# Dell Keyboard Problem (possibly driver?) need much help



## KaratonE (Apr 20, 2008)

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?


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 20, 2008)

Have u tried Restoring windows or a new install, possibly a bios update


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## KaratonE (Apr 20, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> Have u tried Restoring windows or a new install, possibly a bios update



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?


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## cohen (Apr 20, 2008)

*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.


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## KaratonE (Apr 20, 2008)

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.



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.


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## cohen (Apr 20, 2008)

KaratonE said:


> 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.



OK sorry  - have you reinstalled the driver...


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 21, 2008)

id try a fresh install of windows


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## KaratonE (Apr 21, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> id try a fresh install of windows



Well I don't want to do that because I don't want to have to reinstall all the programs I have on there.


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 21, 2008)

well at his current moment i cant suggest ne thing else cuz u have already tried drivers so something is conflicting


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## cohen (Apr 21, 2008)

*ding* what port are you using?????

PS2 or USB???


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## DCIScouts (Apr 21, 2008)

^^  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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## KaratonE (Apr 22, 2008)

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...



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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## KaratonE (Apr 22, 2008)

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...


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## DCIScouts (Apr 22, 2008)

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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## KaratonE (Apr 23, 2008)

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...



Alright, thanks, I CAN'T erase any data because it's not backed up yet, but thanks guys for all the help.


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## myPCrocks (Apr 23, 2008)

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.


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 23, 2008)

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..


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## KaratonE (Apr 24, 2008)

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..



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


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 24, 2008)

Well my friend looks like your gunna re-install windows then


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## KaratonE (Apr 24, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> Well my friend looks like your gunna re-install windows then



Damn, well I guess I'll start backing up stuff. Thanks for all your help, not the best thing I wanted to hear, but better than taking it to Best Buy or somthing!!!


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## KaratonE (Apr 25, 2008)

Hey again guys, well it looks like I'm going to reinstall windows, so how exactly do I go about that? Uninstallation and installation? And what files can and should I back up? I know I can't back up programs (sucks) but anything else to be aware of?


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 26, 2008)

Well as far as files if u have music or pictures, documents burn them to cds.. then with your xp installation disc.. put it in the drive reboot the computer, if the bios is not set to boot from ur disc drive set it to do so.. then u wanna get into the windows installation its all pretty self explanatory from there, but instead of reapairing windows hit esc, and delete the partition and reformat


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## KaratonE (Apr 27, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> Well as far as files if u have music or pictures, documents burn them to cds.. then with your xp installation disc.. put it in the drive reboot the computer, if the bios is not set to boot from ur disc drive set it to do so.. then u wanna get into the windows installation its all pretty self explanatory from there, but instead of reapairing windows hit esc, and delete the partition and reformat



How to i set the bios to boot from the drive or whatever?


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 27, 2008)

well when ur comp turns on it should say toward the bottom of the screen to hit del, esc, f12 f8 something along them lines to boot into bios, upon entering bios find the screen where it allows u to set the boot device priority and set ur cd drive to become priority 1


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## KaratonE (Apr 27, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> well when ur comp turns on it should say toward the bottom of the screen to hit del, esc, f12 f8 something along them lines to boot into bios, upon entering bios find the screen where it allows u to set the boot device priority and set ur cd drive to become priority 1



2 problems with that, 1. It doesn't do that, it just goes to a black screen with an underscore flashing, then boots to "dell" and "windows" with the bar going back and forth. 2. My keyboard doesn't work, so i can't press the button.


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 27, 2008)

at the beginning of this thread i thought u said the keyboard works until windows loads then it fails to work


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## KaratonE (Apr 27, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> at the beginning of this thread i thought u said the keyboard works until windows loads then it fails to work



I guess I should've been clearer, what happens is, on startup, it goes to that screen you're talking about, with all info, but the keyboard is completely useless, it's not on or anything, then, it goes to the windows screen and works fine, then it goes to desktop where it's still broken.


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## KaratonE (Apr 27, 2008)

Ok, well I've found out how to do it, and I go through the installation, but when i get to the installaition part it asks wat partition i want it in, there's only one available partition with the right space so i chose it, but than it said "there is already an OS on this partition, it is not reccomended to install 2 on one partition" so im guessing i need to uninstall windows before i reinstall it, how do i get windows XP off my comp so i can reinstall it?


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 27, 2008)

no u want to delete that partition and format it.. during installation when u get to the partition selection u should beable to hit delete i believe, ESC then L or something like that it will tell u.. u want to delete that partition though then format it do a full format also, then install windows


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## KaratonE (Apr 27, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> no u want to delete that partition and format it.. during installation when u get to the partition selection u should beable to hit delete i believe, ESC then L or something like that it will tell u.. u want to delete that partition though then format it do a full format also, then install windows



Oh, ok. Yes it did give me the option to delete it, so I'll go format everything and tell you how it went.


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## KaratonE (Apr 27, 2008)

Ok, I got Windows reinstalled and my keyboard works perfectly now!!!!! Thanks!!! Only with reinstalling windows hundreds of thousands of new problems arise!!!!! Now my internet doesn't work, my mouse isn't functioning correctly because I don't have the installation disks anymore, and I can't verify windows in any way so after 30 days, my computer is more worthless than it already was!! FUN. ABSOLUTELY ****ING FUN.


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 27, 2008)

ok well u have a dell right and u used a the dell Os re-install disc that came with it correct.. and also if u have a dell u should have a drivers disc that has the drivers for everything.. and if u cant access internet at this 2nd as long as its the disc that came with ur dell and u used the SN that came with ur dell call the number and activate by phone.


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## KaratonE (Apr 27, 2008)

JlCollins005 said:


> ok well u have a dell right and u used a the dell Os re-install disc that came with it correct.. and also if u have a dell u should have a drivers disc that has the drivers for everything.. and if u cant access internet at this 2nd as long as its the disc that came with ur dell and u used the SN that came with ur dell call the number and activate by phone.



WEll I have none of that, the install disc was from an HP laptop, and idk bout the drivers disk


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 27, 2008)

yea ur xp prolly isnt gunna activate then...


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## JlCollins005 (Apr 27, 2008)

u could try to contact dell to see if they will send u a new disc
u can download drivers right from their site


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