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Brooks_R

5 Posts

9806

September 25th, 2007 12:00

Help launching uncontrollably ...

I'm trying to fix a problem on my wife's computer. It's running XP Home SP2. Help is being launched from numerous applications (Outlook, IE, Quicken, etc) without F1 or help ever being clicked AND its launching over and over again. It's as if an invisible person is sitting there hitting the F1 key. We run AVG antivirus and it's up to date and running. Not sure if this is a virus or something whacked in Windows or a laptop keyboard or other hardware problem. The computer is a Dell 5100 Inspiron laptop. This is a tough problem to search for as searching for 'help', the browsers return results as if you were requesting help. --------------------------------------- There is one other problem that is probably not related - but I don't know. There is a problem typing a capital c ("C"). Holding the left Shift key and typing a 'c' results in no typing. The left Shift key works properly and capitalizes all other letters. Holding the right Shift key and typing a 'c' works. Bizarre. Any help appreciated. Brooks

tomron

2 Intern

 • 

966 Posts

September 25th, 2007 13:00

Since you're having problems with the F1 and other typing issues maybe the keyboard is shot.Try another keyboard as a test.
 
Tom

Brooks_R

5 Posts

September 25th, 2007 13:00

Tom, Thanks for your post. Have you ever seen problems like the ones described? Where can I obtain a keyboard at a good price? Brooks

dms0403

4 Posts

October 10th, 2007 17:00

Did you ever get an answer to this problem.  I am experiencing the same problem and had a computer expert from my office check it out.  For a while it went away but then came back.  It is very virus symptonmatic, but when scanned, no virus's are found.  A ny help would be appreciated.
 
D

tomron

2 Intern

 • 

966 Posts

October 10th, 2007 18:00

Its rare I read about keyboard issues.Its just speculation on my part that it might be a bad keyboard.I don't know where you can get an inexpensive keyboard.Maybe you can borrow one from someone as a test.

Brooks_R

5 Posts

October 10th, 2007 18:00

We have not found a definitive answer. However, I did use msconfig and turned off the touchpad functions (Synaptic ...) that were loading at boot time. This seems to have helped but it's still not 100% cured. (My wife doesn't use her touchpad, just a mouse.) There were replacement keyboards on eBay for $15-25. Brooks

Brooks_R

5 Posts

October 11th, 2007 12:00

You can't just plug in another keyboard, you replace it. Dell has PDF files with instructions on how to do it. Search ... Not for the faint of heart. Requires taking your laptop apart. Probably voids any remaining warranty. Touchpad - Start, Run, msconfig, enter. Click the Startup tab. Read the Help (button) before making changes. Both of these things are for intermediate to advanced users. You may want to have a more experienced friend look at it. Good luck.

dms0403

4 Posts

October 11th, 2007 12:00

You can replace the keyboard on the laptap?  Or do you just plug one in.  Also, how do you turn off the touchpad? 
 
Thanks so much, I appreciate your help.
 
Doreen

dms0403

4 Posts

October 11th, 2007 12:00

I will try, thank you.  But the problem is very intermittent...mostly bad.  Most times it doesn't happen when I first turn the computer on, but after maybe a minute or so.
 
 

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