please.help

jacktyler

try what i said in my pm with the fn key and num lock first before anything else.

lorweld

Thanks Jack,

no this isn't doing anything but your definately on to something with the fn key cos as I've said if i hold the fn key down with the keys that were't working they then work! Thanks so much for all your help Jack I'm overwhemed at the lengths you've gone to, to help me out!

jacktyler

hmmm, i'll have another look for you tomorrow lorweld, i'm off to bed soon. hopefully there might be more "proper" techs about tomorrow, i'm just an amateur!

hopefully we can get it sorted for you

esbo

Hmmmm I am sure I have seen something like this before, I think the keys work some sort of matrix or grid so you might have like 10 vertical lines and 5 horizontal lines, when you press a key it joins the line in an electrial circuit so for example the letter 'n'
might be on row 3 and column 7 or whatever so it can tell when these two line are
joined. However if one line is broken in someway none of the keys on that line will work.

So I am guessing that one of those lines is broken or disconnected.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/keyboard.htm
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/keyboard3.htm

So I am pretty sure a track is broken in the keyboard unfortunately.
I guess that does not help you much in fixing it though, maybe the laptop had been hit or stressed causing a line to break?

If it was mine I would open it up if I could and see if I could get a look at it, it might be relatively easy to spot where the track is broken and fix it with some sort of bodged repair, however I expect it is pretty hard to get at. The break might well
be in a ribbon type cable which connects the keypad to the rest of the laptop perhaps.

I am also wondering if it is possible to connect a seperate keypad, I don't know because I don't have a laptop. I imagine a repair would cost a fair bit and I don't
know how much the computer is worth, if it is out of warrenty then I expect it's
value has dropped a bit.

Actually even if it is out of warrenty I think you could expect a repair for free perhaps? Just because the one year guarantee has expired does not mean you have no rights. Seems reasonable to expect a laptop to last 3 years.

You might even find just giving it a bit of a shake might help!!! (or make it worse!!).

Thats all assuming it is what I think it is, but it does seem to fit the bill, I am pretty sure it is not software as it seems to exhibit the grid pattern which is lost when those
signals are decoded for the computer software to use.

esbo

It is also possible that dirt had got into where the contacts are on the keypad but it would be a bit for it to lose a bunch.
Actually I notice you mentioned using the shift key and it worked, that might be expected because that might use a line which was not broken but I am not 100% sure how it works.

jacktyler

same problem here as well lorweld:

http://www.w00tw00t.co.uk/support/viewtopic.php?f=1&p=12365

no solution there, but at least it shows a few things that were tried and didn't work.

lorweld

thanks jack, yeah thats the exact same problem!
i bet its something really simple wrong, or am i ever the optimist!

esbo

There is a similar problem here with a column of keys
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1386697&tstart=15
and here
http://askville.amazon.com/Keys-Laptop-Keyboard-Working-Problem-Internal/DiscussionBoard.do?requestId=7152988&page=1

Note they and you broadly have the same number of keys not working, yours seems to be broadly part of the bottom row. Note one of the links mentions the ribbon cable which connects the keypad to the computer. I think I had this problem on a very old computer (ZX spectrum) and it was casued by a crack in a track in such a cable which I think I managed to fix (can't remember). Pressing alt shift probably just puts the keys onto a different track which is not broken.
You can use external keyboards with laptops.
Something like this is very portable and a posible cheap solution, they work very well, in fact I am using one now, they are nice and quiet too and it is as good as nromal keyboard and probably better
than the one on your laptop. You can even chuck it in the washing machine to clean it!!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Flexible-Foldable-Silicone-USB-Keyboard-PC-Laptop_W0QQitemZ120304614984QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item120304614984&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I am fairly sure it's the ribbon cable, t gets flexed slightly every time ou press a key which is probbaly like 10 million times!!

Ice_2

Hi I think its catching just had somethig similar happen to me...so started pressing the F keys...with Fn but it put my lappy into Hibernation mode...and then wouldn't come back out...so I turned it over and took the battery out its just two slide locks which then turned the lappy off all together...then started her back up and promblem solved...so try taking the battery out...and see if that works...I had to start up insafe mode first .....hths