Skip to main content

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

Closed

zach_i

1 Message

3414

December 22nd, 2003 02:00

Ctrl, Shift and Alt buttons behave strangely!

My Shift, Ctrl and Alt buttons behave strangely. When I press the Shift,
Ctrl or Alt buttons various things happen like: in notebook or ms word
the cursor will jump to another line or it will select a random text
region. If I press and hold the Shift, Ctrl or Alt buttons individually
the cursor moves about on the screen. Also, if I type too fast the cursor
also moves slightly about, which leads me to think that this is somekind
of buffer error? The problem happens regardless of which Ctrl,
Shift or Alt (left or right) I use.

I do not think that this is a software problem because my laptop is dual
boot and the problem persists even when I am using Linux. I am
absolutely sure that I never spilled or hit or done anything to affect
the keyboard performance. I did update my BIOS to version A22-I80 about a
month ago, which is rougly the time I noticed this happening. I see that
you no longer provide this BIOS version for some reason and I thought
that rolling back to the previous version might fix the problem. Alas,
the BIOS installation utility does not let me roll back to a previous
version. Has anybody else experienced something similar to this?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

DELL-BobT

3.1K Posts

December 22nd, 2003 19:00

zach_i,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

The following are suggestions you should take to correct the problem:

  2. If the system is connected to an port replicator or docking station, undock the system. Does the keyboard work when it is undocked?

  4. Press the reset button and reboot. This would be a hole that looks like the hole on the floppy drive. Use a straightened paperclip to press the button.

  6. You should also check for any debris in the contact.

  8. If the keycap has come off of the keyboard or is stuck down, try reseating it. There are typically two rocker arms and a rubber spring which need to be fitted back onto the keyboard. Instructions are on the Keyboard FAQ, #5.

  10. Boot to DOS using a DOS diskette. Test the keys in a program such as EDIT.

  12. Reset or update the system BIOS.

  14. Remove the keyboard entry from the Device Manager and reset the computer. When it restarts, it will reinstall the keyboard driver.

  16. Run the Dell diagnostic test on the keyboard.

  17. Place the System Software CD in your computer. Reset the machine and when the Dell logo appears on the screen, press and release [F2] several times until you are in the BIOS. Press the right arrow key to go to the BOOT menu or hold [Alt] and [P] simultaneously to progress to the second page. Change the boot sequence to CD/DVD drive, Floppy drive, Internal HDD. Now press [Esc] or [F10] to save and exit the BIOS.

    The following knowledge base article can help you with this:

    How to run the Dell diagnostic test knowledge base article.

    The program should automatically load. Choose to run the test on the keyboard.

If none of these help, you may consider contacting Dell Support for a solution.


 

Was this post helpful?

View All

0 events found

No Events found!

Top