Can keyboard keys be fixed?

[TravelGal]

Let me first attest and affirm that I am not nor have I ever been the poster known as "Paper." Nevertheless last night the comma key on my laptop simply stopped working with no warning. This is unbearable for me and my parenthetical style of writing.

The key doesn't depress properly. The left side seems to but the right side doesn't go down at all. Can I try to yank it off and see what's wrong? It doesn't seem to want to come off without a fight. Or do I toss this 7 year old beloved back-up laptop into the dust bin?

Edit: Or is there a command that produces a comma? I could do that until I found a cheapie replacement for the unit.

[racer2c]

You can bring up the virtual keyboard. I had my laptop keyboard replaced once but it was under warranty. Not sure what the cost be. I did have some luck on finding some keys on ebay once. There are a few people out there who 'specialize' in laptop keyboards. The keys do come off, but usually in a certain manner. Just popping them off will break the connection mechanism.

[TravelGal]

Looking at the MS virtual keyboard I'm thinking it's all or nothing. Use it or the regular one. Sort of like external or internal speakers. I don't have a mouse with this so I'm going to look a bit further after taking TravelMom out to lunch.

Thanks for the tip on the keys. I rather thought it was on there for the duration. At least in relation to what I knew about it. Biggest repair problem is that I keep this laptop in Tampa to use when I visit my mother where I don't know any shops or service people.

Speaking of speakers -- after TravelGuy reinstalled XP on this there is "no audio device" any more. Plus the external speaker jack is broken. So this old friend is slowly fading into the sunset I'm afraid.

[gerhard911]

On screen (virtual) keyboard is one method. Using the Windows Character map is another.

Easiest however would be to directly input unicode for a comma. With numlock ON, hold down the ALT key and type 44 on the num pad. A comma will magically appear.

From the Character Map Help popup:
"If you know the Unicode equivalent of the character you want to insert, you can also insert a special character directly into a document without using Character Map. To do so, open the document and position the insertion point where you want the special character to appear. Then, with NUM LOCK on, hold down the ALT key while using the number pad keys to type the Unicode character value."

Unicode for comma is hex 2C = decimal 44 :cool:

[gerhard911]

Speaking of speakers -- after TravelGuy reinstalled XP on this there is "no audio device" any more. Plus the external speaker jack is broken. So this old friend is slowly fading into the sunset I'm afraid.

You most likely need an audio driver which was factory installed on your laptop but didn't get reloaded with the XP reinstall. You probably didn't get any install media with it but if you did look on the CD (or floppy) for drivers.

If you find out what audio controller you have you can probably find a driver on the web to download.

Open Control Panel / System / Hardware / Device Manager and look at Sound, video and game controllers. You should see an audio device with a red "x" or "!" warning. Double click it to look at it's properties and you should get enough information to hunt down a driver.

[TravelGal]

You most likely need an audio driver which was factory installed on your laptop but didn't get reloaded with the XP reinstall. You probably didn't get any install media with it but if you did look on the CD (or floppy) for drivers.

If you find out what audio controller you have you can probably find a driver on the web to download.

Open Control Panel / System / Hardware / Device Manager and look at Sound, video and game controllers. You should see an audio device with a red "x" or "!" warning. Double click it to look at it's properties and you should get enough information to hunt down a driver.

Been down that route a few times with no luck.
Sound video and game controllers
Audio codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
Video Codecs

No alerts and when I open each one they all say that the device is working properly but the location is 0/0. When I try to update the driver it eventually asks me to insert a disc which I don't have. As you say factory installed and never replaced. It was made by the now defunct PC Club in California. A class company but everything wears out eventually.

There are "Other devices" in which is found Multimedia audio controller Network controller PCI modem Uknown device and Vido controller (VGA compatible) ALL of these have the yellow conflict question mark.

Looking further under Audio Codecs then Properties I see 10 different things listed. To save space I won't list them unless you want them. They all have two little red arrows. ????

[gerhard911]

There are "Other devices" in which is found Multimedia audio controller Network controller PCI modem Unknown device and Video controller (VGA compatible) ALL of these have the yellow conflict question mark.????

This would appear to be your problem. The Multimedia audio controller is what I would try to locate a driver for. When you open it what details does it show ? Have you tried the update driver function on it ?

[racer2c]

Plug a usb/wireless keyboard into it. :)

[Andrew Longman]

Have you tried vacuuming out the keyboard?

I get keys that work intermittently or not at all and I find I just need to suck my lunch residue out and bang it a few times.

That's about as technical as I can get.

[WickerBill]

What kind of laptop? Generally the keyboards are replaceable for $30-50. For instance, IBM T41 replacement keyboard (http://www.buy.com/prod/laptop-keyboard-for-ibm-thinkpad-t40-r50-a50p/q/sellerid/23962916/loc/101/213651533.html).

[cameraman]

It was made by the now defunct PC Club in California. They most likely used a readily available keyboard to build the machine as they were not Applesque designer/manufacturers. A local computer repair place should be able to order you a new keyboard easily enough.

[trish]

I'd pull off the key and see if you can fix it. I had a similar problem with my laptop keyboard a few months ago and yanked the key out. After a few hours of crying and asking myself why I did it, I was able to actually get it back on and it works like new.

[TravelGal]

Easiest however would be to directly input unicode for a comma. With numlock ON, hold down the ALT key and type 44 on the num pad. A comma will magically appear.

Unicode for comma is hex 2C = decimal 44 :cool:

This is depressing. This keyboard doesn't have a number pad--just the numbers across the top. They don't seem to produce the comma using the instructions above.

BUT using Trish's train of thought I decided just to mash the darn thing. Lo and behold if I hit the left side hard enough (with apologies to paper) I get ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

As I won't be back here for another 4 months (TravelMom comes out to see us in July), I'm just gonna let this go for a while.

[TravelGal]

This would appear to be your problem. The Multimedia audio controller is what I would try to locate a driver for. When you open it what details does it show ? Have you tried the update driver function on it ?

It says no driver has been installed and when I try to update, it asks me to insert the CD (which I never had) so I get nowhere. :( I can't go back to a previous version as there isn't one. Troubleshooter follows the same path as update so that gets me nowhere. It seems to me that if I follow the "Advanced" I would get somewhere if I knew what selections to make. Sigh.

Have no idea if this means anything: It's under Details: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24C5&SUBSYS_001714C0&REV_03\3&61AAA01&0&FD

Under General it says Location: PCI bus 0 device 31 function 5. The drivers for this device are not installed (Code 28)

The truly annoying part is that every once in while, as I log off, the laptop makes a beep so I know it is capable of sound. I just don't know how to make it play sound. If that makes any sense.

[trish]

Try this

START> run>msconfig>services> and checked "Windows Audio" > Apply> Ok

If that doesn't work, see if anything else here (http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-sound/no-sound-device-after-reinstalling-windows-xp/62d813df-98fe-4d80-9baf-2a099b39fd53) can help.

Edit: I had to go through this step by step to see how it works.

Start menu

Type run which opens a box titled run
Type msconfig and click open - continue
Click on Services tab
make sure Windows Audio has a check mark

[gerhard911]

Somebody else with your missing driver problem. (http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f19/pc-club-enp25004-drivers-needed-392300.html) Unfortunately, no solution was offered.

It appears that PC Club machines were also called EnPower. I found this site which offers driver disks (http://www.do-download.com/search.php?cpage=1&search=PC+Club&submit=submit). Does your machine have an ENPnnn model # anywhere ? If you can burn your own disk it looks like they offer free downloads or you can buy a pre-made disk.

And yes, the unicode character entry only works on the numpad :( As an alternative, what I would do is keep a comma in the Windows copy/paste buffer. Then a CTRL v would paste it into your work area.

[TravelGal]

You guys are the bomb. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you take the time to go research something for me. I've spent hours on this and gotten no where. I'm pretty sure you have the answer. (Unfortunately I don't have time to check for sure before going to the airport -- in the next 15 minutes -- to get back home to LA.) This baby does have an ENP number and all sorts of other identifiers on the bottom. I'm taking all the codes home so I can try to burn the proper discs to bring back next time.

I'll resurrect this thread and let you know how it goes. Also with the commas.

I'm in an internet travel agent group, much like this. That is, most of us have never met although a few have. Whenever someone has a question, we stop what we're doing, research if necessary, and answer if it's our area of expertise. It's a caring that's impossible to explain but If I had more time, I'd try to tell you how much it means to me to be a part of OffCamber. As it is, I'll just say "Thank you again"

[Kiwifan]

No, thank YOU for being so nice. :) It was awesome to catch up with you even if time was tight. :thumbup: