Keyboard trouble

lukin

Some of the number keys on my sister's laptop aren't working (it's a dell).
There is a keyboard port on it and I wonder if it is possible to buy a minuture keyboard or even a keyboard with just the numbers on it.
I have a spare keyboard I can give her but it's not possible to take it with her along with the laptop.
Failing that I suppose she could send it back to Dell to be repaired.
The warranty is up though so it would cost a bit.

kdouglas

yes, it is possible to connect a keyboard to it, maplin in dublin have a lovely small aluminium keyboard for €40, since its just the number keys, you can also buy a seperate number keypad (basically the same as the numbers section on a normal keyboard except as a seperate unit)

most laptops also normally have two lots of numbers, the top row above the letters and also a keypad type layout over the normal letters
using these normally involves pressing the 'fn' key and the corresponding key (similar to pressing shift and 3 for example, to get the £ symbol)

also what caused the keys to stop working? was something spilled on them or did they just stop working one day? if they just stopped working, or if it was a problem which gradually worsened over time, you may be able to get it repaired 'under guarantee' as the problem could be something which was present from the time of manufacture. contact Dell and ask what they're policy is on this, or perhaps if anyone else here knows?

lukin

Thanks. I've seen those keyboards, they might be the solution.
The laptop is about 2 years old. The keys affected work sometimes and othertimes not.
Nothing was spilled on it, I think it just stopped working over time.