to wanna worproperly. Its realy pissing me of.” So that SHOULD have been perfec grammar. Please help!
Cheers,
Jeff
February 11th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Hi, for some reason my F11 and F10 keys have inverted. The F11 key still enables the numbers but the F10 LED light shows up and vice versa. I also cannot use the normal keyboard even if I switch off both F10 and F11 keys. Is there anything that can be done to fix the problem?
February 9th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Imren,
Probably it’s a hardware issue, most likely a problem with the keyboard – stuck arrow-down key and End key, maybe some other keys too.
It sounds like a stuck key. The key itself might look normal, but contacts under the key are shorted and the laptop “thinks” the key is pressed down.
it sounds like a stuck arrow-down key. You can try it on any other computer. Open a webpage, press and hold down the arrow-down key and try to scroll up, the computer will fight you.
To narrow down the problem, I would remove the laptop keyboard (disconnect it from the motherboard) and test the laptop with an external keyboard and mouse. If the problem is gone and the laptop will not beep on startup anymore and stop fighting you, the laptop keyboard is the culprit. Replace the keyboard.
You mentioned that the end button works fine after you reinstalled the operating system but I think the problem might appear again.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:21 am
Thanks for the reply. I’ll see if I can find out how to get a new keyboard.
Jan
February 8th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Jan,
It sounds like you have a faulty keyboard and have to replace it. Even though the “=” key is not physically stuck, you might have a problem with contacts under the key.
February 8th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Hi,
I got 2 responses, to my question above,(at least I think I did) but they went to my spam folder and I accidently deleted them.
Whoever sent the replies, please resend them.
Thanks,
Jan
February 8th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Dear Laptop freak;
I own a Sony Vaio VGN-FS742/W
I am having major keyboard issues (atleast this is what i think). About two months ago, my laptop started beeping everytime i turned on at the Sony Vaio start up screen. It wouldnt stop and continue to load until i pressed and held down a button for a few seconds and let go. Then, my “END” button wouln’t work. This was bearable for the past two months until recently about a month ago, when I visited websites or used my word, the page would scroll all the way to the bottom. So lets say i’m visiting a webpage, the screen will automatically scroll to the very bottom, and the computer will fight with me if i wanted to scroll up. the same thing happens when i try to type something. lets say im typing
“i am going to the store”
but instead i wanted to insert the word “food” in front of the word “store”.
I cannot bring my blinker in front of the word store, or anywhere else in that matter. The computer will fight with me to bring the blinker after the last letter of the last word. In this case, the blinker would always be at the end of the word “store”.
I just couldn’t take it anymore and decided maybe reformatting would help fix my problem So this afternoon, i actually went ahead and did so.
My end button now works, however my scrolling issues are still there.
PLEASE help me before i throw the computer against the wall.
Thank you so very much and I really do appreciate your help.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Hi,
I have been reading some of the questions here. Some of them sort of have to do with what my problem is, but not exactly so I will discribe my specific one.
My machine is an Averatec 3250HS-20
About a month ago, my keyboard just started typing an equal sign (=) randomly. It never can be predicted when it will do it. If I hit the back space or enter button, it will stop. Sometimes the equal sign will type itself into a setance at random. For example, it looks like this:
The quic=k brown fox j==um=ps over the laz=====y do=g.
or like this:
=======================
and it will just keep going like that untill I hit the backspace key.
When it is doing this, the keyboard makes a continuous sound akin to the one made when an excalmation window pops up on the screen.
Also, when it starts all this, I lose my touchpad function. The right and left mouse buttons still work. It’s just that you cacn’t tap the membrain and get it to work.
As soon as I punch the backspace key, I get the touchpad back.
I have run my virus, spyware, registry checker, and re-installed the mouse driver. None of this has helped.
None of the keyboard keys in question seem to be stuck. It’s just a random thing.
Also, around the same time this started to happen, I became unable to put the maching into sleep mode, and have it hold. What it would do is go to sleep, for about 3 seconds, then wake up on its own. It would do this whether I put it to sleep with the function keys or by closing the screen. I simply could not get it to “sleep”. Since I use the laptop in the car alot, I put it to sleep when I am not in the car to keep it from getting so hot.
I have since gone in and changed the close screen and function key directive to “hibernate”. It seems to work that way and will hibernate with no probems. (although, having to put it into hibernation instead of sleep mode is is a mjor inconvenience due to the time it take for it to come out of hibernation)
Any clue as to what I can do to get this fixed?
Thanks,
Jan
February 7th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Bob Kirkwood,
I think you’ll have to replace the keyboard, it shouldn’t be very expensive. Probably you can install the rubber cone back in place using this keyboard disassembly guide, but I’m not sure if you can clean the electrical contacts.
February 5th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
William,
You type U,I,O,J,K,L and get instead 5,6,7,1,2,3, right?
I’ve seen that before.
There is nothing wrong with the keyboard; you just have enabled numbers located on the keyboard.
You can enable or disable numbers on the keyboard using a function key.
On my Toshiba notebook I press Fn and F11 to enable/disable this. On my HP notebook there is a special button in the top row called “num lk” – number lock, so in this case I use Fn+num lk. The same NumLK key I have on the IBM notebook.
You should have a similar combination on your Gateway notebook.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I spilled a little beer onto the keyboard of my Toshiba Satellite L25 S1192 (model no 000Q000P) I mopped it up quickly, but now some keys do not respond (including enter, backspace, hyphen/underscore, shift(RH side), full stop, I assume the beer has dirted the electrical contacts on the keys What is the best way to clean up the keyboard, if possible? In addition, I prised up the enter key pad and managed to disconnect the rubber cone from the base ,,is this a fatal error? do I now need a new keyboard? I would appreciate your advice Many thanks Bob Kirkwood
February 5th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Hey there Laptop Freak!!!! First of all I’d like to say that this is an amazing thing you are doing for people like me out there!!! And on your own time for that matter!!! Thank you!!! Ok down to it.. I have a Gateway Laptop and the right side of the keyboard is not working properly.. its weird.. I can ype an “I” and it will show up as a “5″ and this happens for the whole right side of the keyboard.. I would like to know what this could be. I have updated the keyboard driver and it did nothing, tried rebooting and even checking the regional laguiage settings on the laptop yet to no avail!! Please man, if you could have some insighte on what this may be I would love to hear it!!! Thank Laptop Freak!!! I really appreciate it!!!
William Rapp(student)
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Cherry,
and use the laptop with the external keyboard. If the external keyboard works fine, probably you have a stuck ALT key on the laptop keyboard.
I think you still might have a “stuck” key even though it looks and moves normal. Probably some contacts are shorted underneath the ALT key. You can test the notebook with an external keyboard.
Contact the external keyboard, make sure the internal keyboard works fine, pound it if needed
Replace the keyboard as it shown on the steps 9-12 .
February 3rd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Mark Dyer,
I had to repair a laptop with almost the same problem two weeks ago. The only difference, the keyboard stops responding at all as soon as I enter the password. I had to reinstall the operating system from scratch. I don’t know if there is an easier solution.
February 1st, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Jessica,
First of all, it might be a software related issue and you’ll have to reinstall the operating system.
I’m not sure if it’s going to help but you can try reseating the keyboard connector on the system board, maybe contacts got oxidized and it will not work properly anymore. Just disconnect the keyboard from the motherboard and connect it back. It’s easy to remove the keyboard from a HP notebook. The screws that hold the keyboard in place are usually marked on the bottom. You also can find maintenance manual on the HP website and follow their instructions. It’s possible that the internal keyboard failure also affects the external keyboard and that’s why you cannot use it either.
In short, reseat the keyboard and if it will not help, reload the operating system (use recovery CDs).
February 1st, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I have a Toshiba Satilite M45-S2652 for at least a year. Lately, when I turn on the laptop, the keyboard doesn’t work correctly. It acts as if the ALT key is permanently on. (I’ve checked to see if it was stuck, it isn’t). So I can’t type. If I double click on an icon on the desktop, it opens up the properties. Sometimes it will go away after pounding the keyboard a little bit. Or if I restart the laptop once or twice it’ll be ok. Let me know if you can help!
February 1st, 2007 at 2:50 am
Hi, i’m having a problem with my laptop keyboard. everything works fine in dos and when starting windows. as soon as i put my password in to the computer and log on i have to hold the FN key to be able to type. i’ve tried removing the keyboard driver then reboot but i can’t seem to solve the problem. was advised to reload the system but i’m looking for an easier solution. please help. thank you
January 30th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Hi Laptop freak! I really really hope you can help me because I’m about to through my laptop against the wall. I have an HP notebook, it’s almost 4 years old and runs on Windows XP. I know it’s old and I’d love to get another one but I’m a broke college student. A couple of months ago the keyboard on my laptop just randomly stopped working, all of the keys. I would restart it and then the keyboard would work fine. And then a little while later the same thing would happen again. It was bareable to restart but now it’s getting rediculous, the keyboard stops working everyday, I restart, and then like a minute later it will stop working again; I haven’t really been able to use my laptop in over a week because the keyboard stops working. I bought an external keyboard to plug into the PS2 port and that doesn’t work either. It reacts the same way as the internal keyboard, it will work for about a minute and then stops working. I have no idea what to do, I thought the external keyboard would solve my problem but it didn’t. I really hope you can help, thanks!!!
January 29th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Anne,
I work mostly with Toshiba notebooks and cannot guide you through the Sony disassembly. Here’s an example for taking apart Sony Vaio PCG notebook, it might be similar to yours.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:31 am
how then do i replace the keyboard?
January 28th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Anne,
I think you have a stuck key and have to replace the keyboard.
January 28th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Hi Laptop Freak,
I’m Anne from the Philippines.
I’m having problem with my Sony Vaio VGN-A790. While typing, it would suddenly fill my entire screen with
“uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu” even if i am not hitting that key. typing was hell! then if i actually press the “u” key, nothing appears on the screen. mysteriously, when i hit “2, 0 (zero), r, o, m and b”, letter “u” wipes out the screen. as in:
“2uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”, “0uuuuuuuuuuuuuu”, “ruuuuuuuuuuuuu”, “buuuuuuuuuuuu”, “ouuuuuuuuuu”, “muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu” .
there were times when it’s working fine, however, most of the time, it doesn’t.
January 27th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Xavier,
You have the same problem with the external keyboard, even when the internal keyboard is disconnected. So, it’s not the keyboard problem. I think you have an issue with the motherboard.
It might happen because of bad memory. Try reseating the memory module or replace it if you can find a spare one.
Do you have any other choice? Most important to have stable power.
I’m not sure if reflashing the BIOS is going to help in your situation. It sounds like might have a problem with the motherboard.