Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

[Boomyal]

....has gone bananas. When you type, whether on a Word docuement or a website box, the keyboard is very erratic in what is layed down. You could hit a question mark and nothing will happen or it may display three question marks. Hit the space bar, nothing happens. Hit it again and it works. Some times you type a letter and it will capitalize without hitting the shift key???<br /><br />This is a Toshiba laptop running 98SE. Is this likely a software issue? The mechanical keys feel fine. Could this be a .....ware infection?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

It probably has a port where you can plug in a full size keyboard.... give that a shot and see what happens.<br /><br />There have been virus' that will do that to a keyboard.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Originally posted by Bob_VT:<br /> It probably has a port where you can plug in a full size keyboard.... give that a shot and see what happens.<br /><br />There have been virus' that will do that to a keyboard.

Great idea Bob. I'll give it a whirl.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

You can also use a boot floppy to get to a Dos prompt and test the laptop keyboard and then reboot using an external keyboard. Either way you'll know if it's a Windows problem or the keyboard has gone South.....

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Mrs. Boomyal, long ago, quit laughing when after asking me a question I stated that I do not know (not very often ), I'll throw it up on iboats.COM and see what good suggestions come forth.<br /><br />Her esteem for for all my compatriots on this forum is growing by leaps and bounds. Thanks all. I'll try the suggestions and report back.<br /><br />I've had bad keyboards on PC's but this one (on the laptop) does not feel the same.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

oops!

 

[PierBridge]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Sounds like sticky keys is enabled?????<br /><br />Reboot did not work huh?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Originally posted by PierBridge:<br /> Sounds like sticky keys is enabled?????<br /><br />Reboot did not work huh?

Reboot did not work PB. No keys are sticky. They feel perfectly normal. I'm just about to get out another keyboard and see what happens.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

I installed a standard 102 key PS2 keyboard. Had to load the driver, as W98se did not recognise it. The keyboard functions flawlessly....but at the same time, installing the external keyboard did not disable the laptop keyboard. They both work flawlessly. <br /><br />As the laptop only had one PS2 port and I had been running an external PS2 mouse, now all I have is the onboard toggle mouse. <br /><br />There is something strange going on here. As I suspected, from the feel of the onboard keyboard, there appears to be nothing wrong with it.<br /><br />I did run all the spyware/adware software and it did not alter the onboard keyboard performance prior to installing the external board.<br /><br />Help!

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Have you gone to Control Panel, System,Hardware, Device Manager and had a look at the Keyboard driver?? You can hi-lite that driver and delete it. Reboot and Windows should reload the driver.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Originally posted by Xcusme:<br /> Have you gone to Control Panel, System,Hardware, Device Manager and had a look at the Keyboard driver?? You can hi-lite that driver and delete it. Reboot and Windows should reload the driver.

I'll give it a try Xcusme. How soon we mortals forget all the tricks. Seems we learn them, then forget them. I'll try it and report back.Thanks

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

I shut down the laptop, disconnected the external ps2 keyboard and reconnected the ps2 mouse then rebooted.<br /><br />The external PS2 mouse works AND the imbedded laptop keyboard now works. The only thing that I noticed is that the cap lock indicator light does not work but the cap lock feature does.<br /><br />The laptop keyboard may be running off of the external key board driver. Should I still delete the key board driver, reboot and let it reinstall the laptop keyboard driver as you recommended above??<br /><br />You are tireless Xcusme! Mrs Boomyal and I give you the greatest regards for all of the help you have rendered over the last couple of years!<br /><br />This episode has caused Mrs. Boomyal to lust after a new laptop for her kitchen desk station. We are all operating off of a hardwired network that I meticulously strung thru the attic and down thru the walls at peril of life and limb. <br /><br />This Toshiba Satellite 4070 CDS has been a steller performer for what it is used for. I think it is now about 6 years old. It's only drawback has been that the mouse cursor is always hard to find and follow.<br /><br />Considering that this unit still works and that replacing it would be kind of a luxury, would any of the newer, moderately priced Dells be a good option??

 

[PierBridge]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

It's won't matter you could leave it.<br /><br />I bet Sticky keys was enabled and the reboot disabled it.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

what is this 'sticky keys' Pierbridge? Rebooting did nothing for the problem. It was only after I did the 'add new hardware' thing, for the external keyboard, that the problem ceased.

 

[KaGee]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Press the "any" key Boomer! <br />

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Originally posted by KaGee:<br /> Press the "any" key Boomer! <br />

Is the "any" key related to muffler fluid?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Open the control panel and check your keyboard settings.... key repeat rate etc. This is also where the driver list for the keybopard is.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Originally posted by Bob_VT:<br /> Open the control panel and check your keyboard settings.... key repeat rate etc. This is also where the driver list for the keybopard is.

Did all that Bob. Apparently the imbedded keyboard driver is for a standard Microsoft 102 keyboard. I would have thought that the laptop would have had a special keyboard driver.<br /><br />I hooked up the external keyboard and let 98se select the driver for it. It gave me a message that the new driver conflicted with the current driver but it accepted it. After doing it both keyboards worked fine.<br /><br />I then disconnected the external board, rebooted so that the imbedded keyboard driver would load. The imbedded keyboard still functioned well. I went to Device Mgr and found two drivers of the exact same description. One was 'exclaimed' out. I deleted them both, rebooted, went back and checked and it loaded the standard Microsoft keyboard driver. The imbedded keyboard still works with the exception of the Cap Lock indicator light. <br /><br />Who knows? at least the imbedded keyboard is working.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Well it is back to the same old problem. I think I will take it to the local computer guru. I wish I had a USB external board to try so I didn't have to keep disconnecting the PS2 external mouse. I hate laptop cursor movers.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Laptop? Wife's keyboard..(My life of continual odysseys)

Gees! Just when you think you've got things under control, she starts fighting back.<br /><br />I don't wish to be a PITA but,have you gone to the Toshiba website and d/l'd the keyboard driver for Win98?? Sometimes the Windows drivers are close, but not a perfect match.<br /><br />I looked at the Toshiba site but could not find your model number (Toshiba Satellite 4070 CDS). I did see a Satellite 4060CDT. I also saw the same keyboard driver for several 4000 model portables that address the Win98se OS.<br /><br />I'd try installing the 4000 series driver before you pack her up for a trip to the computer doc.<br />BTW: That driver is here...... second from the bottom....