KEYBOARD ANNOYANCES
RESURRECTING A DEAD KEYBOARD
The Annoyance:
My keyboard absolutely refuses to respond. Did I kill it?
The Fix:
A dead keyboard is usually caused by a connection issue or a hardware failure. First, try another keyboard and see if it works. If not, you probably have a keyboard connector problem at the motherboard. Power down and try the suspect keyboard on another system. If the keyboard works on another PC, you know the trouble rests with the original system (not the keyboard). A motherboard replacement may be necessary, or you might be able to use a USB keyboard instead. This may be a cheaper and less time-consuming solution than a motherboard replacement. Clever, eh?
Tip
A quick keyboard check: press the Caps Lock or Num Lock button and see if the corresponding keyboard LEDs light up. If not, the keyboard lacks power.
WAKING NARCOLEPTIC USB KEYBOARDS
The Annoyance:
My USB keyboard refuses to bring the PC out of standby mode, and I wind up wiggling the mouse to wake the system.
The Fix:
This hassle usually surfaces on older PCs with flaky USB support in the BIOS. To test this premise, turn off your PC and exchange a PS/2 keyboard for the USB keyboard. If it works, you just identified it as a USB port issue. Check with the PC or motherboard manufacturer for a system BIOS upgrade (or take the cheap way out and stick with the PS/2 keyboard).
Sometimes a similar issue pops up on new systems with full USB support. You may discover that neither the keyboard nor the mouse will ...