stazen

I've had a MS Wireless Multimedia Keyboard for about a month
now. I am running Windows XP. For the first three weeks
the keyboard worked fine, every key producing the correct
output. However, last week, without any changes made to
the settings or system, both the ENTER key, the BACKSPACE
key and the Back Arrow (<-) key have started to act up.

Whenever I hit the BACKSPACE key, without any
modifiers, the Log Off Windows dialog box pops up. When
I hit the ENTER key (only the main ENTER key has this
problem, not the one on the NumPad) a new Internet
Explorer window loads my default home page. The Back
Arrow key doesn't work at all, and I am forced to use the
mouse to move back a letter.

Now as you can imagine this makes typing quite
difficult, and is extremely frustrating. To attempt to
remedy the problem I have reinstalled the Intellitype
2.22 software, scanned the system for virii and spyware,
checked my regional settings (US) and reconnected the USB
transmitter and devices... I am stumped.

Has anyone even heard of a problem like this? Any
suggestions how to fix it?

cheerios

do you have other wireless devises? could there be interference? have you checked w/ another keyboard/plugged the keyboard into another machine to see if its the box or the keyboard itself? Have you checked for currently running processes to see if there's a little piece of software running? is there settings in the Intellitype software? Those're somethings I'd start w/ to troubleshoot.

thecow

This may sound silly, but did you try new batteries? I start to freak everytime the batteries start going on my wireless mouse .

stazen

It's a MS wireless combo mouse and keyboard, so I don't see that they would be interfering w/ one another. My next step is to try the keyboard w/ another comp, and try another keyboard on this comp. I checked the running processes/startup programs for anything suspect, but I didn't find anything.

Thanks for the tips, I will keep at it. The frustrating thing is, IT support is what I do for a living, so I am usually pretty good at troubleshooting. It's the worst when you get stumped with a problem on your own system.

EDIT: well here I am typing on my old keyboard and lo and behold, the problem has disappered. So it's definetly something to do with the wireless keyboard... Oh and I tried the battery change but that didn't resolve the issue...

cheerios

hmm. can you just completely uninstall the wireless software and have it still work? I'm thinking maybe something's hinky w/ the intelle-whatever drivers.

edit: oh, and did anyone possibly spill something on it? maybe shorted a circuit in it?

stazen

Yes that is where I am at now....

I removed Intellitype 2.2 completely and rebooted the PC. When it came back, the keyboard still worked, except all the extra funtion keys and whatnot. So after attempting to remove all traces of Intelliype from my PC, I reinstalled the Intellitype software. Guess what, the problem came back...

So it's definetly something screwy going on with the Intellitype software. After some more fooling I determined that if I chose to disable the funtion keys for 'Log Off' and 'Web/Home', the BACKSPACE and ENTER key act like they should. So apparantly the Intellitype software is interpreting those keys incorrectly, and visa-versa, so when I hit those supposedly 'disabled' function keys now, they do the function that should be handled by BACKSPACE and ENTER. Can't say I understand why, but at least the keyboard is functional in it's current state.

Thanks for the advice

cheerios

glad to help a bit. happy typing.

Sionide

Yeah it's made by Microsoft, what do you expect? :P

I'd check if any of the other keys aren't sticking... That's usually the problem when my keyboard starts acting up! Grr, bloody annoying too..

__________________
- [ S.I.O.N.I.D.E. ] - [ Synthetic Intelligent Organism Normally for Infiltration and Dangerous Exploration ] -

BoCo

That's why you gotta buy a Logitech.

__________________
Activism is a way for useless people to feel important.

stazen

yeah I would'a gone with a Logitech, but Costco had this unit on sale, so I got it instead...