SOLVED ->laptop problems...

[Nikolas]

Hi there!

Nikolas from Greece! 

While I'm trying to contact support (from dell, which appears to be more difficult than I thought), I thought of making a thread here, in case you lovely AGS people could help me.

I have a VOSTRO 1510, almost new (a month old), and I have 2 simple problems, which make it completely useles, never the less:

1. The screen has turned clockwise 90 degrees! No idea how I did that! I have a wireless keyboard, which was connected and probably pressed the wrong keys, but no matter what I do I can't bring it back to normal! Needless to say it's impossible to work this way!

2. The keyboard. I have wireless keyboard and mouse (logitech btw), which work fine! However after a while, not straight away, I noticed that the laptop keyboad, no longer corresponds to the normal QWERTY system: Pressing O on the laptop will bring out 6, I is 5, and T is the start (*)! All the same, the wireless keyboard still works fine and dandy!

any ideas on those 2 problems?

Info on the computer: VOSTRO 1510, with windows Vista Basic (the very basic ones)
Keyboard and mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110

I am trying to contact support, but I'm still having trouble, since VOSTRO are brand new, not supported by e-mail (!!!!), and the online chat is not working at the moment!

Any help would be most appreciated!

Thank you all!

[SSH]

I seem to recall that I had a computer that it's Graphics Card drivers had the very silly feature of being able to rotate the screen 90 degrees. There's usually an icon in the system tray, or try going via the control panel.

Does the keyboard problem happen if you have the other keyboard disconnected?

[Nikolas]

searching for the icon tray or the control pannel right now, Andrew! Bless you man!

The keyboard thing happens all the time. I did notice it before but it stoped at some point so I didn't care. Now it seems... permanent...

[Nikolas]

Sorry for the double post!

Just noticed that my keyboard problem is probably related to the FN (the blue) key! As I see it, I type whatever the FN shows, without the key being pressed!

EDIT: Yup! Screen rotation solved! It was 270 degrees. not 90! Anyways, this is solved, so down to the next (ieyboard) issue

Again thanks, Andrew

[cat]

@ Keyboard:

two days ago I had some strange keyboard problems. Finally I figured out, that pressing ctrl+shift (or was it alt+shift?) changed the keyboard layout.
I press ctrl+shift very often in my drawing applications.

On XP I fixed it this way:
Go to settings-> Regional and Language options -> Languages ->Textservices and inout languages -> Details... button -> Key settings... button
There you should see the combination to switch back to your layout. and when you're done with it, better disable the switching 

Hope this helps...

[SSH]

Check:

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-28128.html
http://sillydog.org/forum/sdt_6574.php

If that doesn't work:

You may find that a bit of grit got under the keycap for the Fn key and is forcing the switch on. Very carefully, lever off the keycap, making sure to keep all the bits and note how they fit together. Give it a good clean then spend 2 hours trying to fit it back on.

[Makeout Patrol]

Check:

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-28128.html
http://sillydog.org/forum/sdt_6574.php

If that doesn't work:

You may find that a bit of grit got under the keycap for the Fn key and is forcing the switch on. Very carefully, lever off the keycap, making sure to keep all the bits and note how they fit together. Give it a good clean then spend 2 hours trying to fit it back on.

It's a laptop, so this probably won't work, but flip your computer over and see if you can take out a few screws to lift off the top of the keyboard (the part that's just the plastic frame with all of the keys). Like I say, this probably isn't possible on a laptop, but you might as well check. If you can do it, check to make sure there aren't any electronics on this part, put it in the dishwasher with your next load of dishes, let it air dry until you are absolutely sure that there is no water left on it, and screw it back on. It's the best way to clean your keyboard, in my opinion.

[SSH]

Laptops usually have a little tray with the keys on that is detachable and connects to the motherboard by a ribbon connector which can be very hard to use. It's probably not washable.

[zabnat]

Eh. From your description it sounds like you have NumLock on. Even since the numpad colors on keys (5 on I, 6 on O etc) are the same color as Fn key, but I recall that putting NumLock on will toggle the keys behaviour. And the NumLock might go on when you have the external keyboard connected as NumLock on state is what is commonly used as a default on computers. So maybe your laptop is smart and puts NumLock on when it recognises the keyboard. You can check if your problem really is related to Fn key (if this is your computer) by pressing Up and Down keys, if this controls the screen brightness rather than working as Up and Down key in your application.

[Nikolas]

Holy cow!

This COULD actually be it! (typing from another computer actually).

I HAVE num lock on ALWAYS, since I use Finale, which works ONLY with num lock on! So it could actually be it!

Jesus! I wasted a thread for these 2 silly questions? (well... still have to check if THIS is the case... but I think it should be the case!)

Thanks all for your help! Will edit to let you know, if this WAS the case!

Silly Nikolas out!

EDIT:

Yikes! THAT IS IT!

Thanks Zabnat for the tips! )

Problem solved, thread could be locked and die away!

[Khris]

This stunned me the first time, too
It's definitely NumLock and I was about to post it when I read zabnat's post.