I have a dead diagonal row of keys on my laptop keyboard
I have a dead diagonal row of keys on my Toshiba Tecra laptop keyboard. It is the 4 r f v keys.
I just installed a new keyboard and the problem persists to my dismay!!
So if it isn’t the keyboard what can I do to fix it?
First of all, try cleaning pins inside the keyboard connector on the system board. Spray pins with a connector cleaning solution. You can find this solution in a local electronic store. It’s possible that some pins oxidized and the keyboard cable is not making good connection with the system board. I use ProGold connector enhancer.
If cleaning the connector doesn’t help, most likely there is a problem with the keyboard controller on the system board. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the system board.
January 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
my son spilled water on his toshiba a35 laptop. most keys don’t work. [vista's onscreen keyboard does, if that is significant.] i’ve removed the keyboard, cleaned some whitish skuzz off the connector end of the ribbon, soaked the keyboard in distilled water n let it dry.
same keys still don’t work when i reconnected, but i don’t think the keyboard ribbon is completely in the connector; the right side seats better, and when i look closely, there’s what seems to be a white coating on a few of the pins on the left side of the connector.
is the white “normal?” should it be removed? i’d like, of course to get this working, and will buy/replace the keyboard if that’s what the problem is, but i don’t know how to distinguish a keyboard problem from a controller problem.
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:12 am
I have an acer 5920 the 2 w s x and all the other keys on the left side of them don’t work. this is the third time it has happened but the other times it was fixed by a hard reset. I have done every think I can think of but the keys still don’t work. What are some more things I can do to try and fix it? So far I have checked the conection two the keyboard, up dated the bios, hard reset it and a few other small things. Please help I typed this on my iPod.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I ahve posted on here about another laptop, but I have a second laptop with the same problem as above, but with a few differences.
It’s a different row of keys for one.
First let me start by stating that this laptop wes physically damaged. It had about 200 pounds dropped on it from a height of 12-18 inches, while it was closed. The screen was shattered, and I didn’t have the $$ for a new one. So it was hooked up to an external monitor for about 2 weeks, and was working fine. Then the touchpad quit working. I had known there was some malware on it and figured that was the issue. I didn’t really want to deal with it so I shut it down and it sat in the closet for a year. Then when I found a new screen at a decent price I ordered one and installed it and fired it up. Then a new issue was present. The 3, e, d, c keys weren’t working. I used the onscreen keyboard and an external mouse to do a restoration, and the touchpad still didn’t work and neither did the keys. I tried unplugging the keyboard, and the touchpad and cleaning everything up, and that did nothing. To this day the touchpad doesn’t work. Sometimes those keys on the keyboard work and sometimes they don’t. It seems to be random and doesn’t matter if I press hard or soft or if I hold them down or not. I hooked up an external keyboard and it worked fine, while the onboard keys weren’t working. So I don’t know if that rules out the keyboard controller or not.
The real interesting thing is I had put XP on it, and the keys seemed to work most of the time. When I reinstalled the factory vista discs they quit working again. I haven’t hardly touched it since so I haven’t given it the chance to see if they will work at random like before, when it had XP on it. Looking for a fix for both the keyboard and touchpad. On a REALLY tight budget right now, so ordering new parts from Toshiba isn’t an option. Ebay might be, but I don’t want to spend the $$ and have it not work.
April 24th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
I can’t use the keys 6, 7, y, u, h, j, n, or m. I’m sure I’ve just accidentally touched a combination of keys to make this happen. Please would you let me know the key combination to re-enable them. This is very urgent as I have 2 uni assignments due this week and need my computer to finish them.
April 25th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Erika,
Sounds like the keyboard failure. I doubt that you can enable these keys.
If you look at the keyboard, you’ll see that all these letters are located in two vertical rows. Most likely this is the keyboard failure and the keyboard has to be replaced.
You can finish your assignments with an external USB keyboard.
November 22nd, 2010 at 5:08 pm
First off, I’m a very computer savvy guy, and I’ve fixed upward of 1000+ laptops. So I know what I’m doing for starters and dont need any very descriptive reply, but just some intellectual suggestions.
Anyway, My computer recently started having problems with the keyboard, The keys misfunction in a “Diagonal Fashion”; keys “67YUHJNM” (I’ve read MANY topics regarding this, however most are about incidents with food/drinks/damage/etc. I keep my computer very clean, and take very good care of it; these issues do not pertain to the situation.
A previous topic above; Michaels post, seems to be the kinda close to the similar issues I’ve noticed.)
The keys work in a very random, sparse manner. The keys work fine in the bios, and in safe mode; If I stop the computer from starting up via killing the explorer and constantly ending processes as it starts up, I can use the command:
runas /noprofile /user:(ComputerName)\(AdminName) CMD
After which,the keyboard works fine for as long as I feel like running through the C: drive via CMD and executing programs. Alternatively, I could download an external windows explorer and probably run the PC in this fashion.
Additionally, if the keys stop working, I can delete the driver for ALL keyboard devices, and restart. The keyboard works fine for the longest before the issue coming up again, and me having to rinse and repeat.
The main ordeal being that I’m tired of doing the previously stated. I know it’s not a dirty keyboard related problem, as I’ve cleaned the keyboard.
The problem happens after I’ve logged into the computer but not on any given time frame. The keys may work perfectly fine one second for a .txt document, and in the time it takes to open firefox the problem presents itself at the .co”m” entry.
I have no viruses on the computer, after checks with many spyware/maleware/adaware/etc, and other cmd/task manager methods. I’ve read about others getting new keyboards and the “Diagonal issue” remaining. I doubt it’s the motherboard as the laptop is a $2,000 laptop, and I’ve not even owned it a year yet.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Regards,
~ V ~
November 25th, 2010 at 6:26 am
I have a dead diagonal row of keys on my laptop HP Pavilion DV5. Keys ”2 w s x” are dead. Keyboard has been replaced with the new one. Cleaned the connector. No success yet. No damage to the machine. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Amar