My kEyBoard is Screwed...HELP (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Peake]

I have a Microsoft Natural Keybo.ard Pro.

It hmas wo.rked fine for 2 years.

Today, during a Counter-Strikec game, it started screwing up....

If I hit the "f" key, it types "fb". If I type "h", it types "hm".

Here is the alphabet as it now types:

a
b
c
d
e
fb
g
hm
i
j
k,
l
m
n
o.
p
qz
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
1
2x
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0

NUMPAD digits;
1
2
3
4
5
6
71
80
9.
0

Punctuation

,
.
;p
'
/
: (hmave to. type colons twice to. get o.ne to. appear)


I have tried updating thme drivers fbro.m micro.soft...no. change. Did a system resto.re.....still no. go.

I am o.n Win XP.

So.rry fbo.r the bad typo.'s! Anyone see this happen befbo.re??

Jeff

 

[Jeff Peake]

So I just dug up an old keyboard in my basement. This one is working fine, so I guess the problem probably isnt software related. The MS keyboard must be physically damaged somehow.

I paid $70 for it a couple years ago :-( guess I will be sticking with the cheap ones now. And I had just gotten used to the Natural key layout!

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I don't know about MS, but my keyboard has a reset (I hit the esc key on boot, and keep it punched until after the video screen comes up).

It resets it back to default. I have only done it once, when I got errors too. It might need a cleaning too. Most keyboards open up easily so that you can either hit 'em with a vacuum or compressed air or a clean paint brush.

Glenn

 

[Tekara]

whelp, best bet is to try and get it replaced by microsoft; if I remember right M$'s RMA service is pretty good.

if you don't feel like RMAing it, or you just have the urge to take it apart then here's some ideas.

1. Check for obvious problems, I like adding this becuase we never expect something so complex to have a simple issue, like some soda spilt on the contacts.

2. get a multimeter and set it for continuity. then check to make sure that the wires in the main plug are proper, basically check for any disconnected wires or shorts between two wires.

3. the keyboard should have a thin plastic sheet that operates by a rubber plug that compresses and causes a switch like effect (kinda sorta ). see if you can take one of the rubber pads and test each "key" without the top on just pressing down on the plastic to see if when you "type" like this the results are what you'd expect.

...

alright so it's 3am and my explainations are horrid even to me, but I think I make enough sense that you can try my thoughts out. remember to unplug the keyboard for testing out (less the keyboard must be plugged in to see results) to reduce the chance of shorting out a component (like your motherboard).

oh and best of luck!

 

[MikeNagy]

Sounds like some of the contacts are shorted somehow. Take the keyboard apart and see if you can see anything unusual with the traces. Also, cleaning it out probably won't hurt anything.

 

[Dalila]

Call Microsoft, they will replace it for free. Trust me.

 

[Jeff Peake]

I took the keyboard apart, didnt see anything terribly wrong. It wasnt that dirty either, but I did blow it out.

Put it back together and it is working fine.

Guess it just needed to banged on a little.

 

[MarkHastings]

Put it back together and it is working fine.

Maybe you knocked out some keyboard troll when you opened it up?

My friends always laugh at me when I open something up and then put it back together. They're like "Why'd you do that? You didn't do anything!"

Sometimes opening and closing something fixes the issues...Go figure?

 

[James E]

Mark, just be careful not to let the magic smoke escape:b