laptop keyboard problem

[newcomers]

hi guys,

 

having strange problems with my time laptop keyboard (xp pro)

 

all characters on the left side of the keyboard are fine, but the ones on the right dont work correctly.

 

if type the letter p, i get -, unless i hold down the fn key which will then let we write the letter p.

 

Same for a lot of letters, which is really annoying!!!! i will type the alphabet below without holding down the fn key to show the problem

 

 

abcdefgh51230n6-qrst4vwxyz

 

how can i sort this out/

 

Thanks

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hello Newcomers

 

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

Have you set the input language to your particular region in Regional and Language settings in Control Panel?

[hardware_dave]

Sounds like you have the num lock on.

 

Dave

[Seth]

Right click on My Computer from the Start menu. Choose Manage, then Device Manager. Click on the plus sign beside Keyboard. Right click on the keyboard and choose Uninstall. Restart the computer and all should be well.

[Tony D]

but really sounds like Num Lock is on. This is usually turned ON/OFF by holding a FN key and some other key labled NUM LK or similar. It will probably be one of the keys alone the top of the keyboard.

[hardware_dave]

My older laptop has an exact match with what he sees when the num lock is on. Could be a driver issue or stuck key, but I would check the num lock first.

 

Dave

[newcomers]

yeah numlock was on cheers!!!

 

when i restart numlock is on again, how do i turn it off?

 

thanks

[Tony D]

That's in the BIOS. When your computer starts up, watch the screen. You should see a notice to press some key - usually F2, DEL, F10, ESC, whatever. Press that key and you'll be presented with the BIOS settings, Somewhere in there is the setting to start with NUM LOCK enables/Disabled.

 

What troubles me is that it changed from starting without NUM LOCK engaged to with NUM LOCK engaged. What changed?

[Seth]

Very interesting.

 

Maybe it's because I've just never looked for it, but I don't ever recall seeing a num lock option in a laptop bios.

 

Unless someone has deliberately played with the language settings, I just uninstall the keyboard, then right click to scan for hardware changes. For example, I had a Toshiba laptop in the other day with some crazy keyboard problems. Stuff like pressing "M" displayed a "P", but other times displayed nothing at all. Yes, a little different than this problem, but the uninstall did the trick.

 

Anyway, thanks Dave and Kelly. I'll keep it in mind for next time.