Why is my keyboard doing this?
- Thread starter gigadager
- Start date
Solution
Joseph DeGarmo
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- Mar 12, 2014
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mnineseven
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Solandri
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- Jan 4, 2012
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LOL. Keyboards don't send a separate signal for each key. You can think of the keyboard as a grid of wires.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_keyboard#Control_processor
When you press a key, it lights up one wire in the x-axis, one wire in the y-axis. Based on which x- and y- wire was lit, they computer knows you typed a h.
The problem with this grid system is that the keyboard can get confused if you hit two or more keys simultaneously. If you simultaneously press keys on row 2, column 5; and row 3, column 6, there's no way to distinguish that from pressing r2c6 and r3c5 simultaneously. So the actual "grid" is more complicated, and mixed up a bit to prevent commonly mis-hit keys from generating conflicting signals. But the basic concept is the same. (This is why gaming keyboards are more expensive. They use more wires in their "grid" to prevent this sort of cross-talk.
It seems like your keyboard has a slight short circuit on one of the wires. When you press the h key, one of adjacent wires also receives a signal, so it thinks the y key is also being pressed. Same thing when you press the i key - it thinks the g key is also being pressed. (It's probably the same short circuit - the h and i are probably on the same wire, and y and g are on an adjacent wire.)
Unless you recently spilled a liquid into your keyboard, it's generally not worth the cost to fix this sort of problem. It's cheaper to buy a new keyboard. But if you did spill something into it, you may want to try taking it apart and cleaning it out with distilled water, then drying it out with isopropyl alcohol (it'll displace the water, then evaporate quickly).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_keyboard#Control_processor
When you press a key, it lights up one wire in the x-axis, one wire in the y-axis. Based on which x- and y- wire was lit, they computer knows you typed a h.
The problem with this grid system is that the keyboard can get confused if you hit two or more keys simultaneously. If you simultaneously press keys on row 2, column 5; and row 3, column 6, there's no way to distinguish that from pressing r2c6 and r3c5 simultaneously. So the actual "grid" is more complicated, and mixed up a bit to prevent commonly mis-hit keys from generating conflicting signals. But the basic concept is the same. (This is why gaming keyboards are more expensive. They use more wires in their "grid" to prevent this sort of cross-talk.
It seems like your keyboard has a slight short circuit on one of the wires. When you press the h key, one of adjacent wires also receives a signal, so it thinks the y key is also being pressed. Same thing when you press the i key - it thinks the g key is also being pressed. (It's probably the same short circuit - the h and i are probably on the same wire, and y and g are on an adjacent wire.)
Unless you recently spilled a liquid into your keyboard, it's generally not worth the cost to fix this sort of problem. It's cheaper to buy a new keyboard. But if you did spill something into it, you may want to try taking it apart and cleaning it out with distilled water, then drying it out with isopropyl alcohol (it'll displace the water, then evaporate quickly).
Solandri
Illustrious
- Jan 4, 2012
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Depends on the laptop. Keyboards for common models can frequently be bought on eBay for around $20-$30. Installing them is usually not that difficult if you're technically competent. Search for youtube videos on replacing the keyboard for your model laptop to gauge how difficult it will be.
Before you go to all that trouble, try booting into safe mode (hold down F8 while turning on the laptop). If the problem goes away in safe mode, you have a software problem, and replacing the keyboard won't help.
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