It's a little hard to only use one half of the keyboard.

March 23, 2009 1:52 PM

My keyboard has issues. Some letters work .. some do not .. some just Gibber at me.

I have a Natural MS Ergonomic 4000 keyboard that has decided not to work.

When I type 'c' and also 'z', I get a right click menu.

These letters don't work at all: i o u x y

When I type '2' and also '4', I get this: -u=56jkl

I've got two keyboards hooked up so I can work, but my elbows and wrists are already hurting .. so this is not really a perm solution .. (hence the ergonomic keyboard) ..

It happened quite suddenly .. reboots/driver reinstall and restarts have all proved fruitless.

I am on Windows XP. Does anyone have any suggestions for troubleshooting or a fix?

posted by duckus to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Keyboards don't last forever. They're also cheap.

Get a new one.

Absent that, you might try cleaning it out. Get a can of compressed air, pop the keys off, and go to town.
posted by valkyryn at 2:01 PM on March 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

I've got two keyboards hooked up so I can work, but my elbows and wrists are already hurting .. so this is not really a perm solution

I'm a little confused here. Why don't you unplug the one that doesn't work, and use the one that does?
posted by dersins at 2:05 PM on March 23, 2009

Get a new keyboard. If that doesn't work, your PS2 controller is probably messed up.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:06 PM on March 23, 2009

Have you checked the keyboard mappings are correct? If I recall correctly, they're under languages in the control panel.
posted by Solomon at 2:11 PM on March 23, 2009

> I'm a little confused here. Why don't you unplug the one that doesn't work, and use the one that does?

I think the point is that the Natural MS Ergonomic 4000 which doesn't make the poster's elbows/wrists hurt is acting up, and the backup keyboard of a different model which is working is making the elbows and wrists hurt.
posted by bjrn at 2:12 PM on March 23, 2009

You probably spilled something on it or got it wet.

If you adventurous you can open it up and clean it out. Make sure to let it dry before you try to use it again.
posted by wongcorgi at 2:22 PM on March 23, 2009

I LOOOVE cleaning out my keyboard, it's very satisfying. Try it, you might find crumbs stuck under the keys preventing them from compressing correctly.
posted by CTORourke at 3:28 PM on March 23, 2009

I spilled some water on my MS Natural 4000 and loss some key functionality and had others remapped like you were experiencing. Let it dry out over a month (using a spare standard kb), and it still was like that. Gave up the notion of trying to take it apart when I was able to find one on slickdeals.net for $20 again.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1248639

This one expired, but it's an example of a recent one. They do come up from time to time if you're patient, otherwise just bite the bullet.

I love the keyboard though. Been using MS Naturals for about a decade and it's hard to go back.
posted by liquoredonlife at 5:52 PM on March 23, 2009

1. Try emailing MS - they might have suggestions on how to fix it

2. If they don't and you think you have nothing to lose, open up the keyboard and see whether there are any ribbons or boards that plug into each other. Unplug those and then plug them back in firmly (disclaimer: I have no idea what this specific keyboard looks like inside, but some split keyboards are like this).
posted by trig at 10:59 PM on March 23, 2009

Cleaning a keyboard is easy.

The important thing, if you need to get it wet or it already has been, is to let it dry completely. I tend to stick it in front of a heat register or whatnot for about a day, turning it multiple directions to keep it from holding liquid in various pockets.
posted by dhartung at 11:00 PM on March 23, 2009