Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Keyboard jam

IrkSplee · 03-26-2009, 01:00 PM

I'm hoping this is in the right section... while technically, it's keyboard related, there's also no keyboard involved. Which is kind of the problem. I am currently using a Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop.

About a month ago, my laptop's keyboard went a bit... insane. A few letters would hit themselves at random times, the volume key kept spiking itself all the way up, and most annoyingly, the alt key ended up in a permanently on state, rendering the computer impossible to use. I chalked it up to all the trauma this laptop's been through - it's kind of old, and I'll admit to being a clumsy, stupid kid when I got it. The poor thing has visible cracks on it. Since I'm a bit hardware-phobic and intend to get a new laptop in April anyway, rather than risk opening the laptop and possibly destroying it, I pulled a USB keyboard out and uninstalled the keyboard driver. The driver kept putting itself back - sometimes after a few hours with the computer on, sometimes a few MINUTES - but then I'd just fight my way to the control panel, uninstall it again, reset, and go about my life. After a month of that (as in, today), I started getting irritated with the whole business - I blame the driver being unable to go an hour at a time before butting in since last night - so after printing off some instructions, I took a screwdriver to the laptop and took the keyboard out. It is now sitting on a table next to me. Problem solved, right?

You'd think... the strange part is, NOTHING'S CHANGED. Alt keeps kicking in, letters keep spamming themselves... taking the keyboard out didn't even fix the keyboard! I even tried taking out the USB keyboard to see if it was the problem, leaving my laptop utterly keyboardless, but nope, it was still going insane. What gives?! I run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware almost daily, so I doubt it's malware, but perhaps I'm wrong and another scanner would take care of a possible malware problem? Does anyone know what's going on? Since I'll have the money to replace the laptop fully by the end of next month, I don't want to drop much (or, well, any) money into the repairs of this one, but I do need it working until I get the new one. Has anyone seen a problem like this before? What could be causing it? It's barely about finding out what's wrong so I can fix it anymore - at this point, I want to know what's wrong because the only explanation I can think of is ghosts.

03-26-2009, 01:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
IrkSplee Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Windows XP Service Pack 3	Keyboard jam - but no keyboard! I'm hoping this is in the right section... while technically, it's keyboard related, there's also no keyboard involved. Which is kind of the problem. I am currently using a Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. About a month ago, my laptop's keyboard went a bit... insane. A few letters would hit themselves at random times, the volume key kept spiking itself all the way up, and most annoyingly, the alt key ended up in a permanently on state, rendering the computer impossible to use. I chalked it up to all the trauma this laptop's been through - it's kind of old, and I'll admit to being a clumsy, stupid kid when I got it. The poor thing has visible cracks on it. Since I'm a bit hardware-phobic and intend to get a new laptop in April anyway, rather than risk opening the laptop and possibly destroying it, I pulled a USB keyboard out and uninstalled the keyboard driver. The driver kept putting itself back - sometimes after a few hours with the computer on, sometimes a few MINUTES - but then I'd just fight my way to the control panel, uninstall it again, reset, and go about my life. After a month of that (as in, today), I started getting irritated with the whole business - I blame the driver being unable to go an hour at a time before butting in since last night - so after printing off some instructions, I took a screwdriver to the laptop and took the keyboard out. It is now sitting on a table next to me. Problem solved, right? You'd think... the strange part is, NOTHING'S CHANGED. Alt keeps kicking in, letters keep spamming themselves... taking the keyboard out didn't even fix the keyboard! I even tried taking out the USB keyboard to see if it was the problem, leaving my laptop utterly keyboardless, but nope, it was still going insane. What gives?! I run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware almost daily, so I doubt it's malware, but perhaps I'm wrong and another scanner would take care of a possible malware problem? Does anyone know what's going on? Since I'll have the money to replace the laptop fully by the end of next month, I don't want to drop much (or, well, any) money into the repairs of this one, but I do need it working until I get the new one. Has anyone seen a problem like this before? What could be causing it? It's barely about finding out what's wrong so I can fix it anymore - at this point, I want to know what's wrong because the only explanation I can think of is ghosts.