Laptop Keyboard Configuration

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007, Jim Duda wrote:

> I'm having trouble with my laptop keyboard configuration.  I'm stumped, hoping someone will recognize this issue.
>
> I have an old Winbook P3 450Mhz laptop.  It had a broken keyboard, the 
> a,s,d keys didn't work.  I installed FC5 on the laptop using a PS2 
> keyboard on the back.  The laptop seemed to work fine, so, I ordered a 
> replacement keyboard (dell 5000 style keyboard) and installed the new 
> keyboard.
>
> When FC5 boots, the keyboard appears to work with gdm, I can use all the 
> keys when attempting to login.  I can successfully login.  However, 
> after X starts running, the right side of the keyboard doesn't work 
> properly.  All the keys appears as numbers.  It's almost as if the right 
> side of the keyboard is working like the number pad on a standard 
> external keyboard.

On many laptop keyboards, you'll see numbers and alternative punctuation 
on the keys on the right.  They are accessible using NumLock.

>
> Now, if I plug in the external PS2 keyboard, the laptop keyboard starts 
> working just fine.  I can even remove the PS2 keyboard, and the the 
> laptop keyboard continues to work.  However, after some amount of time 
> (hours) the laptop keyboard reverts to the bad behavior and I need to 
> install the PS2 keyboard again to restore the laptop keyboard to proper 
> operation.
>
> In the FC5 preferences menu, I have the laptop keyboard configured as 
> the default with is a pc-105 keyboard type.
>
> Anyone have any ideas?

Do you have a NumLock key?  Try toggling it.  If there are CapsLock and 
NumLock LEDs, see if the NumLock one is on.

Check the BIOS and see if NumLock is set on at boot time.  If it is, try 
setting it off.

>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
 		Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs