Computer keyboard problem

IMHO decent keyboards are so cheap now that it is probably not worth spending any more time on it. In "desktop" days I used to be very fussy about keyboard action, it may be that having used a dozen or more laptops in the past 20 years I have become more tolerant. I'm currently using an HP keyboard that was £12 in Sainsburys (I bought it when I needed to fire up a unix box, then it was in my spares box for a few years until the Dell keyboard died).

The current Cherry model equivalent to mine costs just over £100.

I smiled at "not worth spending any more time": when I opened the case I discovered that the two ribbon cables which connect the main board to a (fixed) sub-board don't have proper connectors but are fitted with the bare wires pushed into soldered sockets. Dead easy to pull out, rather less so to refit...

Most likely it's the key itself that doesn't work anymore if it doesn't work on a different system too.

Thanks. I suppose I must have other software which allows the function keys to be reassigned: I'll check.

...that they dont last more than 6 months before the keycaps are worn out. I'll see how the 65 quid cherry lasts

I've been using my current keyboard, daily and pretty much all day Monday to Friday, for something like twenty five years. I had the one before that (same model) for almost as long and I only replaced it because it was physically damaged beyond obvious repair.

Update:

Well, that was interesting. I loaded WordPerfect - and the dodgy key works perfectly.

More Word-centred investigation needed, obviously...

Guaranteed 50 million strikes.

That was worthy of Holmes...tee hee

Why, thank you.

Here's another curious observation (tee hee):

When I try to assign the Word macro to f11 by pressing that key in the "select shortcut key" dialogue box - up comes "f11". So the key *is* being recognised.

I tried reassigning it with different things: letters, symbols - and none of them worked either.

I confess myself puzzled.

You have actually tried it on a different system have you?

Sorry, but I don't know what you mean by a different system. A different PC? I don't have one.

The 'Chicony' USB keyboard that I bought over 20 years ago is as good as new. It was about £12 when I bought it.

I meant a different PC but since you have now found out that the F11 is working it's a bit irrelevant now.

unlike Holmes to be puzzled .....

Boot a Linux DVD and test the keyboard there, in a textedit window. That way, your outlay is limited to writing to a DVD for test materials. Typically, a single layer 4.7GB DVD is sufficient for stuff like this, and if the DVD is re-writeable, you can use it over and over again.

Something from here should suffice. You need broadband (not a dialup modem) for tasks like this. The reason I picked 18.3, is slightly better integration with Windows (SAMBA works decent). Support for this will be done soon, and newer versions have more rough edges.

If you're on Windows, look at the "System" control panel, to see if you're using a 32 bit or 64 bit OS. Choosing 32 bit from the above should always be safe. Using 64 bit helps from the above, if you had gobs of RAM (>3GB) and needed to be able to use all of it - for this task, we don't care about that particularly.

On the mirror link I would use for this (I've already done one of these), the sizes are listed. These images are all in the vicinity of 2 gigabytes, so will take a number of minutes to download. Then, use Imgburn or similar, to convert the ISO file into a bootable DVD. Then boot from it, and test the keyboard.

The XFCE version, might not need quite as much RAM as the others, as the display elements are simpler. Generally today, a computer needs at least 1.5GB RAM to stand a chance of running random distros like that.

I don't think your keyboard is broken. Time will tell.

Note: Nothing will be installed on your computer. *Do NOT* click the INSTALL icon typically found on the upper left of the screen when the Linux DVD boots.

Note2: Linux distros come in LiveDVD, InstallOnlyDVD, NetworkInstall, and this one is a LiveDVD. A LiveDVD can install, but only if you honk on that icon. The InstallOnly flavor and the NetworkInstall flavor, start to install right away. I am pointing you at a collection of LiveDVD.

They make books for this. If someone asks you whether they make books, they do. I don't really know what the current version of this is, as these are quite old. Of these two, the first is year 2006, the second is year 2009.

Can beat that with this one. Purchased in 1989 and used daily ever since.

IBM Model M, of course. Cost £130 odd in 1989.

I think those models may have completely separate switches for each key. I guess your efforts have disturbed some dirt or wear debris that has now settled where it is not getting in the way.

First thing to try is that keyboard on another pc. One has to isolate that it is indeed the keyboard and not some subtle key scanning fault in the pc. Is there any electronics in the keyboard? Could be that its just a failed logic gate and is probably unrepeatable. Brian