SillyDog701

[Dr Golden]

Ok this will be hard to swallow but here goes..

In 2005 I bought a brand new Toshiba Mx-35. I sold it un-used to a friend who brought it back the next day and told me the monitor went out.

We hooked it up to an external monitor and it worked fine, did all the f5 key stuff to switch it back ad forth from external to internal. but internal monitor (this is a laptop) still never worked. I gave him a new one and tried to restore this one with the disk thinking it was a software problem but since I didnt have a monitor I could not see what was going on and got a continuos beeping noise so I got nervouse and turned it off.

That was 2 years ago. now this computer has never been used. other than setting it up and it set up with no problem before my friend bought it.

now the other day I took it out of my cupboard (been there 2 years) because it was really bothering me that I had a laptop new laptop and it was just sitting. I am overseas so warrenty is no good as I purchased it in America.

now, I turned it on and to my surprise I see the Toshiba Logo on the screen. Monitor was working!

however it started beeping like before so I hit the escape key a few times and it booted to windows xp like it should, however after reading about beeping I opened notepad and the "v" key is running across the screen and across anything I open that has a text area.

I pressed very hard on several keys a few times and the "v" stopped running across the screen.

however, none of my keys on the keyboard are working I mean none, including fuction keys. everytime I boot up I have to hold down the escape key and let go of it at a certain time befoe it boots or I get the beeping and it says hit f1 for this and f12 for that which doesnt work because the beeping is the stuck key.

the built in screen key board works fine with no errors and I dont have a port to plug in an external keyboard.

I took out the keyboard it is clean as it is new. I took off the V key it has nothing under it like dust as like I said it was stored in plastic in my cupboard.

I reseated the keyboard ribbon, no help I reseated the ram no help, I removed the hard drive and booted up to get errors and it went to the same place it goes with the had drive in, the Toshiba Logo Screen and beeps.

I cant get to bios or flash it because of having to hold down the escape key to get it to boot and by pass the beeping. sometimes I have to do it several times before it boots to xp.

My contol panel shows keypard is fine and working. but thats expected since windows can't see that my keys are not working but has a keyboard.

The escape key must be working before it loads XP since it alows me to boot up, but when windows loads it doesnt work either.

There are no drivers that I can find to re-install one.

Please someone out there have the knowledge to tell me what happened here? dead monitor then 2 years later it works but now has a keyboard problem it didn't have before I closed it down.

help please.

Dr. Golden

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[Don_HH2K]

I don't know the exact problem you may be suffering from, but if you have access to a USB keyboard (I'm assuming that your laptop has a USB port if not a PS/2 keyboard port, as you're probably looking for), try unhooking the internal keyboard and attaching a USB keyboard. The beeping is most likely caused by the key being struck repeatedly, which most systems will do by default when the BIOS's key buffer is filled.

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[Dr Golden]

I only see one key running across my notepad and its the letter V, now this computer has not been used to do anything with.

How would connecting another keyboard assist me? that makes my laptop non portable and would be pointless.

Even if it works that is not what I want, I want to find out how to fix my problem not how to substitute another keyboard.

Thanks for your suggestion however I am looking fo an answer to solve my onboard keyboard.

I could hook up a USB keyboard at anytime without disconnecting my internal one but it leaves me with the same problem.

I have an onscreen keybpard that works if I wanted to just leave my keyboard as it is.

Any other suggestions?

Dr. Golden

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[Don_HH2K]

It'd assist you in diagonsis, rather than providing a complete replacement. If you disconnect the internal keyboard and hook up an external one, you'd be able to see if the error is being caused by a problem with the internal keyboard, or the system's keyboard controller, depending on the outcome of swapping the keyboards.

From there, you might get lucky and find that the problem lies with the internal keyboard and not the keyboard controller - if that ends up being the case, you could easily either
a) Do some work with the keyboard (i.e. reseat the keys, check for dirt, etc.)
b) Get a replacement internal keyboard, saving several hundred over a new laptop altogether.

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[Dr Golden]

Would I have to disconnet the internal Keyboard to see if there was a problem with the controller?

If I had a bad Controller wouldnt that stop the external one form working also? evn if I left the internal one connected?since the controller is on my mother board?

What say you?

Dr. Golden

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[PaulD]

Don's suggested diagnostic is a sound approach.
In normal operation one doesn't have to disconnect the 'native' keyboard when plugging in an external (USB or PS/2) keyboard.
The way it should work (if there are no hardware problems) is that the machine detects that an external KB is plugged in and switches over to using it. So:
Test 1 - Leaving the built-in KB connected, plug in an external KB.
- OK? - Problem probably is the built-in KB or cable. But see discussion below.
- NOK? - Try Test 2
Test 2 - Disconnect the built-in keyboard, plug in an external KB.
- OK? - Problem confirmed as the built-in KB or cable.
- NOK? - Problem is in the KB controller. Or somewhere else upstream (less likely).

You said: " ... I dont have a port to plug in an external keyboard."
Presumably you were thinking of a PS/2-style port? You did mention the possibility of using a USB-connected KB for testing.

Using your information, I did a Google search of [ "toshiba mx-35" keyboard ].
The only hit was a set of reviews. From them I gather that quality was sometimes a serious problem. Some reported problems: screen, keyboard. (Sound familiar?)

To answer your last questions: Maybe. IF the controller is bad, it would depend upon the nature/logical location of the 'bad'ness as to whether or not both attachabilites are affected.

You said: "I took off the V key it has nothing under it ..." If either Test 1 or 2 indicates that the keyboard itself is faulty, you can try one more test. Remove the key cap, and pull up on the key shaft - if one is accessible - as you test. Depending upon the technology used in the keyboard, perhaps the key contact is somehow jammed or stuck.

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[Dr Golden]

I agree that Don's suggestion is a sound on, but what throws the external keyboard theory out is that the ESC key ( being part of the same internal Keyboard) works as I cannot boot unless I am holding it down.

But once Xp is loaded the escape key is non functional like the rest of the keyboard.

So my theory is that if the Keyboard was bad then the escape key would not work before the OS loads either.

That is why I believe that it is not the internal keyboard but perhaps the default windows drivers are not detecting my keybpard after loading the OS.

XP only shows one driver to use, it is not a Toshiba Driver. it is standard PS2 Keyoard driver.

The on-screen keyboard I use does not even show me my keyboard when it loads. it shows most of the keys in a different loacation than my internal keyboard.

Now wouldn't that and the fact that the ESC key works until the OS loads make you think that it is software related, and also the fact that the keyboard has not been used? and was fully operational before I started throwing recovering disk into it without a working monitor to see what was going on and just shut it down when the beeping started?

Rick

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[PaulD]

I can't argue with your logic. But sometimes computer functions don't follow the way we anticipate. The only way to find out is to actually do the test, and any follow-up tests that are consequently indicated.

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[Don_HH2K]

I agree that Don's suggestion is a sound on, but what throws the external keyboard theory out is that the ESC key ( being part of the same internal Keyboard) works as I cannot boot unless I am holding it down.

Regardless, the problem might lie on just a single pin of the internal keyboard, which would allow "V" to begin filling the BIOS key buffer. If you look at the pressure mat under the keyboard, you'll notice that there's more than one pin attached to it. Just as an example, if I have a mat with three pins on it, one faulty pin could throw off a third of the keyboard and allow the remaining two-thirds to run fine.

When XP's keyboard drivers take over, they work differently than the BIOS, which will simply throw out other keypresses rather than beep when the buffer is filled. What's leading me to believe it's a hardware problem and not a software problem is that it seems to occur during the bootup phase (when the BIOS has control) and the phase when the system's running (when Windows has control).

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[Dr Golden]

My keyboard has no pressure mat, there is no space between the keys like a piece of plastc or anything, it is a sloid unit made of metal with a ribbon running to the motherboard.

There is no way to even separate the keys from the bottom of the keyboard,I would think so but when I remove it I see the keys and a ribbon comming out of a very very thin metal plate to the Mother Board.

no damage showing on the ribbon. no way of separating the plate from the keys. I ahe seen some laptops that had pressure points under the keys but this one is nothing like that.

I hope this makes since, my keyboard is so thin you would think it had no room for the ribbon.

is there a way to Clear the Bios Key Buffer? Should I try to gt to Bios theu a boot cd?

I would have to borrow an external keyboard as I see no point in buying one just to test my computer.

Most people would not lend me there keyboard as Guyana has very few people that have computers and the ones that do need their keyboards.

Thanks for all the good advise, I am still going in the direction of a software issue due to the circumstanses surrounding the bigging of this problem, I booted recovery CD,s , Windows Cd's and aeverything I could find to get the moinitor to work, I could not see the effects of the disks so I think I corrupted some file someplace.

I do not understan why after 2 years of being turn off that themonitor now works and the keyboard does not, I have to blame myself nd the part about me trying to boot it with al kinds of disks.

That would sound more resonable to me since it wored before and not after I screwed with it.

rick

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[Dr Golden]

Well Guys I do appreciate your help for sure, but like I figured it was a corrupt software driver.

I opened the recovery disk and started from the bottom of all the drivers and installed the last one and it said this driver is needed for windows to function properly.

I installed it and low and behold my keyboard is working, it boots up like a new one which it is.

Sorry to trouble you all but I just could not accept the hardware being bad since the laptop had less than 10 minutes use on it.

Everything is functioning as it should.

Give me a buzz if anyone sees anyone with this problem again in this lifetime and I will upload the driver.

Thanks for everything and the bestto you all for your help.

Dr. Richard L. Golden

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[PaulD]

Congratulations! And just for our education, do you have the name of the particular file(s) that were replaced?

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