Perhaps the most important thing you can learn about your keyboard, touchpad, and even your USB ports, is that they can all be bypassed. Most laptops offer either a PS/2 or proprietary port for an external keyboard and mouse (it may have to be manually enabled in CMOS Setup), and you can always buy
inexpensive USB keyboards, mice, and other pointers to use.
If all of your USB ports should fail (a very rare occurrence) you can buy a replacement USB adapter as a laptop PC card. If the problem is with the USB ports being mechanically broken inside the laptop by repeated abuse, you can still use the integrated USB through a port replicator or docking station. So the bottom line is, you don’t have to rush to replace your laptop keyboard or pointing device should the hardware fail or simply wear out.
You may notice a problem with your keyboard when some repeated characteristic spelling error appears, like you keep on leaving the letter “a” out of words. After a while, you figure out that you’re spelling them right, it’s just that hitting the “a” key doesn’t always result in an “a” showing up on the screen. The spills and crumbs that get into the keyboard and remain there often gang up with lint and hair to gum up the workings of certain keys.
As long as the problem is with foreign matter gumming up the retaining clip that holds the key in place and not with the actual key contact, which is sealed within the keyboard membrane, you can fix it. That is, provided you can figure out how to remove the key with destroying the retaining clip, and you have good enough manual dexterity to put it back together again after you remove the built up crud.
The difficulty of replacing the entire keyboard membrane (the keys come attached) varies from laptop to laptop, depending on whether you can easily access it from the top side, without messing with the hinges. If the keyboard disappears entirely from Device Manager it could indicate that that the motherboard controller has failed, in which case, investing in a replacement membrane is a pretty big risk.
A warning in Device Manager may also indicate that the ribbon connector has come undone or failed, though that’s pretty rare unless you’ve had the laptop apart. The replacement membrane with keys usually costs less than $100, but if you normally use the laptop in one location and you don’t have any repair experience, it’s less risky to just start using a USB keyboard.
Probably the handiest laptop accessory around is the USB splitter, which allows you to plug a standard mouse and keyboard into the laptop, rather than buying expensive versions with proprietary connectors from the manufacturer. More laptops come equipped with a touchpad than any other pointing device. Touchpads can take a while for new users to get used to, and they tend to come overloaded with shortcut commands.
If you’re getting frustrated with your touchpad because it keeps launching applications when you’re just trying to move the pointer on the screen, you need to adjust the software settings.
There may be a touchpad icon with all the options in the system tray, and you can always find it in Windows Control Panel. Many users are most comfortable with all of the extra functionality disabled, including tapping on the touchpad to click the mouse. If the physical buttons for clicking don’t work as you expected, their functionality can also be changed in the touchpad settings. If neither the buttons nor the touchpad work at all, make sure they are enabled in software. If Device Manager can’t see the touchpad, there’s a good chance the controller has failed or the cable has worked off.
USB is one of the great successes of modern computer standards, allowing manufacturers to design tens of thousands of different products that can be attached to your laptop by one standard cable to a standard port. If it wasn't for the software, USB would be practically idiot proof. Unfortunately, the USB interface only provides the path for the laptop and the attached device to talk to each other, the software still has to be right for the conversation to make any sense.
The first step in troubleshooting USB problems is to simplify the setup. Plug the device directly into a USB port on your laptop, without daisy chaining through other USB devices, hubs, docking stations or port replicators. Once you get it working, you can try a more torturous cabling route and find out if there’s a problem somewhere in the middle. The majority of USB ports on laptops in use today are either USB 2.0 or USB 1.1, a successful earlier version. USB 2.0 is much faster than USB 1.1 and handles power differently, so some devices sold for USB 2.0 will not be backwards compatible, and will work very poorly if at all. All USB 1.1 devices should work on USB 2.0 ports, and the new USB 3.0 ports should be able to handle all of the older devices as well.
The higher the communication speed of the device, the more important you use a quality cable. The USB port and cable wiring is actually quite simple, a ground, a +5.0 V power supply, and two signal conductors carrying a differential (plus and minus) signal for noise isolation. The main hazard to USB ports is that the cables end up end up all over the place and get yanked on. People can trip over them and you may jerk the laptop around moving your feet under the table. The worst punishment for the USB port is if you
forget that you have a USB cable plugged into the laptop, close the lid, and trying to walk away with it. This abuse can lead to broken solder joints inside the laptop, and bent ports that only
create the proper connection if you hold the cable just so. If the USB port feels loose inside the laptop, it’s broken. The whole laptop is put in danger if somebody trips over the cable and mpulls it off the table. The cables themselves are fairly bullet proof, normally inflicting more damage than they absorb, but a high heeled shoe or desk drawer can damage a cable and break the conductors. So you shouldn't assume a cable is good unless you've tested it with another device on your laptop, and remember that cheaper cables may work with older USB standards but not the new faster ones. Never try using a USB cable if the plastic spacer in the connector is missing. It can short out the port and damage the motherboard.
inexpensive USB keyboards, mice, and other pointers to use.
If all of your USB ports should fail (a very rare occurrence) you can buy a replacement USB adapter as a laptop PC card. If the problem is with the USB ports being mechanically broken inside the laptop by repeated abuse, you can still use the integrated USB through a port replicator or docking station. So the bottom line is, you don’t have to rush to replace your laptop keyboard or pointing device should the hardware fail or simply wear out.
You may notice a problem with your keyboard when some repeated characteristic spelling error appears, like you keep on leaving the letter “a” out of words. After a while, you figure out that you’re spelling them right, it’s just that hitting the “a” key doesn’t always result in an “a” showing up on the screen. The spills and crumbs that get into the keyboard and remain there often gang up with lint and hair to gum up the workings of certain keys.
As long as the problem is with foreign matter gumming up the retaining clip that holds the key in place and not with the actual key contact, which is sealed within the keyboard membrane, you can fix it. That is, provided you can figure out how to remove the key with destroying the retaining clip, and you have good enough manual dexterity to put it back together again after you remove the built up crud.
The difficulty of replacing the entire keyboard membrane (the keys come attached) varies from laptop to laptop, depending on whether you can easily access it from the top side, without messing with the hinges. If the keyboard disappears entirely from Device Manager it could indicate that that the motherboard controller has failed, in which case, investing in a replacement membrane is a pretty big risk.
A warning in Device Manager may also indicate that the ribbon connector has come undone or failed, though that’s pretty rare unless you’ve had the laptop apart. The replacement membrane with keys usually costs less than $100, but if you normally use the laptop in one location and you don’t have any repair experience, it’s less risky to just start using a USB keyboard.
Probably the handiest laptop accessory around is the USB splitter, which allows you to plug a standard mouse and keyboard into the laptop, rather than buying expensive versions with proprietary connectors from the manufacturer. More laptops come equipped with a touchpad than any other pointing device. Touchpads can take a while for new users to get used to, and they tend to come overloaded with shortcut commands.
If you’re getting frustrated with your touchpad because it keeps launching applications when you’re just trying to move the pointer on the screen, you need to adjust the software settings.
There may be a touchpad icon with all the options in the system tray, and you can always find it in Windows Control Panel. Many users are most comfortable with all of the extra functionality disabled, including tapping on the touchpad to click the mouse. If the physical buttons for clicking don’t work as you expected, their functionality can also be changed in the touchpad settings. If neither the buttons nor the touchpad work at all, make sure they are enabled in software. If Device Manager can’t see the touchpad, there’s a good chance the controller has failed or the cable has worked off.
USB is one of the great successes of modern computer standards, allowing manufacturers to design tens of thousands of different products that can be attached to your laptop by one standard cable to a standard port. If it wasn't for the software, USB would be practically idiot proof. Unfortunately, the USB interface only provides the path for the laptop and the attached device to talk to each other, the software still has to be right for the conversation to make any sense.
The first step in troubleshooting USB problems is to simplify the setup. Plug the device directly into a USB port on your laptop, without daisy chaining through other USB devices, hubs, docking stations or port replicators. Once you get it working, you can try a more torturous cabling route and find out if there’s a problem somewhere in the middle. The majority of USB ports on laptops in use today are either USB 2.0 or USB 1.1, a successful earlier version. USB 2.0 is much faster than USB 1.1 and handles power differently, so some devices sold for USB 2.0 will not be backwards compatible, and will work very poorly if at all. All USB 1.1 devices should work on USB 2.0 ports, and the new USB 3.0 ports should be able to handle all of the older devices as well.
The higher the communication speed of the device, the more important you use a quality cable. The USB port and cable wiring is actually quite simple, a ground, a +5.0 V power supply, and two signal conductors carrying a differential (plus and minus) signal for noise isolation. The main hazard to USB ports is that the cables end up end up all over the place and get yanked on. People can trip over them and you may jerk the laptop around moving your feet under the table. The worst punishment for the USB port is if you
forget that you have a USB cable plugged into the laptop, close the lid, and trying to walk away with it. This abuse can lead to broken solder joints inside the laptop, and bent ports that only
create the proper connection if you hold the cable just so. If the USB port feels loose inside the laptop, it’s broken. The whole laptop is put in danger if somebody trips over the cable and mpulls it off the table. The cables themselves are fairly bullet proof, normally inflicting more damage than they absorb, but a high heeled shoe or desk drawer can damage a cable and break the conductors. So you shouldn't assume a cable is good unless you've tested it with another device on your laptop, and remember that cheaper cables may work with older USB standards but not the new faster ones. Never try using a USB cable if the plastic spacer in the connector is missing. It can short out the port and damage the motherboard.
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