Help with Laptop please....

HOGOGG

Hi Guys

Please can you help, my son's laptop keyboard won't work, it connects to the internet ok and the mouse works fine but i can't type anything or use the sensor pad ? i'm sending this message from my computor. Unfortunatley we are not very Technically minded, any help would be great, I have thought about taking to the PC Clinic @ PC world, do they charge alot to look at it ?

Any advice would be great, from a worried mum

albertross_2

has it been dropped? try pushing down (firmly but not too hard) all over the keyboard to reseat the motherboard connector? Does an external keyboard work if you plug it in? Does the capslock light come on if you press it? Does safe mode work (F8 at startup), or bios setup button to press varies, usually something like del.

HOGOGG

albertross wrote: »

has it been dropped? try pushing down (firmly but not too hard) all over the keyboard to reseat the motherboard connector? Does an external keyboard work if you plug it in? Does the capslock light come on if you press it? Does safe mode work (F8 at startup), or bios setup button to press varies, usually something like del.

Hiya
not been dropped, tried pressing on keyboard but didn't do anything.
Capslock light does not come on, will try turning it off and do i just press F8 when the loggin prompt comes on ?.
I'll unplug this keyboard now and try it.
be back soon
Jacqui

albertross_2

if capslock light doesn't come on, and nothing has been spilt on it, then my guess is either the keyboard is broken, or more likely, the keyboard connector on the motherboard has come loose. It should be fairly easy to check, with a screwdriver, and maybe the manual. Which laptop model?

F8 before windows starts. Try getting into the bios, as that will rule out any software issues, the key to press should come up on screen when you boot, eg press xx to enter setup

How old is it?

bryanb

Pressing F8 etc may not work if the keyboard is not functioning

HOGOGG

thanks for the quick reply, tried using this keyboard but not USB compatable so was unable to try.
sounds a bit scary opening the lap top up :eek: but i can try.
The lap top is Advent Model number E12B and about 2 years old.
I'll try F8 and bios (what am i looking for it to come up with on bios) sorry to sound so thick.
Jacqui

albertross_2

This may be relevant, but could be a red herring

http://www.w00tw00t.co.uk/support/viewtopic.php?t=3700

to get into bios, restart the laptop, and a screen should come up that says press xx to enter setup, or something similar.

HOGOGG

ok guys, tried an external keyboard and doesn't work, but the USB mouse does.
Can't get into bios as i have to press F10 and keyboard doesn't work.
PC world gave me a quote of £69.99 !!!!!!!!! and still might not be fixed once they have looked at it.
Anyone else ???

fwor

Must admit it doesn't look good - the keyboard controller on the motherboard may be kaput. However, it's still possible that something has failed in the keyboard and is also preventing an external one from working.

Might be worth looking on Ebay for a replacement keyboard for your make and model of laptop. Someone in another thread here reported paying a tenner for his and that it was easy to replace. But that will vary a lot depending on make and model...

HOGOGG

Thats a great idea, i have just been looking on Ebay and my model is 7064, is it just a matter of buying the keyboard, do i need any further software, i've seen this one which i think may fit :-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290197479229

are they easy to fit ?

fwor

HOGOGG wrote: »

Thats a great idea, i have just been looking on Ebay and my model is 7064, is it just a matter of buying the keyboard, do i need any further software, i've seen this one which i think may fit :-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290197479229

are they easy to fit ?

Probably best to send the seller a message asking if it's compatible with your laptop (edit: I should learn to read properly, he says in the listing that it is!). £20 seems a bit pricey for a secondhand one, though.

Easy to fit? Depends on the model. I changed one on a Thinkpad a few years back and it was a nightmare of microscopic wierd-headed screws, but someone reported that a Dell was "easy".

I don't want to get your hopes up here. I find it difficult to imagine a failure mode in the keyboard that would ~not~ generate a "stuck key" message from the BIOS at boot-up, and yet would still prevent an external PS/2 keyboard from working. If I had to guess on the most probable cause I would choose a motherboard fault (sorry!).