keyboard problem

[Phil Pascoe]

Once in a while my keyboard stops working, the only way to get it to work again is to switch the laptop off and back on. I suspect I'm touching a key or combination of keys accidentally which disables it. Any ideas? Any idea how to re enable it? I've googled it but I get blinded by science, so please bear in mind that I'm to all intents and purposes computer illiterate.

 

[monkeybiter]

I've had the same/similar with W8 & once now with W10. The last time it occurred when using a browser, it was cured by opening notepad and typing in that, after which everything was back to normal. It may not work for you, but it's easy to try; unless of course the windows button stops responding so you can't run a new programme, which has happened a few times in W10 too!

 

[mseries]

This sounds like something is busy in the background and not 'listening' to the keyboard. This behaviour is fairly typical on Windows systems. Things such as anti-virus programs scans and updates, updates from other utilities often are set by default to run in the background. Since you are "to all intents and purposes computer illiterate" it's going to be close to impossible to talk you through checking it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Thanks, M, that's what I thought. What' "notepad"? That shows you how much I use the thing or know about it. Everything else carries on working as normal, it just stop me posting anything - which is a pain as I spend a lot of time here or on Times on Line. It only takes a minute or two to switch off and on again so it's not the end of the world. It was just a vain hope that someone would look up and say - that's because you've touched ctrl shift w (or something) at the same time, now you need to ...
edit - it can happen mid sentence or at any time.

 

[mseries]

So is it just in your browser that it's not responding ? are you able to switch to something else and type ? What browser are you using ?

If the problem is just in your browser then perhaps one of the plugins is going crazy. I'd try to disable all plugins and see if the problem goes away then one by one enable them and see if the problem reappears.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Chrome 48. (I had to look that up). No, I can't type anywhere.

 

[Myfordman]

Keyboard locking can occur if you keep the shift key pressed for more than a few seconds. If you need to type caps for several consecutive letters then use caps lock.

 

[mseries]

Do you ever get the problem in a session where you haven't started Chrome ?

First thing I would recommend is try a different browser such as Opera or Firefox. Don't install any plugins at first, just see if it erradicates the problem. If it does then something in your Chrome is causing this. If not then you can return to Chrome and should take a look at what's running in the back ground.

 

[monkeybiter]

Happens to me, I use Opera.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've never (to my knowledge) had a session where I haven't started Chrome. I did try Firefox a long while ago but scrapped it as I was having too many problems. I'm on a hiding to nothing - I haven't a clue what a plugin is. I gave up, baffled, before the end of the first page of An Idiot's Guide to Windows 8. Thanks for your replies, but I'm going to give up on this one - I haven't got any patience with computers and I have absolutely no interest in them. As such someone can explain something in perfectly simple terms and two minutes later every single thing said is long forgotten. I just hoped someone might come up with you just pressed key a and key m at same time, or something simple like that.

 

[mseries]

Sadly since computers are complex beasts diagnosing a problem is rarely straightforward.

 

[timber]

Sadly since computers are complex beasts diagnosing a problem is rarely straightforward.

Quite true.
My old PC's running Xp are o.k. but when I switch one of them on I have to press and hold the start button in longer than is normal, otherwise the keyboard does not work. Got to give it time for it's innards to sort itself out !!!???