Remapped or Broken Keyboard - And I didn't even kill my daughter!

July 16, 2006 8:16 PM

My daughter stepped on my laptop. Now some of the keys are remapped to the wrong keys, some of them don't work at all. I can't even log into windows now. Am S.O.L.?

Is it possible that something is wrong with Windows? Will a reinstall work. Does it have something to do with the FN key?

I found this answer on some forums,

"Many times it will involve some sort of function lock feature. It will probably be a combination of the Fn key (if you have one) and some other series of keystrokes to stop it. I've had this happen to me a few times and realized I was causing it - but I can't remember how to fix it as it was a long time ago on an older laptop."

I'm thinking this may be the answer as there doesn't seem to be any physical damage to the keyboard or the laptop.

Man it was a practice in self control when I looked over and saw her walking across the open laptop with the lcd screen pressed all the way to the ground.

posted by allthewhile to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Response by poster: update: When I press the function key and then the letter that isn't working correctly, it magically works. But it has to be pressed at the same time. I'm guessing this is not a hardware problem.
posted by allthewhile at 8:22 PM on July 16, 2006

Response by poster: gah! Answered it myself.

Function + F8

returned everything back to normal.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programs
posted by allthewhile at 8:38 PM on July 16, 2006

a lot of laptops have number lock, but dont have a seperate keybad, so the numbers are on the same keys as the letters in the "UIO HJK" area. When numberlock is on, you'll press the letter and get the number.

sounds like maybe this happened and now when you hold down "FN" and press the key its reversing the number lock temporarily...
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:38 PM on July 16, 2006

Self help desk strikes again!
posted by SpecialK at 8:45 PM on July 16, 2006