cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

b n m , keys not working after reboot

Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

b n m , keys not working after reboot

My mother's PC has a Microsoft Curved Keyboard 2000.
Frequently after a reboot the b n m , (comma) keys fail to work for her. Not good when the first letter of her password is M!.
So far turning NUMLOCK off/On several times has solved it temporarily. I have now uninstalled the current driver and rebooted and all seems fine but will keep an eye on it for her. But has anyone come across this before?
Web searches tend to suggest it's a battery issue but this is a wired mouse.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

11 REPLIES 11
picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,432
Thanks: 23
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

Turn it upside down and give it a quick blast with compressed air - it could just but dust/dirt under the keyboard.
It could also be a failing keyboard membrane or the battery issue you mentioned.
Don't do what I did with my laptop and give it a quick hoover with a Dyson - it took me half the afternoon to get the key caps out of the hoover and back onto the laptop !
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

Definitely can't be a battery issue.
Will give the compressed air a go but am not convinced that could be the issue as 1) the keyboard isn't that old and 2) if it was dirt/dust would it really start working again simply after pressing the NUMLOCK key a few times? Of course, the NUMLOCK key could be a red herring Undecided

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,432
Thanks: 23
Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

Double check for malware etc and run TSSDKiller to check for rootkits just to be on the safe side.
Also plug in a seperate USB keyboard at the same time - see if the problem happens and if it does if it happens on both keyboards. This will rule out either the keyboard or may help pinpoint it to a driver or something else misbehaving.
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

Full bill of health with all scans.
Unfortunately I don't have a spare keyboard here so may have to bring one next time.
Will do a few reboots over the evening and see if the issue returns since I removed the previously installed driver.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

NedLudd
Grafter
Posts: 1,898
Thanks: 8
Registered: ‎20-10-2012

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

This may help!
Geoff,
York.
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

Thanks, for the link.
If the problem doesn't appear to be resolved over the next few hours of reboots then I think I will simply give my mother one of my old, but unused, keyboards.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

If you borrowed your mother's keyboard and experienced the same problem you would be pretty darn sure it is a hardware issue.
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

Sensible suggestion there RR, that is precisely the technique I used to sort out whether an issue was keyboard or computer, but a word of caution, sometimes when the cause of a problem is an electronic issue, the slightly different  voltages on a different PC can hide a problem!
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

I'll try RR's suggestion as we're going home for a couple of days.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

SWMBO brought one of our old (around 7 years) but unused keyboards to my mother's to try. Worked, no problems whatsoever.
We've left that with my mother and decided to simply discard the other one. Also noted that the '&' frequently failed to work yet the 7 always did - don't understand this as it's the same key and, if it was a problem with either or both Shift keys, then surely all upper case characters would be affected Undecided
Anyway, all works now so alls well and all that Smiley

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: b n m , keys not working after reboot

Sounds that the chip that does the encoding was on the way, or an electrolytic capacitor had gone u/s and the chip wasn't getting the correct voltages. Glad it's sorted anyway.