keyboard problems

[meksikatsi]

Help, i've got a dell latitude cpx and the keyboad is really messsed up. You see, just like that i get a repeat of the s. It's usually an n or m or other keys, not all of them do it but it doesns't happen all the time, like that last n. Also, the caps key doesn't make caps all the time. I have to press it hard but that doesn't make sense to me. Can anyone give suggestions.

[Thong_Ispector]

I would replace the keyboard.
They are darn near impossible to clean.
It almost sounds like something liquid got in there. Even liquid cleaners can really mess with a keyboard.

[meksikatsi]

how hard is it to replace the keyboard in a notebook. Also, although you can buy a desktop laptop for $20, these things must be expensive?

[JANINE]

unless you are a qualified laptop techie dont even think about it. take it down to your neares computer store pronto.

[ShawnCplus]

You can follow janines advice which would be the sure bet or if your cheap do what "Thong_inspector" said and buy a new desktop keyboard if your notebook has a ps/2 port.

[JANINE]

but are you willing to lug around a great heavy PS/2 keyboard along with your laptop. i sure wouldnt be. the weight of an average keyboard now is about 2 or 3 pounds. add that to the weight of you laptop at about 7.5 pounds. also what type of laptop is it that you have. the older they are the more complex they are to fix as i have unfortunately found out. I have a P2 thinkpad and that is a pain.

[kylerobhew1]

but are you willing to lug around a great heavy PS/2 keyboard along with your laptop. i sure wouldnt be. the weight of an average keyboard now is about 2 or 3 pounds. add that to the weight of you laptop at about 7.5 pounds. also what type of laptop is it that you have. the older they are the more complex they are to fix as i have unfortunately found out. I have a P2 thinkpad and that is a pain.

taking ou hee keboard on the cpx models is easy as pie every screw on the unnderside labeled with a k next to it showns all the keyboard screws and with nothing more than a little finnessing of the loower rite corner it pops out and i am having the same problem as he is and if some of the keys donnt work sometimes if at al lits a connection problem that cannot be fixed until you replace the keyboard and the mother board, but the keyrepeats is most likelet dirt but to spare ne one else the agony DONT BUY A DELL THEY ARE UTTER $H!7 and under no circumstances do i recomend buying one of any sort

[kylerobhew1]

but are you willing to lug around a great heavy PS/2 keyboard along with your laptop. i sure wouldnt be. the weight of an average keyboard now is about 2 or 3 pounds. add that to the weight of you laptop at about 7.5 pounds. also what type of laptop is it that you have. the older they are the more complex they are to fix as i have unfortunately found out. I have a P2 thinkpad and that is a pain.

taking ou hee keboard on the cpx models is easy as pie every screw on the unnderside labeled with a k next to it showns all the keyboard screws and with nothing more than a little finnessing of the loower rite corner it pops out and i am having the same problem as he is and if some of the keys donnt work sometimes if at al lits a connection problem that cannot be fixed until you replace the keyboard and the mother board, but the keyrepeats is most likelet dirt but to spare ne one else the agony DONT BUY A DELL THEY ARE UTTER $H!7 and under no circumstances do i recomend buying one of any sort

[justs0indig0]

i just got through a thing that i think you might want to know, it's relavent and i fixed my key, so i am going to post... note that i am a newbie on this forum, but i am not a newbie on laptop modding and repair....
first of all, i am one of those losers that needs a peripheral keyboard to use the number key pad and just because it seems more comfy, even now i am at a free wifi spot and tripping over the right shift key and enter key....
anyway, i dropped my periferal keyboard onto my laptop keyboard and the alt key was perminately depressed, so i called tech support and learned that it would be $299 to replace the keyboard since i don't have accidental coverage... anyway, i was cool w/just using my peripheral keyboard since i had a log on windows password and before it would let me type the password, i would just press the 'alt' key on my periferal that was damaged on my laptop and it was smart enough to figure out that it was a keyboard error and move on....
then, i removed my peripheral keyboard and tried to use it and i had temporarily removed my password at startup so that i could use my remote and watch a movie from that instead of having to type before getting into windows....
this messed everything up and i couldn't trigger it to fix the keyboard error so i was stuck w/the alt key being pressed in and had no choice but to attempt to remove the key so that i could at least use my comp... i have done tech type jobs that didn't involve computers and i knew that if i used the right method, i could at least extract the key w/o hurting other keys... and if i was going to have to pay for a new keyboard anyway, i wouldn't worry too much about dammage to the key itself....
to my very good fortune, i was succesful in removing it and i saw that it had a minuture track in their that i had pulled it out of when i dropped the keyboard on it... so i realigned it and popped the track peices back on to the back of the 'alt' key...
it is now normal, completely normal, $299 saved and the pictures will show what i used to do it...i put the fingernail clipper handle under the key, wide side down w/the curved side toward the other keys and i used the pick to pull strait up with on the opposite side of the key... it litterally popped right off!
good luck and don't listen to anyone when they tell you you can't do something or to send it to a pro, sometimes, that is not true.... A LOT of the time, i have found..... peace~ indigo

[JANINE]

looks like you did a fairly good job there buddy

[zeroth]

I hope by now you've replaced the notebook

[meksikatsi]

uh-huh...