Computer trouble
 
Notifications
Clear all

Computer trouble

11 Posts
7 Users
0 Reactions
3 Views
(@larry-best)
Posts: 735
Registered
Topic starter
 

Around last new year I got a new HP minitower with Windows 10 Pro and a SSD. A few weeks ago the "9" key on the keypad stopped working although the "9" above the letters works. I tried 2 other keyboards - same thing. Deleted keyboard driver and reinstalled - same thing. MS support got a virtural keyboard on the screen - same thing. He suggested a "Windows In-place Upgrade".?ÿ

Any suggestions??ÿ Will this work??ÿ How likely is this to loose data, settings, software, etc.?ÿ I'm backed up on Carbonite, but my tech guy is stuck on the mainland due to the virus and other problems.?ÿ

I have caught a few mistakes I've made by missing 9's, but what a pain.?ÿ

?ÿ

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 4:14 am
(@toivo1037)
Posts: 788
Registered
 

So you are saying this is a software issue, not a hardware one?

I don't see how that is possible.

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 4:52 am
(@larry-best)
Posts: 735
Registered
Topic starter
 

Absolutely. and everyone except MS support agrees that it's impossible.?ÿ

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 4:58 am
(@a-harris)
Posts: 8761
 

What your computer is hearing when you touch the 9 key, It is not understanding the command and doing nothing.

At least your top number line works.

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 5:04 am
(@john-putnam)
Posts: 2150
Customer
 

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the keyboards are wireless.?ÿ That being said, when you switch keyboards are you switching the wireless dongle on the computer??ÿ I have found that on my system, if the dongle is on the back of my tower my keyboard acts really goofy.?ÿ If I put it on the front of the CPU then it works fine.?ÿ I surmise it is a signal thing.?ÿ

On a side note, before I switched to an AMD processor this winter I kept the dongle on my monitor.?ÿ The new motherboard will not run the BOIS if the USB is plugged into my monitor.

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 6:12 am
(@peter-ehlert)
Posts: 2951
 

This seems to be something that HP should fix... are you under warranty?

I don't know a thing about Carbonite ... if it will truly preserve your data and settings... I suggest you duplicate your "backup" in some manner to preserve your Personal Data.

Reinstall of Windows "should be" trivial, hopefully you can create some sort of reinstall DVD or USB to do a fresh install with all the drivers required

anyway, you could confirm the "software fault" theory by booting with Live Linux system to check. no need to install anything or touch your disk drive.
My money is on "this is a Windows bug"

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 6:26 am
(@larry-best)
Posts: 735
Registered
Topic starter
 

USB Keyboards. Tried different USB ports.?ÿ

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 6:45 am
(@norman-oklahoma)
Posts: 7610
Registered
 

Could be a BIOS problem rather than Windows. I which case the fix would be a BIOS update. Scary, but not super complicated. Check Youtube for?ÿ instructions.

Totally believable that an operating system re-install would fix this. I just recently got over some erratic behavior with a Lenovo laptop that was cured by an automatic Windows update. Seems that a previous update had been interrupted, leaving the thing hamstrung in odd ways.

?ÿ

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 6:51 am
(@larry-best)
Posts: 735
Registered
Topic starter
 

Peter, yes it's on HP warranty but HP support is closed for the virus. I did get DVD's with OS and Driver Recovery from HP.?ÿ

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 6:54 am
Wendell
(@wendell)
Posts: 5782
Admin
 

I would make a Windows refresh the last ditch effort overall.

The first thing I would suggest is check with the HP support site to make sure you've installed all of the latest drivers, particularly for input devices. But I would just make sure they were all updated across the board. https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/desktops

If that didn't fix it, then you could run some DISM commands from the command line to make sure your Windows installation doesn't have any corrupted files. To do that, click Start, then type CMD; choose Command Line and be sure to run as admin. Then run the following commands in the order provided:

  • dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

  • dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup

  • dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /analyzecomponentstore

  • dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

  • sfc /scannow

Some of them will take a little while to complete.

If that still doesn't fix it, then maybe consider a soft refresh, where no data is removed but Windows is basically reinstalled. You'll have to reinstall your software though, so make sure you have your keys, etc. handy.

And if that doesn't fix it, you might consider a clean install. The latest update of Windows 10 has a pretty nice setup for that now that will automagically download the latest W10 version from the cloud when it starts the reinstallation process. I just did this for a client and it was super easy.

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 8:51 am
(@larry-best)
Posts: 735
Registered
Topic starter
 

Thanks, Wendell,

I reinstalled the input drivers. The rest is too scary for me. I may take the keyboard apart and remove the offending key.?ÿ

 
Posted : July 7, 2020 1:36 pm