I was looking at an ibook today and the keys are typing in code instead of words, and after awhile ceratin keys just stopped working. Do you think that it needs more than just a good keyboard cleaning or do you think it maybe a harware issue. I have not tried using an external keyboard yet.

Try the external keyboard... I had this problem with an old dell laptop ... my z a q 1 key were working erratically and then not at all.. I plugged in another keyboard .. and it was working... I took the keycaps off the keys and i cleaned and checked the keyboard switches... seems to me like I still had the problems...My problem ended up being a software problem.... i did a clean install of the os .. and that seemed to do the trick... It may not be the answer to your problem.. but you know I always look at all the options