this time, a sony vaio laptop.

okay, so the keyboard seems to not be working. or, well it is, but not to type. certain keys do certain things- if I opened word, I couldn't type anything, but pressing "n" would open a new document, pressing "w" closes the file "s" maybe saves it and so on.

any ideas?

Sounds like your CTRL key might be stuck?

Sounds like your CTRL key might be stuck?

Agreeeeeeee

Not been throwing the Pepsi around on your essay nights have you G4?

how do I unstick the control key? tried nando's "hit it over and over again" routine with no luck...

Well you could try lifting the keycover up with a screwdriver - flat ones work best. Then if the actual thingy wossname that the keycover hides doesn't spring up, you could try pulling it up with a pair of pliers.

Alternatively, you could nick someone else's keyboard.

it's a laptop. the keyboard is attached to the rest of the computer.

also, is there a way to do a hard reset or something similar?

Ah. That makes it more awkward. The keyboard should still be replaceble, but it can be fiddly with laptops.

Hard reset: Varies with the machine. You could try disconnecting from the mains and removing the battery - usually there's a cover underneath the machine, some slide out, others are screwed in place. But how wil that help if the problem is down to a key being stuck? Incidentally, the bit about trying to remove the cap still holds.

You could get a can of compressed air (I'm serious) most good radio (computer) suppliers should stock it. Use it to clean under the keys (usually a thin plastic tube follows with the can)

Thats one great idea, even Kim & Aggie couldn't match that.

it's fixed now- so much easier when you actually phyiscally have the computer (it's not mine, far too fancy for me to afford).

the problem was to do with the function key and the num lock.

thanks everyone for all of the replies though. and nando too.

canned air sounds fun.