I am having an odd and frustrating problem with my Inspiron 3700 keyboard.  I am suffering from intermittent keyboard failure, specifically the 8, i, k, and comma keys.  Also, independently of this, my down arrow intermittently fails.  All other keys seem to work reliably.

The most puzzling aspect of this is that when I plug an external keyboard into the USB port, and wait a minute or two, all keys on the internal keyboard start to work.  Even after unplugging the external keyboard, the keys continue to work for a time (usually about 20-30 minutes), before the down arrow and/or 8ik, keys randomly stop.  Plugging the keyboard back in will again fix the problem.

From this, I conclude that I am not suffering from a hardware failure.  Could it be a driver issue?  I have searched the Dell website searching for an Inspiron keyboard driver, and have found none.  I am not sure where the CD that came with the machine is.  Are there any other things I should look at to resolve this problem? 

Any ideas on how I should proceed?

Thank you,

Chris