Re: ot -keyboard woes



OM wrote:
0) You're running Win98? Does the KB behave properly in normal,
non-Windows DOS mode? I don't mean a DOS box, but actual DOS with no
Windows loaded?
no, it's nonfunctional in DOS also.
1) *HOW* did you clean your KB? Air gun? Tuner spray? Dishwasher?? And
did you clean it with it disconnected from the PC?
moist plastic brush. some water got under the keyboard, so i disassembled it.
the interior consists of three overlapping plastic sheets; the top sheet has one set of contacts, the middle *** serves as a insulator with holes punched in it under the keys, the bottom *** has the other contacts...each key has a small individual suction cup under it with a bump on its inside the presses the the contact on the top and the bottom *** together through the hole in the middle ***, completing the circuit.
the sheets had gotten water between them contaminated by dust from inside the case, so i thoroughly rinsed them in fresh water and dried then top and bottom before reinstalling them. i once had this problem before with the keyboard and that approach worked fine then.
1.5) And if you did use a liquid method, did you allow the KB to
completely dry *BEFORE* plugging it back into the PC?

the plastic sheets were completely dry when i cranked everything back up after working on it.

2) Is it *ALL* windows, ctrl & shift keys that aren't working, or just
ones on one side?

they are nonfunctional on both sides.

3) Have you turned the KB up on one end and let it bang on that end
from about 1" high?

yup, no effect.

4) Did you open up the KB case at all? If so, did you make sure the KB
cable connector is firmly seated on all pins?

yeah, it lays down flat on the contacts printed on the top and bottom sheets, it's screwed down as tight as it will go without stripping the threads on the plastic sockets.
5) Are the CTRL or SHIFT lock *lights* on? Or do they flicker when you
press *HARD* on the KB?

the three illuminated indicators are number lock, caps lock, and scroll lock...all these are working as usual, with number lock on being the default setting when the keyboard is started; this makes no difference in the behavior of the shift key though with number lock off or on and caps lock activated, it is impossible to display the upper case characters on the number keys.

6) Have you tried another KB?

i only have one other, and that's a usp version, this computer doesn't have usp inputs, unlike my original aspire that some of it's parts are from.

...There is a bit of irony in this one, tho - after all the KBs you've
caused us to ruin over the years, this is almost poetic justice!
and on Halloween no less. spellcheck was able to change that h to the uppercase btw.
maybe if i stick a candy bar into the computer case... :-)
when i was testing it out after cleaning it out, i suspect i was holding it upside down and hit some combination of control keys that shut off the shift/control/windows functions.
I've been digging all over the web on how to get it back to the original default settings, and ran into all sorts of ways to change the functions of keys or disable particular keys, and i think i unintentionally did that.

pat
.