Dell Keyboard Problem (possibly driver?) need much help

K

KaratonE

New Member
Well, we all need help in something. I have a newer model Dell, just over 1 year old, It's a custom (as in I went through the order customization process) Dimension E521. It was acting up few months ago, but tonight, I put a mouse in and it actually worked, a few months ago, all the ports were down, USB, including mouse and keyboard plug-ins, so I started using my laptop. Well, tonight I got a mouse to work fine, so the ports are back to normal, but my problem is, and I'm pretty sure it's a driver error, my keyboard or ANY keyboard is not functioning properly at all, I must hold down one key for about 2 seconds to get it to type a letter, this goes the same with any other key, it's impossible to type "computer" on it without sitting there for 5 minutes. I've tried many different keyboards and I don't know what's wrong, I opened it up and cleaned it out and still no effect, I was wondering if anyone here knows what to do about it, I can give you more info if you need it, but I'm really hoping for an answer because you know the whole thing about "Dell Service" and prices just for telling you how you broke it and Best Buy charging you and it just breaks again (happened before). So I thank all of you who took the time to read it, if you have any answers or suggestions, it's greatly appriciated.

Joe.

I've been to many other sites looking for help and answers, and found none, could someone here help me?
 
JlCollins005 said:
Have u tried Restoring windows or a new install, possibly a bios update
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Well no, but since everything else works perfectly, I didn't think it would be that, another thing is, I was told to download the drivers from dell from another forum and I installed it, but my keyboard only works when I'm either shutting down or starting up, but once it hits the desktop, goes right back to not typing.
Should I restore windows or whatever?
 
Could be

Could be a wire has broken in the keyboard lead and is causing it to do this... but otherwise i would say it is a driver issue.
 
vk3fcll said:
Could be a wire has broken in the keyboard lead and is causing it to do this... but otherwise i would say it is a driver issue.
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I said in the paragraph that I've tried more than one keyboard, so it might be a driver issue, which I've been trying to fix, but no luck.
 
^^ That's true, you could get a PS/2 to USB adapter for the keyboard and use the PS/2 port instead. If that doesn't work then I would have to concur with everyone else on here that you probably have a driver conflict, or possibly a virus, that is causing this problem and to reinstall Windows. Plus, if you haven't done a fresh install of Windows in a while (more than a year), you're due for a fresh install anyway... :)
 
DCIScouts said:
^^ That's true, you could get a PS/2 to USB adapter for the keyboard and use the PS/2 port instead. If that doesn't work then I would have to concur with everyone else on here that you probably have a driver conflict, or possibly a virus, that is causing this problem and to reinstall Windows. Plus, if you haven't done a fresh install of Windows in a while (more than a year), you're due for a fresh install anyway... :)
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It is a USB, so I might try using the PS/2, good idea. Ok, so otherwise you're saying I should re-install windows, and I'm not very good with this, so I'm not sure how to do that...help? I'm running XP right now and I'm not even sure if I know where the disk is, I might though. Will reinstalling windows erase ANY of my data? Thanks for all this help.

EDIT: Just found my XP disk. Also, I found in that same drawer, I don't know if it's to my computer or my brother's computer, we both have Dell, but the disk is a Western Digital WD Dual-option USB Drive, I picked it up because it says in bullet form: Installation software and drivers. Would this be helpful in any way? I also found in that drawer 2 Dell disks, never opened, they say "for reinstalling CyberLink PowerDVD Software", I don't know if this would help but I thoughtI would mention it to see what you guys say. The other one says "for reinstalling Sonic RecordNow software", again, don't think it has anything to do with this problem, but thought I'd mention it. All the others in that drawer are not mine.
 
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I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I need to get it fixed before my mom takes it to Best Buy and they charge ME, so BUMP...this feels so wrong...:(
 
The Cyberlink CD is for the DVD player to provide the program that will play cinematic DVD's; the Sonic CD is for being able to burn CD's and DVD's, so neither will help the current situation. A full Windows install will erase ALL of your data on that same partition. If you have data in a different partition or drive it will not affect the data, however the programs will no longer work if they are located in those sections. As for the actual install process, go into your BIOS screen and change the boot order so that the computer will boot from the CD drive first (before the computer boots from the OS on the hard drive). Then stick your Windows CD in and just tell it to go ahead and install Windows, it's fairly straight-forward and just needs some info from you at times. I would recommend that you have a friend available who has done this before if you personally haven't though...
 
DCIScouts said:
The Cyberlink CD is for the DVD player to provide the program that will play cinematic DVD's; the Sonic CD is for being able to burn CD's and DVD's, so neither will help the current situation. A full Windows install will erase ALL of your data on that same partition. If you have data in a different partition or drive it will not affect the data, however the programs will no longer work if they are located in those sections. As for the actual install process, go into your BIOS screen and change the boot order so that the computer will boot from the CD drive first (before the computer boots from the OS on the hard drive). Then stick your Windows CD in and just tell it to go ahead and install Windows, it's fairly straight-forward and just needs some info from you at times. I would recommend that you have a friend available who has done this before if you personally haven't though...
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Alright, thanks, I CAN'T erase any data because it's not backed up yet, but thanks guys for all the help.
 
Have you tried a different keyboard ? If so , I have seen HDD failure cause the very slow reponse to typing as you described.

ETA:If you have a empty PCI slot just go buy a USB card.
 
Like Scouts said maybe your computer could use a fresh install.. i suggest u do that and if u still have the problem try a usb card that would narrow down maybe usb ports on the motherboard goin bad.. have u tried using ne other device that uses usb printer, mice, cameras..
 
JlCollins005 said:
Like Scouts said maybe your computer could use a fresh install.. i suggest u do that and if u still have the problem try a usb card that would narrow down maybe usb ports on the motherboard goin bad.. have u tried using ne other device that uses usb printer, mice, cameras..
Click to expand...

Stated in the original paragraph, yes, mice work fine in USB and I've used different keyboards, still same outcome.
 
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