walterk250

yes thanks Ponch, pretty certain now its keyboard controller. Regards Andrew

thanks for that response Th3 I booted up in Puppy Linux from CD and the laptop still shows the same symptoms (del and arrow keys wont work, all applications, Abiword etc) - so its not unique to XP - its a hardware problem. Enjoyed playing with Linux again though. Thanks everyone in helping with diagnosis - I'll come back here again when I have a real XP problem ! Regards Andrew

thanks Ponch but I did all that before posting to the forum (see my comment about chewing gum) (Ive only posted here as a last resort because I was initially mystified as to the problem). I agree its unlikely to be a virus. In any case - dirt under the del key wouldnt explain the behaviour of the mouse - left clicking using a (USB) mouse just starts deleting text - or that the same thing happens with the left touch pad button (which Ive now disabled). (This additional behaviour started just after I posted.) Since posting Ive done the following: 1. Thoroughly cleaned laptop inside and out (again). Fitted a replacement brand new (old stock) keyboard - still the same problem with the Del and Arrow keys in all applications. Still the same problem with the touchpad left button wanting to delete everything. 2. Changed the USB mouse - still the same left click problem in all applications - irrespective of which USB port its connected to. The problem gets worse with time (it might disappear for an hour, then come back without warning). The laptop gets used 24/7 and may simply have cooked something, it is nearly 10 years old and overdue for 'retirement'. Regards Andrew

thanks for those responses I think I have a more serious problem actually, some arrow keys now stopped working (even in set-up, before I boot to XP) also 'left click' mouse wants to delete everything as a default action. maybe its a virus, but all scans indicate Im clean. Time to go digging further I think. thanks again Regards Andrew

Hello All My first post - sorry its such a an apparently dull one - just wonder if anyone can help with an odd problem that cropped up yesterday. Im running XP Pro on an old Toshiba Portege A200 Laptop. Last night after an 'automatic update' from Microsoft I noticed that my del key had stopped working it wont work in any application (Word, Excel, Mail etc). I can get round it by using various alternatives of course but its a flipping nuisance. And of course I am already missing Ctrl-Alt-Del Ive not checked yet on other computers I have to see if any of those are affected too. There is no old chewing gum stuck under the Del key. Has anyone else experienced this or something similar ? Im guessing its a purely local problem to me/my hardware but would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks and Regards Andrew