Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with laptop and keyboard

How can I compare laptop keyboards?

futility closet — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:48:01 -0800

Is there a website that presents keyboard layouts for various laptops, to faciliate comparison? Or can anyone recommend a store in Raleigh that has a good selection of laptops on display? My wife is looking for a new Windows machine and wants to find one that's easy to use.

troubleshooting a (mostly) broken laptop key

needs more cowbell — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:23:08 -0800

My Thinkpad's n key doesn't work most of the time (but does work sometimes if I hit it in the right spot/from the right angle and hold for a bit)...what troubleshooting/fixes can I try before I give in and replace the whole keyboard? Additional details:
1) I have already pried the keycap off and looked to see if anything was stuck under it (no)
2) this does not seem to be the result of spilled liquid (I have spilled stuff before, but nothing recently)
3) no need for workarounds or advice about how cheap/easy it is to replace Thinkpad keyboards - I've done it before, and will again if needed. That seems silly, though--the circuitry must be intact since it does work sometimes.

Why does my laptop think I'm pushing ctrl?

Pope Guilty — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:50:34 -0800

My Inspiron 1545 thinks I'm pressing ctrl and I don't know why. I picked up a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop awhile back, and the only problem I've had with it is that it frequently activates the ctrl key regardless of whether or not I'm actually pressing it- or even have my hands on the keyboard! Sometimes this is just annoying, like randomly crouching in an FPS or tab-targeting grabbing friends instead of enemies in WoW, but if I type a "w" while it thinks I'm pressing ctrl, I lose the Firefox tab I was working in! If I hit tab in Firefox, I frequently go to the next tab instead of the next field. Perhaps most bafflingly, it is only ctrl that this happens with; it never randomly types another character, nor does it ever wrongly activate shift or alt or any other key.

So far, I've talked to Dell about it; they sent me a replacement keyboard, but this did not resolve the problem. Googling indicates that many people are having this problem, but nobody seems to have any solutions (besides one suggestion, bizarrely, to reduce trackpad sensitivity, which did nothing).

Anyone out there know what's going on or have any ideas?

Is it safe to glue keys to a laptop keyboard?

puckupdate — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:59:33 -0800

The left CTRL key popped off of my ThinkPad T43, the casualty of a RAM upgrade. The blue nipple seems to have come unglued from both the keyboard and the key. Is it safe to glue onto the keyboard? Googling reveals warnings of not using superglue and using superglue. Would a silicon adhesive be safer? Better?

How to fix laptop keyboard keys that fell off?

macsigler — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:21:29 -0800

How to fix laptop keyboard keys that fell off? I have a Dell XPS M1710 laptop, and some of the keyboard keys have popped out of their spot. I have tried to reattach the plastic retainers on the keys to their spot on the keyboard, but inevitably they never latch on like they used to, and in fact some are now broken or lost. Is there a secret to getting them to pop on, or is there an alternative, i.e. mini-springs and superglue, etc.? I'm willing to try most reasonable ideas. Thanks in advance!

Wonky PageUp / PageDown Key Operation

Exchequer — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:22:15 -0800

The PageUp and PageDown keys on my Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop have started acting weird. Sometimes they act correctly (rarely), sometimes they take me directly to the top or the bottom of the current page (now and then), and sometimes they don't work at all (often). I'm seeing this mostly in Firefox, haven't check other apps yet. This started about a week ago, a few reboots and cold starts since it first occurred...not seeing any improvement or further degradation. Do you know why this is happening, how I can diagnose the issue, and/or how it can be fixed? I use those keys often and this is really hampering my use of my laptop.

More like WRONG arrow key, amirite?

Rhaomi — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:52:28 -0800

My laptop's right-arrow key is remapping itself. Any tips for diagnosis or repair? The right-arrow key on my laptop is behaving badly. It seems to be wildly remapping itself several times per second, varying between a few keys. After a little testing, here's what I found out:

- Inside a text field, pressing it will produce either "n/ " or "b". It varies between the two randomly with repeated keypresses. Example:

n/ bbbn/ n/ / bn/ / n/ n/ bn/

(Yes, I realize it typed "/" twice in the middle there -- no clue why)

- When it does type "b", it also minimizes whatever application I'm using.
- When testing in Notepad, pressing the arrow also displays the little underscores under "File", "Edit", etc. that usually appear when you press "Alt", suggesting this key is getting selected, too.
- To see exactly how the key was working, I brought up a driving game that has an area in the menu to test the controls -- pressing the acceleration key will fill up a bar slowly to the maximum speed, for instance. I mapped this function to the arrow, then pressed it. Instead of filling the bar smoothly, it caused it to jitter around a bit but never increase, as if I was lightly tapping the key over and over again.
- Lastly, and most puzzling: the problem comes and goes, seemingly not tied to any one program or process. It'll be there when I boot up, disappear for awhile, then return for no visible reason.

I thought the problem was rooted in a Windows Update I had recently added that XP had been nagging me to install, but rolling back to the pre-Update (and pre-problem) state via System Restore didn't fix it. Rebooting does nothing, either. And I don't have any spyware or viruses, to my knowledge -- my AV software hasn't given me any warnings lately.

My laptop is a Dell Latitude D820, running Windows XP SP2.

Any thoughts? Are there any Microsoft diagnostic tools I could run to repair this irritating little problem?

Best keyboard skin for Mac Air? Best shell?

jeffmacintyre — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:11:59 -0800

Best keyboard skin for Macbook Air? Best shell case (not for carrying)? I've used keyboard skins in the past but gone away from them because I'm lazy and hate whipping them off before closing the unit. When I don't, the covering can smear the monitor of my old Powerbook. (Duh.)

With my new Air, is there a next-gen keyboard skin that avoids this problem? I plan to resell this Air if Apple introduces a Penryn model next month, so I'm invested in keeping this unit in mint condition.

Also, is there a shell case people recommend that doesn't present overheating complications?

2 laptops, 1 keyboard, 1 mouse

gen — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:02:37 -0800

2 laptops (Mac, fwiw) 1 keyboard/mouse. How best to make this work? I've got two Macintosh laptops, one from work, and my personal machine, and I'd like some way to be able to work both of them from a single external keyboard/mouse pair. What are my options for doing this?

Dim screen fix results in bizarre keyboard behavior???

doomtop — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:30:42 -0800

We fixed an issue with a dim screen on a laptop, but now the keyboard is acting wonky. What's up with that? The original problem with this laptop (HP Pavilion dv2035us) was that the screen was very dim. We've seen this often and generally this means that the backlight bulb has failed.

So we replace the backlight bulb on the LCD, but the problem is not resolved. So we go ahead and replace the entire LCD. Still the problem is not resolved.

So we try replacing the backlight inverter board. Still the same dim screen problem, now with a brand new LCD/backlight and inverter. Everything replaced and still the same problem, how can this be?

So we look into it further. The only thing we can come up with is the lid close switch. The switch that indicates to the machine when the lid gets closed and tells it to dim the screen and maybe go into sleep mode, etc.

We find the connector that is identified as the "lid close switch" a small cable that connects to the motherboard. We try to disconnect this connector.

The connector is made of plastic, but for whatever reason, the plastic on all of the connectors inside this laptop are very soft and almost what I would describe as mushy or spongy.

We try to gently remove the connector, but due to the mushy connection its sort of falls apart in the removal process. So we just cut the cable entirely.

Now we boot up and voila! the screen is no longer dim!

We put back the old LCD w/ new backlight and the old inverter board. System boots and the LCD is bright and crisp.

Everything seems well.

Then we find out the keyboard is not working properly anymore. The behavior is bizarre. Most of the letter keys work fine. But some of the functional keys exhibit strange results. The "delete" key when pressed with Notepad open outputs "b" and the Notepad Help window pop ups. The second time you press "delete" it then outputs "n=". The third time you press "delete" it doesn't output any text, but selects the Edit menu and turns Caps Lock on.

All of the functional keys on the final column of keys ("home" "pg up" "pg dn" "end") all exhibit similar bizarre behavior.

We can't figure it out, so we replace the keyboard with a brand new one. The problem does not go away...

So what is going on here? What would cause this kind of situation and what could possibly resolve it? This has to be a hardware issue, because connecting a USB keyboard to the laptop is not a problem. The USB keyboard does not have the weird issues that I have described. It seems to be a problem with the laptop's keyboard, but replacing it with a brand new one didn't fix it.

Anyone ever seen anything like this?? We are at a loss and need to restore the original functionality of this system. Any thoughts are appreciated!

I'd like it with cream, sugar and an extra key, please.

_dario — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:31:39 -0800

Will a laptop keyboard with a different layout (and a subtly different number of keys) be a good replacement for the currently caffeinated one? Yesterday i spilled coffee on my old Toshiba Satellite Pro 6000 laptop.

Fortunately, it was a small quantity of espresso so the computer itself is undamaged, except for the keyboard, which, despite much cleaning and careful drying, appears to be dead on the left (cup) side and behaving weirdly on the right.

I'm considering purchasing a replacement keyboard on ebay (there's a few for that model), but I noticed that the US key layout is slightly different (expected) and with a key less than its Italian counterpart (unexpected).

I have a shorter space bar, which allows for a "<>" key immediately to the right of it (in desktop keyboards it's usually to the left of the Z).

I'm confident that - installing the new keyboard and using an IT layout on Windows - everything should work just fine, with a few key caps replaced from the old keyboard for extra comfort (accented letters, etc.) but what will be of the extra key? (it's somewhat important to code html).

I'd like to have a second opinion before proceeding with the purchase, thank you all.

Keys not working

sulaine — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 07:15:47 -0800

How do I get my Dell Inspiron 2650 laptop keyboard to work again? Keyboard was working fine on Friday when I shut down. Saturday morning when I turned it on, no part of the keyboard would work. There was no water (or other) spills, no loud noises, no falls. I tried a system restore, no luck. I also allowed the automatic updates for Windows install. Nothing changed. The computer seems to think the keyboard is working fine; that is what it says under the keyboards hardware window. The USB keyboard I am using now works fine. Any ideas?

How to fix a burred laptop screw

zaebiz — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:51:27 -0800

I am trying to replace a laptop keyboard but the final screw has burred and neither the regular or precision screwdriver works. If someone suggests that I go to repairman and 50 bucks to fix this, I am likely to do serious damage to this laptop (namely by throwing it against a wall). Any ideas? The screw is a tiny, flat-headed, star-head screw. I don't care about doing damage to the outside of the case as long as I dont damage the internals. I just want this sucker out. This laptop doesn't deserve to live, let alone look pretty. (Thinkpad T42)

Broken key

daninnj — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:48:08 -0800

Can I snap this keyboard key back in? My G key on my Gateway Tablet PC had a piece of food under it and was making it not respond to my finger presses well. I wanted to lift it to clean the bottom of it and it snapped off. I can't seem to get it back on, although, as you can see, the G key works fine with the actually key off, but I want it on.

There are two white pieces, one attached to the black key (but can be lifted up) and one just laying there.

Here's the keyboard, the broken key, and the white piece. The white plastic piece is broken due to my dad trying to snap the key back in place, but still intact.

Is there any hope to get this key back on the keyboard? How does the white piece snap into the key or keyboard?

How can I control iTunes with my laptop's media buttons?

jroybal — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 18:38:00 -0800

How can I control iTunes when it's not in focus with the media buttons on my Dell laptop? I have a Dell laptop (Inspiron 6000, Windows XP Home), but I can't figure out how to control iTunes with these buttons when it's not in focus, meaning when I have it minimized or when I'm in some other program. The buttons I'm talking about are the ones on the front panel, separate from the keyboard. Seven buttons: Mute, Volume Up, Volume Down, Play/Pause, Forward, Backward, and Stop. When I'm in iTunes, Play+Pause/Forward/Backward/Stop all work fine. These media buttons control Windows Media Player when it's not in focus, so I assume this is possible somehow. Anyone figured this out? Thanks in advance!

Can you spare a hand? Both my hands, even.

Zed_Lopez — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:53:41 -0800

Can you recommend a portable USB keyboard? I'm getting a tiny notebook. I don't have tiny hands and don't want an RSI recurrence. So I'd like to find a portable USB keyboard that's pretty much like a good laptop keyboard: the alphanumeric keys are full-size; it has 86-ish keys so I don't have to chord for cursor keys, function keys, etc.; it should be rigid while in use, such that it can be used in my lap; it's comfortable, and as light and durable as possible consistent with all of the above.

The Happy Hacking keyboard and Stowaway XT are out due to too few keys. Roll-up keyboards are out 'cause they're not especially comfortable and not rigid. (Bluetooth keyboards are out 'cause I don't have Bluetooth, for one reason.)

Anyone know of anything?

I've seen this already as well as having done as much relevant AskMe searching as I could think of.

Cat Hair Killed My Shift Key!

abbyladybug — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 17:21:14 -0800

My cats are shedding a lot. As a result, my laptop (Dell Inspiron 700m) keyboard is filled with hair. I have had to remove a few keys to fix the problem. Until today, no problemo. But I didn't know how weird that shift key was. I can't get it to click back into place correctly. I really can't go without my laptop, given my current job, so sending the thing off to Dell is pretty much out of the question. Can I get some tips on fixing this myself? Or does anyone know what kinds of stores fix laptop keyboards? While I'm at it, anyone know a good way to protect laptop keyboards from cat hair so this won't happen again?

How to adjust keyboard sensitivity

NorthCoastCafe — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:05:10 -0800

How can I fix or adjust the keypad of my new Dell laptop to prevent the cursor from jumping to other spaces, other lines, highlighted blocks of text, even calling up random functions. In the user's guide installed on the HD there are instructions for adjusting the touch pad, but not the keyboard. Over at Dell Hell I find nothing. I'm on the road, limited Internet access, could use some personal experience.

dvorak? qwerty? Let's call the whole thing off.

oddman — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 11:11:37 -0800

So, I've got quite a bit of gooey stuff on my the keyboard of my laptop. How do I get it off? I recently attempted to teach myself to type with the dvorak keyboard layout. To facilitate this I put little white stickers on my keys (a sort of physical remapping of the keyboard). Now I've decided to just stick with qwerty. I've peeled off the stickers but a lot of the glue was left on the keys. What can I use to get it off? (Typing on a gummy keypad is off-putting.) Of course I don't want to damage the laptop.

Thanks.

Laptop keyboard malfunction

UKnowForKids — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:08:54 -0800

Portions of my Dell laptop keyboard keep going in and out. Sometimes, one group of keys won't work (5, 6, -, del, and ins, among a couple others). Now, it's tab, tilde, 1, q, a, and Z. The problem only appears when restarting the laptop, never during use. Any suggestions?

Is my laptop keyboard kaput?

docgonzo — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 09:04:40 -0800

Is my laptop keyboard kaput? On the top row of letters on a family Dell Inspiron 2600 all but 't' and 'y' do not work. I have hooked an external keyboard up to the machine and it has worked fine, leading me to believe there is some sort of hardware issue. What's the best course of action? Any way to fix this short of ripping out the keyboard and putting a new one in? If I do do that, can I do it myself? Anything I've overlooked? Thanks!

How can I clean a laptop keyboard?

IshmaelGraves — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 09:27:32 -0800

I have a laptop keyboard which has had coffee spilled on it; several keys no longer work, enough to make it fairly useless. What to do? Is there a simple way to clean it, or do I need to get a new keyboard? The only instructions I've found online require a lengthy list of specialized lubricants and cleaning solutions which would probably set me back nearly the cost of the keyboard.

30 Day Return Policy

KirTakat — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:24:41 -0800

What's up with the 30 day return period on laptops? Are there any fees that I'm going to lose by going that route? Basically I'm looking at getting the Dell Inspiron 700m, with the current deal of 40% off making it the best bang/buck ratio I can get. Unfortunately I've got big fingers and I'm a programmer, meaning I might get screwed if the keyboard is too small. So I'd like to know how the 30 day return system works if I don't like it.

How did I change my keyboard settings (and how do I change them back)?

jeffmshaw — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 09:17:42 -0800

The keyboard settings on my laptop changed (seemingly without cause or explanation) in the middle of a computing session. Did I do something to cause this? How do I fix it? [MI] I have a Sony VAIO that is relatively new, purchased within the last six months. I was working on a project and took a break, and when I returned, some of the letter keys now produce numbers.

m = 0
j = 1
k = 2
l = 3
u =4
i = 5
o = 6

Most of the keys still work correctly, but some others also produce non-number results that aren't right. "p" gives me back an asterisk, for example. Did I change a setting somehow to cause this that is an easy fix? Or is it a maintenance issue?

Worn keys

mothershock — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 17:17:09 -0800

I have a laptop I love; however, the letters on the keyboard are wearing off. It's not a huge problem for me right now, but whenever anyone else uses it (my spouse, my daughter), it's really frustrating for them to figure out where those missing letters are -- and I could see that down the road it could be a pain for me as well. Is there a safe way I could, say, paint the letters back on? Do I have to buy a new keyboard? Individual letter keys?