Keyboard Issue

[donut]

Hi,

I have an Toshiba Satellite notebook (L300) and all of a sudden the keyboard seems to be acting up.

On startup I cant press any of the keys and when windows finally loads i have to put in my password which after 10 mins of trying to get the on screen keyboard to appear i can (it doesnt work like ti should for some reason) Also while on the account login screen keys are functioning incorrectly while others are not working at all. Space and Backspace add characters, Z clears those characters, H clears one of those characters.

Then once logged most keys work correctly apart from both left and CTRL for some reason. The left control doesn't work at all and the right one has limited functions like it will open a new tab via CTRL+T but wont copy using CTRL+C

Once I try to restart my computer The keys stop working again and I have to go through the whole process again.

I have tried re-installing drivers and using a external keyboard but the same problems occur. Also its not a case of numlock or anything being on during start up because I am able to turn it on and off.

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

I am tempted to re-install windows but if it is not the problem windows will be impossible to install without a keyboard

 

[berry120]

Sounds like your keyboard mappings might be messed up - can you check that your layout is definitely set to US or UK (or whatever country you're in) and that you're set to use the QWERTY layout and not dvorak or anything else? (Again, if you don't use qwerty substitute whatever layout you use.)

 

[donut]

thanks for the tip berry but im it is definatly set to the correct keyboard mapping.

I'm typing this on the laptop in question now with out any problems (other than the fact I can't use a lot of Ctrl functions) but when i restart my computer I have to go through hell to log in as the keyboard is all messed up, even before it hits the windows screen, which is what makes me very weary about re-installing windows

 

[shozzking]

what OS are you using? i'd recommend checking the keyboard settings again.

 

[donut]

I am using Vista Home Premium.

When you say check the keyboard settings what exactly do you mean, sorry if it should be obvious.

 

[tom-knox]

Make sure that the computer is set up to use a qwerty keyboard with a layout from your country.

 

[shozzking]

go to control panel, switch to classic view and choose the keyboard option. look around in there and you should find a keyboard layout option in the advanced settings