Dell laptop keyboard problem

tinyfox

I have a dell inspiron 6400 with windows XP and this morning I've a problem with a few keys. If I press the h,g,4,7,2,0,\,' keys this is what I get: h7,g4,g4,h7,\2,'0,\2,'0. Every other key seems to be fine. It's not numlock or stickykeys, I've uninstalled the keyboard in the device manager and restarted twice.

Interestingly, it doesn't happen with the on-screen keyboard! Any ideas or suggestions?

Capt'n Midnight

possibly the keyboard is on the way out due to a liquid spill or dirt

borrow a usb keyboard to fully rule out software before cleaning or replacing it

try hovering it (not an air blower as that could push dirt into places you don't want it to go)

don't clean it with anything other than isopropyl alcohol (get at a chemist) and even then only when you are resigned to replace the keyboard

tinyfox

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been out most of the day, left the computer on and it seems to have fixed itself No problems with any of the keys, weird!!