ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 I have an older Dell laptop with a Windows XP and Windows 2000 dual-boot setup. This morning I was loading a PDF file that took a very long time to open. After a few minutes I pressed Ctrl-Alt-Del to see what it was doing, but there was no response. The PDF finally opened, and I thought that all was well.But it was not. Later, when I tried to type something, there was no response from the keyboard. So I rebooted, hoping to cure whatever the temporary problem was.However, when the boot menu appeared I was unable to select anything, or even to hit the Enter key. So it booted by default into the XP system. It came up, but would not respond to anything from the keyboard. Mouse works fine.This sounds definitely like a hardware problem, but I have no idea how to proceed with a non-responding keyboard on a laptop. Needless to say that the 4-year warranty just expired in December... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 Can you plug an ordinary keyboard in to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 I guess I can, but I'm not sure how that will help me - except to permanently replace it with an external keyboard?The keyboard does not work, physically - I have tried Shift-CapsLock, and the CapsLock light would not come on.I will probably have to call Dell, which I hate. They have nobody that can speak properly Japanese or English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Dell would regard a four year old machine as an antique and I doubt they would be very willing to assist, even if they could speak meaningfully to you. Ever thought that the phrase "built-in obsolescence" is very near the truth? You hear so many times that items fail shortly after the expiry of any warranty or guarantee they may have had on them (or taken as an extra)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 A close friend - now retired - worked for many years as a product development engineer for a motor manufacturer.He spent his whole working life making or modifying prototype components to achive a life of 8 years. I recall being shown around his workplace many years ago. An example of their work was demonstrated in a workshop devoted to windscreen wiper mechanisms being tested with water sprays, ice, snow etc. If a mechanism lasted longer than the simulated 8 years they would reduce the material specifications until it failed on cue.The whole car was treated in this way - in theory - if you were the perfect average driver, on the day the calendar reached 8 years since new - your car should totally disintegrate all at once. If so - mission achieved.Of course there is no such thing as the perfect average driver - though some might claim otherwise - and everything failing at once was never going to happen. However - we must all have noticed that once problems occur with a modern mass produced product - be it a car, domestic appliance, electronic item etc - in general the end is near. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 If you can use an external keyboard at least you could see if it was a hardware or software problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 If you can use an external keyboard at least you could see if it was a hardware or software problem.It is a hardware problem, otherwiseShift+CapsLock would light up the Caps Lock indicatorIt would probably work in one Windows system, but not the otherIt would work on the boot menu, before Windows is loadedBut the Dell man didn't believe me either. He asked me to uninstall the Windows driver, then reinstall it. When this (as expected) didn't solve the problem, he said that he will come and reinstall Windows. Finally he said that he will come and pick it up, then send it back to the factory. Cost: ¥50,000 - ¥60,000 (£200 - £250)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Not fully au fait with laptop pricing in the UK but, I'm fairly sure you can get a whole new one for the price you have been quoted for the pick up by Dell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 You may be right; just checked the Dell Japan website, and they offer a range of laptops from £250 - £1,600. Since the current laptop has only 10GB of disk space (for two Windows partitions), maybe this is a good time to think about a new one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Problem solved - keyboard is working again! While I was out drinking last night (with a visiting Australian) Dell support called. My partner answered, and was asked to perform the following:disconnect the laptopremove the battery and wait a few minutesput the battery back, connect power, and boot up WindowsAnd the keyboard was working again. The Dell guy explained that sometimes "some electric" (static?) gets stuck in the circuits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Hmmmmmmmmm.............................Nothing logical about computers :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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