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.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
hi i have a very annoying problem with the keyboard. i have a toshiba satellite A215. the problem is that at random times, the keyboard keys change functions. when i push 2, it shuffles thru the windows that are open. when i push 3, it opens internet explorer. when i push d, it opens the desktop or switches to all the windows open. when i push t, it tabs thru each window. when i push r, it opens the run program. push u, opens the ease of access center. push l, it locks the laptop (very annoying). i can keep on going on but ill stop cuz i think you get the point. i tried using an external keyboard via usb, it was okay for a bit but the problem came back. i tried using the onscreen keyboard, but honestly, it shocked me that when i clicked on l…it locked the laptop. i restored my laptop with the recovery cd and the problem was still there. oh yea, everytime i push a key lightly..it opens up the start menu. HELP. ive felt like going to my laptop with a hammer for a while…
September 13th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hi im having problem with my toshiba satellite laptop sorry but i forgot the model number, the problem is with the FN key, after i turn on my laptop the FN key light will automatically turn on also then after that i cant type anything. I tried to press the FN key over and over again but it wont turn off(the FN key light). I also tried to press Num Lk or Scl Lk but still the same. So what i do is restart my laptop again, after the restart it will do just fine for about 10 minutes then the same problem happens again. I hope you can help me. Thanks.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Hi Folks!
Just wanted to share my new experience.
If your Windows XP denies to run due to an error corresponding to lost HAL.DLL, invalid Boot.ini or any other critical system boot files you can fix this by using the XP installation CD. Simply boot from your XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console. Then run “attrib -H -R -S” on the C:\Boot.ini file and delete it. Run “Bootcfg /Rebuild” and then Fixboot
Regards,
Carl
August 18th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I am trying t type symbols and latin lettes but I cannot find the keys for the symbols and the alt key is not helping any
August 7th, 2008 at 6:48 am
hi. i seem to have a problem with my acer laptop.
when ever i turn my laptop on. what happens is when the loading bar appears to load the sistem it just stops moving. i have to press the space bar to make it load up. i wonder why is this happening i cant get a solution to this mater. can anyone out there help me pls? thanks
June 18th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
please e-mail me as i don’t know if i’ll be ever be able to get back to this site. I lost my recovery disc for my toshiba laptop satellite a105-s2061. Is there any substitute for it? (the restore feature is in ruins too!
June 9th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
HI…I OWN A SONY LAPTOP AND FOR SOME REASON DA LETTER BETWEEN W AND Y DOSENT WORK…ITS THE ONLY ONE THAT DOSENT WORK…OR WHEN I FIRST CUT THE PC ON AND I GO TO THE ADDREESS BAR IT GOES CRAZY AND IT ONLY WRITES THAT LETTER….WHAT CAN I DO….OH AND ANOTHER THING SOMETIMES I GO TO A WEBSITE AND IT DOSENT SHOW ME PICTURES AND AFTER THAT I GO ANOTHER WEBSITE AND IT DOSENT SHOW PICS SO I GATTA GET OUT OF THE INTENET AND START DOING EVERYTHIN AGAIN….PLEASE HELP ME…ITS NOT MY PC BUT I WANT TO BUY IT AND I WANT TO KNOW IF ITS WORTH BUYING IT….PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!THANK YOU
June 1st, 2008 at 5:37 am
whenever i press the power button of my toshiba satellite M45-S2652 system unit, the screen stays black with lit backgound. and nothing else except some noise in the backgound.
i do not know what is wrong with it.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Hello, I have the weirdest problem with my laptop. It suddenly seems to be possessed! It is a toshiba satellite, i bought it two months ago and it had been working very well. I installed an anti virus as well as windows xp on friday and the laptop worked very well during the week-end. Suddenly on monday morning the keyboard totally flipped out. When I try to write words it writes some other words completely: something like ggggggggmebetherriendesrosiers….bbbbbbbbb
and it won’t stop!
Could you please tell me who I have to see about this? Do you think it’s the store, toshiba or windows?
When I am on the Internet it constantly brings me back to pages I’v consulted before. What is happening? Thank you very much.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Melanie,
Test the laptop in Safe Mode (press F8 on startup and select Safe Mode). Will it happen in Safe Mode too? If the laptop works fine in Safe Mode but not on normal mode, it’s possible that your problem is software related. I’m not sure what is wrong exactly but reinstalling Windows may fix it.
Also, if you think that your problem is related to the keyboard, you can try this. Disconnect the laptop keyboard from the motherboard (search the laptop manual for instructions) and test the laptop with an external USB keyboard. If the external keyboard is working fine, you problem may be related to the internal keyboard.
May 11th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Hello,
My laptop Dell Inspiron 1525 has been fine until today. Now, whenever I hit a button on the keyboard, the laptop gets into the sleep mode (sorry if the techical phrases aren’t exact, I’m actually French…). I checked if I had a virus, but there was none. I then tried to switch my French keyboard to an American one (with the “language” option), but nothing’s changed. So I believe the problem comes from the keyboard. But then, from time to time, the problem kind of fixes, and the laptop doesn’t get into the sleep mode. But then again, the problem comes back…
I would really be grateful if you could help me
Thanks!
May 1st, 2008 at 2:35 pm
dasarathan,
I believe you can switch it back to normal if you press NumLk key. It maybe necessary to press and hold down Fn key and at the same time press NumLk, I don’t remember exactly. Try both ways.
April 30th, 2008 at 5:40 am
I am using IBM thinkpad R51 series, In my key board contains short cut for numbers with the alphabet key. now If i am typing the alphabet it is typing the numbers.pls help me how to change the functionality of keyboard functions? Thanks in Advance.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:38 am
i have been using compaq presario v-3000 notebook. some of the chracter keys does not show the actual characters on the monitor,viz, backslash and vertical bar do not appear, instead,~ and # come when i press the key. what shall i do. my os is vista home basic.
April 13th, 2008 at 7:05 am
I have been using compaq pessario v 3000 series notebook. Vista was given preloaded. My problem is that some characters in the keyboard does not appear on the screen when i press it viz, backslash and vertical bar, instead there appears ~ and # when i press the key for vertical bar and backslash. when i changed the os in to windows xp there was not such problem. But i prefer vista to xp. what shall i do?
April 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Sticky keys on your notebook? Don’t forget about where you put your wireless keyboard if you have one! If you have set it aside with stuff piled on top of it’s keys and it is in range of your notebook it can really make you think something is wrong with your notebook keyboard!
April 4th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Well, I do not own a laptop, but my brother in law does. I have a desktop computer, and I have had quite a few in different countries and continents, still I am far away of being an expert. In the one I have now I need to type shift+ ” to get the @ character and viceversa; my brother in law used to do the same on his Acer laptop, but now the @ character is nowhere to be found, he can’t sign-in in many places because he can’t type his email address, any suggestions? Thanks a lot.
March 24th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Hi there,
I’ve read through all the posts, but mine is slightly different. I have a Compaq Presario laptop running XP. Since we’ve had it (1.5 years), every once in awhile (once a month, once every two months or so) we’ll be typing and all of a sudden most keys do different things than what is assigned to them. If I type in normal font, it will all be in CAPS; my F7 might open the thesaurus, the 8 key might be a colon. It is consistent each time it happens, and it happens inconsistently. I either shut down the laptop or open a new window (the mouse works fine, by the way) and bang around on the keys until it goes away. Unfortunately, it is beginning to happen more. Any ideas?
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Lara,
I think your “problem” can be related to the touchpad tapping option. Maybe you are touching the touchpad while typing and because of that the blinker jumps to another location. Try disabling the touchpad option in the touchpad properties.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
john wagner,
I think the mouse moves on its own because the red pointer on the keyboard is broken and is not working properly. I posted your question and some troubleshooting tips here.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:56 pm
i recently purchased a new acer laptop, acer aspire 5315. at points within typing my typing blinker goes where ever it wants. if i dont pay attention i will end up writing all my sentences in another. i am not sure how to fix this. sometimes it just goes away and im doing nothing. if you know what i could do please let me know.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:51 am
I have a Compaq EVO N610c laptop.
It has a 2 mouse pointers on the keypad. one is a touchpad and the other is the red button in the center of the keyboard.
My problem is that the mouse keeps moving on its own. If i try using either of the 2 it still moves all over the screen.
any ideas
March 12th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
i have a problem on my laptop i have dell inspiron 1520. my problem is when i press the left ALT key,it is stuck. It is not responding and it is also resulting in me being unable to type. The Keyboard test shows that all the other keys are working, except for the left ALT key.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:15 am
Never mind…it turns out my mouse was the problem. The scroll wheel is not centered and I guess that is causing it to behave badly when touched. I’m exchanging it for a new one soon
February 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Hi Laptop Freak! My problem seems like a stuck key, but when I reboot it goes back to normal. This morning all of a sudden it was like the backspace button was stuck and anywhere I typed would get erased. If I tried to click on an icon, it would just go through the other icons like maybe the tab button was stuck. This has happened twice today. I just ordered a new laptop, but this one is supposed to go to my husband and I don’t want him using my new one! LOL I’m hoping it’s a software issue, but if I need to replace the keyboard, that’d be fine too. Just please don’t tell me it’s the motherboard…
February 24th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Virgil,
If it happens with only one key, probably you have a problem with the keyboard and it has to be replaced.
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Dear sir,
Right now, the “L” button works on my laptop keyboard. but sometimes the key doesnt work at all. It appears for half a second, then is gone. When I hold the “L” key down, it will backspace. When I press “shift+L”, it’ll appear, but capitalized. Please offer me any advice on how to get this problem resolved.
December 28th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Dear Sir
I have a toshiba M30X-130 laptop. After start-up the keyboard works for a few minutes and then stops. Please help.
I already up-dated the BIOS but the problem persists.
December 20th, 2007 at 3:26 am
i have a dell desk top. My number keys on the side of keyboard doesn’t do numbers anymore it does the arrow keys instead. How do i fix it, and keep the kids from doing it again>
December 19th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
when i entered into my hubbys myspace my laptop just freaked out and turned blue with an error sign and told me to shutoff the computer immediatly. it took me a few times to try to get it back on but i finally did.I just purchased this hp laptop 1 week ago brand new