[Dermie24]

I am currently attempting to revive an HP Omni Book XE3. From what I was told, it was functioning correctly when someone unplugged the AC power adapter and the battery does not have enough life to run without AC hooked up. The computer shut down and the keyboard quit responding under Windows 2000 Professional.

I attempted to boot the machine with boot disks and when it gets to the screen 'R for repair, Enter for setup' of Windows 2000 Professional; the keyboard already refuses to respond. I figured it was a windows driver problem and deleted the WinNT directory and was going to attempt a re-install. That yielded the same results.

I then formatted the hard drive figuring I could do fresh install ... no dice. As a last resort, I tried a utility CD by Kemosabe that contains various utilities. Attempts to repair Windows failed using those also. As a last resort I figured I could DOD erase the drive to make sure everything was gone. This also failed. I believe it is a problem isolated to Windows because in the BIOS and all of these other programs I have used, the keyboard works fine.

Currently I am out of ideas to try and any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated!

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I have been tinkering with the computer off and on and I think I have narrowed the problem down to a stuck Alt key. I managed to get Windows 2000 reinstalled and booting properly. When Windows is booted, it acts exactly as my desktop computer does when I hold down the Alt key and click on things.

For example: Click the start button and the menu will pop up for an instant and disappear. Or double click an icon and the properties window pops up. I can get the start menu corrected by setting the scroll lock.

I did buy another keyboard and installed it with the same results.

What's the consensus ... Fried motherboard or some other suggestion?!

[Dermie24]

I have been tinkering with the computer off and on and I think I have narrowed the problem down to a stuck Alt key. I managed to get Windows 2000 reinstalled and booting properly. When Windows is booted, it acts exactly as my desktop computer does when I hold down the Alt key and click on things.

For example: Click the start button and the menu will pop up for an instant and disappear. Or double click an icon and the properties window pops up. I can get the start menu corrected by setting the scroll lock.

I did buy another keyboard and installed it with the same results.

What's the consensus ... Fried motherboard or some other suggestion?!

[happyrock]

have you tried plugging in a usb keyboard...it may take the focus off the built in keyboard....

[Dermie24]

USB and PS2 Keyboards did nothing to fix the Alt key stuck symptom.