mooseman99

I turned on my laptop this afternoon and the keys don't work [in bios or anything]

The device manager doesn't even list it.

Is humidity a possible culprit? i am in costa rica atm [it worked fine in ny]
and its very humid

if anyone has any suggestions they will be greatly appreciated
because typing this on the windows on-screen keyboard is annoying and takes forever
thanks

TriggerFinger

Try to reseat the cable that connects the keyboard to the mobo... and try using an external keyboard instead.

mooseman99

I tried reseating it (it was really dusty)
But no success
Except now the quicklaunch incorrectly lists the touchpad as being on
I can't get an external keyboard anywhere either

I fear the problem is not with the keyboard but rather the motherboard or connectors, but I hope that this isn't the case.

TriggerFinger

Just try to unhook your keyboard connection from the motherboard and use USB (external) keyboard for testing. That way you will be able to rule it out. It is much cheaper to replace a keyboard than a motherboard

mooseman99

thanks, i think it is the keyboard now
unfortunately i cant find a keyboard for this computer anywhere
Its an alienware m9750
alienware support told me that they had limited stock and refuse to sell to me because I am not under warranty. they told me to check ebay

Madcatz

did they give you a part number for the keyboard? if they did you could google it and see what you can find.

But doesn't surprise me that they won't sell you one, some companies like to do that to make sure they have replacements for warranty units, IBM/Lenovo does the same thing kinda, even though its a huge company, they list the price of thier parts at totally insane prices, like hard drives at $500, LCD panels over $2000, keyboards at over $200 so out of warranty people won't buy them and they keep stock for warranty units.

ahmorrow

Jerks. Knew there was a reason I never bought alienware or IBM. Finger and Catz are giving pretty solid advice on this one, nothing I wouldn't have done. Mobo's are anywhere from $50-$500 from a parts vendor that isn't rude, and a keyboard is anywhere from $15-75... unless their a warehouse type deal and they're liquidating their stock... then it's real cheap :-P

I'm having a look around for alienware parts vendors, but I warn you... they're stingy.

ahmorrow

Oh gawd... I remember now. They kinda went out of business because their customer service sucked and Dell bought them. I've been looking around and could practically rebuild the model, just without the keyboard :-/

mooseman99

Yeah I am not a fan of alienware or dell
It was my first laptop and i was really excited, but now I'm a little more tech savvy and i realized that it is
a. extremely overpriced
and
b. support is awful (awful awful awful)

Magically though my keyboard works now that I am back from CR
weird.... it must have actually had something to do with the humidity or electricity there
I reseated it 4 or 5 times there and even blew it out with a hairdryer and it didn't work till i got back here though

ahmorrow

Well... at least it's working lol. Glad we could... help... I guess... we didn't really do much except clean your contacts :-P

mooseman99

haha well thanks anyways

ahmorrow

Ummm... *thinks to himself: I really didn't do anything... oh well*

Anytime my friend, anytime.