Urgent Help Needed

A_Sober_Paddy

Hey all,

Just have a quick one for you, the good people of boards nation may be able to help me with.

On my mothers laptop, her Keyboard has just stopped working...Her mousepad was giving trouble earlier too.

Now I've done a system restore to last week, but no success with the keyboard, I've checked for new drivers for the keyboard and apparently the drivers are up to date, and no option for a driver roll back...

Any help and advice would be fantastic...

Its an Acer laptop, windows 7...

yoyo

Has any liquid spilled onto it lately? Sounds to me like the problem could be hardware related,

Nick

A_Sober_Paddy

yoyo wrote: »

Has any liquid spilled onto it lately? Sounds to me like the problem could be hardware related,

Nick

She claims that there has been been nothing spilled on it...

She was also having trouble with some Zenga game on facebook, it kept crashing on her and freezing up the laptop, don't know if that could be related...

My first thought was a liquid spill tbh

yoyo

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

She claims that there has been been nothing spilled on it...

She was also having trouble with some Zenga game on facebook, it kept crashing on her and freezing up the laptop, don't know if that could be related...

My first thought was a liquid spill tbh

Non responsive keyboard/touchpad generally is hardware over software problem (in my expierience). Try booting off a Ubuntu Live CD and see if it works properly, If not I'd say something spilled on it or hardware has failed

Nick

A_Sober_Paddy

yoyo wrote: »

Non responsive keyboard/touchpad generally is hardware over software problem (in my expierience). Try booting off a Ubuntu Live CD and see if it works properly, If not I'd say something spilled on it or hardware has failed

Nick

Cheers mate, to boot off a CD don't you need to keyboard to be working?

If the keyboard need to be replaced...how much would that cost(ball park figure of course)?

riclad

You can use ,start,programs,acessorys, onscreen keyboard,acessibility,use mouse to press,virtual keys,or win7, ease of acess.keyboard onscreen.
OR try ,reboot,hold f8, for 12 seconds, use arrow keys,enter key,
select last known good config,
or directory service restore mode.
TRY a full virus scan, could be a virus .
Try going back 6 months in system restore, but ,backup,mp3s, data,pics from last 6months,before you do this.

my friend had windows xp,virus, it wiped out driver,file for keyboard.
keyboard stopped working,until i installed new driver file.
everything else worked fine,apart from keyboard.
USB KEYBOARD,6 EURO, will work on a laptop, as a temporary solution,
also you could borrow or buy a cheap mouse.plug it in before ,booting up laptop.

cdrom, keyboard, mouse ,every part of pc has a windows driver file,to make it work,
communicate with windows,and respond to user input.
put in livecd, power off, reboot,
it,ll probably boot from cd .

A_Sober_Paddy

riclad wrote: »

You can use ,start,programs,acessorys, onscreen keyboard,acessibility,use mouse to press,virtual keys,or win7, ease of acess.keyboard onscreen.
OR try ,reboot,hold f8, for 12 seconds, use arrow keys,enter key,
select last known good config,
or directory service restore mode.
TRY a full virus scan, could be a virus .
OR you could use start programs, system tools,system restore, restore to earlier date.
THIS deletes all data,info,user documents AFTER restore point date.

Already done a restore, would a factory restore be better?

None of the keys seem to work on it, even ctrl,alt, del don't work

yoyo

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Cheers mate, to boot off a CD don't you need to keyboard to be working?

If the keyboard need to be replaced...how much would that cost(ball park figure of course)?

If the keyboard isn't working to access the bios/boot device menu I would be fairly certain you are looking at a hardware problem here. Try using an external keyboard, access the bios and make sure there is no option to disable the internal keyboard enabled (I doubt there would be such an option but you never know!)

Nick

riclad

A FACTORY restore will likely restore the os,windows, but, you,ll lose all your data,
if its a virus ,it,ll get rid of the virus.
TRY pressing f2,or del after reboot ,go to bios, are the up,down keys, enter
working in bios mode,
if so that means ,theres a file missing ,or a virus in the present windows ,
when laptop boots,it should show ,press certain key to load setup,
bios mode.
what model laptop is it?eg asus 520tr
i presume by factory restore,you mean, restore the windows os to initial state.
A livecd eg mint would allow you to backup all data,and test keyboard,mouse.
AS POSTED above,if you cant acess bios using keyboard,theres a hardware problem,ie your windows installation is probably ok.

A_Sober_Paddy

riclad wrote: »

A FACTORY restore will likely restore the os,windows, but, you,ll lose all your data,
if its a virus ,it,ll get rid of the virus.
TRY pressing f2,or del after reboot ,go to bios, are the up,down keys, enter
working in bios mode,
if so that means ,theres a file missing ,or a virus in the present windows ,
when laptop boots,it should show ,press certain key to load setup,
bios mode.
what model laptop is it?eg asus 520tr
i presume by factory restore,you mean, restore the windows os to initial state.
A livecd eg mint would allow you to backup all data,and test keyboard,mouse.

I'm doing a virus scan now, I've already restore it back to last week...

I've not done a factory restore yet hoping it won't come to that, trying to explain it doesn't work is like trying to make a blind man see. Why do all the women I know not have a clue about the basics of computers:mad:

riclad

TRY REBOOT , del or f2 usually gets to bios menu,do,up down ,
enter keys work in bios.
A VIRUS scan takes 40mins plus,for a full scan.
i used a pc,just using onscreen keyboard ,for 1 week.its not diifficult.
bios loads up,completely independent of windows,doesnt use windows drivers.for keyboard or mouse.
its like cars,most drivers have no idea ,how the engine works,they just use them,go from a to b.most people dont need to know how a cpu,or motherboard works.
post the model no here .some models have known problems,with keyboards etc

T-Bird

yoyo is right, its hardware error (That's based on what i am reading so far anyways)
T.

aN.Droid

thundermuppet wrote: »

yoyo is right, its hardware error (That's based on what i am reading so far anyways)
T.

It is sounding like it is hardware which is not good news for you

It may be one of a few things but what comes to mind is liquid damage or a ribbon cable has come loose under the keyboard. If you are feeling brave you can try take the laptop apart and see if the ribbon cables are all seated properly, this is usually no easy task and I would place skill level required at high to expert depending on the laptop. If you don't feel confident you could try a tech savvy friend or a repair centre.

quaidox

get a usb keyboard and plug it in to the laptop and see if it works. if it does then the onboard keyboard has failed, but as stated earlier, it could just be the connecting cable for the keyboard has come loose. you will need to check this. try a youtube search for video instructions on how to do this.

riclad

First try getting acess to bios ,its possible a virus can delete certain files that are used by os to control ,communicate with the keyboard.

JonathanAnon

yoyo wrote: »

Non responsive keyboard/touchpad generally is hardware over software problem (in my expierience). Try booting off a Ubuntu Live CD and see if it works properly, If not I'd say something spilled on it or hardware has failed Nick

Agree with yoyo on the booting to Ubuntu, but it sounds like something has been spilt on the laptop. Usually when there is an issue with the laptop keyboard, it is the hardware..

quaidox

if you can use the keyboard to get into the bios then the keyboard is fine and something has gone wrong with windows and not the keyboard.....

little swift

laptop keyboards are fairly easy to change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPaJXTniTw8

yoyo

little swift wrote: »

laptop keyboards are fairly easy to change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPaJXTniTw8

Not on all models, Usually unscrewing all screws at the back, followed by turning the laptop around and removing the bezels holding the keyboard in place is all that is needed . Not a hard job though in fairness op, just take your time and use a bowl or dish for all the screws. If you can find a service manual for that particular laptop it should make it even easier!

Nick

Firblog

The guy who runs this site is very good an you can usually pick up a keyboard for Twenty euro or so..

riclad

IT takes maybe 20 seconds to get into bios, reboot press f2, delete,
some models use f12 , or other function key.
A virus can delete random files, which stop keyboard or mouse working .
if bios is acessed, up,down , enter ,keys, work , keyboard is probably ok.

yoyo

riclad wrote: »

IT takes maybe 20 seconds to get into bios, reboot press f2, delete,
some models use f12 , or other function key.
A virus can delete random files, which stop keyboard or mouse working .
if bios is acessed, up,down , enter ,keys, work , keyboard is probably ok.

There are no viruses going around these days which will interfere with the bios settings (that i'm aware of), boot sector infections yes, but not bios infections. So if the keyboard wont let you into the bios op, I'm guessing its hardware failure (possibly a beer or glass of wine spilled on it ). It could be as pointed out above a cable came loose (although those keyboard connectors are fairly robust, you need to lift up for them to snap out of their connector)

Nick

riclad

YES , i agree , i mean a virus in the windows os, can stop the keyboard working ,After windows loads .IF you cannot acess bios, its very likely a hardware fault.
No harm,trying reboot hold f8, does safe mode menu appear?

A_Sober_Paddy

Cheers for all the advice guys...

Tried you get into the BIOS but no luck so the keyboard had failed...But then it started to randomly turn off.

So brought it back and will hope to have it back repaired within a few weeks