Thinkpads Forum

I am working on a Lenovo 3000 series N 500.

There were several keys not working; all the number keys; the letters y, and t; several other keys. The original keyboard was part number: 42T3305 ID NO. 8C51V2

I ordered a replacement, part number: 42T3305 ID NO.933021
The new one has the same problem; but the weird thing is some of the malfunctioning keys are slightly different--some keys even produce a number and letter together. And this is on the new keyboard.

Is there anything I can do, other than use an external keyboard? Is this a motherboard issue?

The OS is Vista. I recently did a complete wipeout and re-install of the OS.
I can't get into the BIOS because the f1 key is one which is affected.

This laptop has something called a "lenovo care" button which when pushed opens "Rescue and Recovery 4." This is recovery software which apparently runs outside of windows. I used this to re-install the OS. This recovery software has an option to "Access Bios" but all it does is tell the user to restart and press f1 during bootup--not possible with this problem.

I am thinking I need to get an external keyboard just to see if I can get into bios and check if there is some unusual keyboard setting within bios. How do you manually reset CMOS on this laptop? Do you think it might help?

Beside the BIOS access, I'd want to try an external keyboard just to see if the problem is there as well. Borrow one instead of buying if you don't need one.

External keyboard works fine, I can access bios.

What would cause 2 different internal keyboards to malfunction--and in slightly different ways?

Thanks!
S

Either you have (2) defective keyboards or a systemboard problem. If it is under warranty send it in.

no warranty