strange keyboard problem

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Guest

i need someone to help me with a big problem. i have a dell latitude cpx
laptop, from 2000 but in okay shape. keyboard replaced 5 months ago after
original wore out mechanically, has been working fine under much use up until
just a few days ago. keyboard is embedded in laptop, of course, and is a
standard 101/102-key or microsoft natural ps/2 keyboard. just recently i
find that intermittently the t, y, open bracket, close bracket, caps lock,
shift, and backspace keys quit working, only to be revived, with luck, after
restart. dell has helped me go through diagnostics and we find that keyboard
is seen to be functioning optimally. i honestly believe this is a software
problem and not hardware-related. but, what can i do to solve this
problem---reinstall the driver may be one solution. perusal of discussion
threads suggests possibility of conflict from having an adaptec usbcontrol
plugged in, but maybe this has nothing to do with it, can't see why. does
anyone have suggestions as to how i might proceed. sorry for bad typing
here, but this derives from problem i'm describing
 
I'd try uninstalling the device in Control Panel...System...Hardware...Device
Manager and let Windows re-detect it on the reboot.
 
usasma,

thanks for your reply. i followed your suggestion exactly, but
unfortunately it did not work. i wonder if in fact the original driver for
this keyboard doesn't work so well with windows xp. mind you, it worked fine
for several years and this problem has only surfaced recently, but perhaps
i'd have luck with an updated version of the driver. i can not find any
indication that one exists, however, on the microsoft website. do you know
of one. if this problem has nothing to do with the health
of the driver, do you or does anyone else have a further suggestion.
 
john-wisconsin said:
usasma,

thanks for your reply. i followed your suggestion exactly, but
unfortunately it did not work. i wonder if in fact the original
driver for
this keyboard doesn't work so well with windows xp. mind you, it
worked fine for several years and this problem has only surfaced
recently, but perhaps
i'd have luck with an updated version of the driver. i can not find
any
indication that one exists, however, on the microsoft website. do you
know
of one. if this problem has nothing to do with the health
of the driver, do you or does anyone else have a further suggestion.
Click to expand...

You would not find any drivers for a Dell laptop on a Microsoft site.
You should go to Dell's tech support site for your specific laptop
model and see if there are drivers and laptop software for your
computer for the XP operating system. If there are, download them all
and install them. If there are no drivers written for XP on Dell's site
then you are out of luck. It would be up to Dell to write drivers for
their hardware, not Microsoft.

Malke
 
Malke, I am paying attention to your tip. My initial contact with Dell
suggests that they have nothing to do with a driver for the keyboard, and
that this would be something bundled with Windows XP. However, I realize
that sometimes this type of question is not answered accurately by the first
desk you reach as you contact Dell. They have been very helpful thus far,
but it may take a few more calls to determine if in fact they are the ones to
provide updated drivers. Friends I've contacted by telephone on this issue
seem to think it's unlikely that I will find an *updated* driver, as the
keyboard model is actually an old one (though the specific keyboard I now
have in my laptop is only a few months old). These friends suggest I should
concentrate instead on downloading a new copy of the original driver,
hopefully avoiding a possible corruption of the one I now have on my hard
disk. (However, I still don't know where I can find a download of this
original driver, though I am working on it at present). I have to just keep
gathering input like your own and try to figure out how to solve the problem.
By the way, this problem continues to come and go. About an hour ago, on my
e-mail program, I again lost the use of the keys in question. I went to this
Microsoft discussion to type this reply and, lo and behold, I regained the
functionality of the keys! Maybe when I go back into my e-mail, I will again
lose functionality. However, this is not a problem associated only with my
e-mail program. When it arises, it affects all programs associated with
Windows XP (such as Notepad, Word, etc.), but does not affect my keyboarding
when I'm operating off of MS-DOS. Again, thanks for your kind input.

John
 
john-wisconsin said:
Malke, I am paying attention to your tip. My initial contact with
Dell suggests that they have nothing to do with a driver for the
keyboard, and
that this would be something bundled with Windows XP. However, I
realize that sometimes this type of question is not answered
accurately by the first
desk you reach as you contact Dell. They have been very helpful thus
far, but it may take a few more calls to determine if in fact they are
the ones to
provide updated drivers. Friends I've contacted by telephone on this
issue seem to think it's unlikely that I will find an *updated*
driver, as the keyboard model is actually an old one (though the
specific keyboard I now
have in my laptop is only a few months old). These friends suggest I
should concentrate instead on downloading a new copy of the original
driver, hopefully avoiding a possible corruption of the one I now have
on my hard
disk. (However, I still don't know where I can find a download of
this
original driver, though I am working on it at present). I have to
just keep gathering input like your own and try to figure out how to
solve the problem.
By the way, this problem continues to come and go. About an hour
ago, on my
e-mail program, I again lost the use of the keys in question. I went
to this Microsoft discussion to type this reply and, lo and behold, I
regained the
functionality of the keys! Maybe when I go back into my e-mail, I
will again
lose functionality. However, this is not a problem associated only
with my
e-mail program. When it arises, it affects all programs associated
with Windows XP (such as Notepad, Word, etc.), but does not affect my
keyboarding
when I'm operating off of MS-DOS. Again, thanks for your kind input.
Click to expand...

Laptops have proprietary hardware and software. Dell provides drivers
for their laptops as well as laptop software to correctly manage the
laptop. All the drivers you need for a Dell laptop are on the Dell site
for your specific model laptop. If Dell no longer supports that
particular laptop and/or does not have drivers for the XP operating
system for that particular laptop, you are out of luck. If there are no
keyboard-specific drivers (and there may not have been), then install
all the other drivers for XP, particularly the chipset and the
touchpad.

There is no MS-DOS in Windows XP, only a command prompt. Some DOS
programs run, but they are running in an emulation mode and not true
MS-DOS. If the keyboard fails only while running old DOS programs,
there may be a problem specific to that software and not the operating
system.

If the laptop keyboard fails randomly, since you have replaced the
keyboard there is probably an issue with the motherboard. At that
point, replace the laptop or consider returning it to Windows 98 (or
whatever Win9x/ME os that was originally installed).

Malke
 
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