Thinkpads Forum

Problem: I now have dead keys on my keyboard (n,m,h,j,y,u,6,7) and the PS2 mouse is not working. If you look closely at what keys they are, you will see it is, kind of, a 'line' right through the middle of the keyboard. This only happened at the same time that my PS2 mouse was gone. The keys suddenly returned to life, together with the PS2 mouse but were again dead after about 10 minutes (the PS2 mouse also!).

Background: I am running Windows XP. I have been having problems with a 60 GB HDD constantly giving me errors (WinXP boot) and having to check the drive for consistency.

I had just installed a wireless mini-PCI card into the mini-PCI slot. It worked fine except for a very low signal (which I later found out was a transmission channel issue). All of this started happening after installing this card.

Guess: It seems to me that this card could have created a temperature issue exactly over the chip/chips on the motherboard, responsible for the PS2 connector and the keyboard, somehow?
After removing the card, I noticed it is placed exactly behind the PS2 connector.

Present: The keys and the PS2 connector are not working even after removing the wireless card. I am afraid the motherboard has been damaged for good.
I have removed CMOS battery and started clean but there has been no change.

Any ideas? Any similar issues? Any solutions?
(I do not intend to buy a USB keyboard or mouse, so, you can save that workaround for somebody else. Thanks.)

Dows F1 still work? If so, can you get into your computer diagnostics and run the tests? If there are no errors, then it might just be a bad cable or keyboard. If you ever take apart your computer, it's also wise to check for bent pins, I remember my 600E mouse not working because I accidnetly bent a pin on the connector. I was able to fix the issue by carefully pushing the pin back into place using a thin needle.

TP 600X has no testing in EasySetup.

I have tried the PS2 connector with 3 different mice, all working properly in other machines.

There is nothing bent or twisted in the PS2 connector itself.

I will soon have the chance to test the keyboard in another machine. I am pretty much certain that the keyboard has no problems but I still haven't tested it in another machine.

What puzzles me is that this happens simultaneously!
If the mouse works, the keys are OK. If the mouse is dead, so are the keys. Always!

It has to be something else.

Keyboard was not working!

I must have bent the cable too much and now more keys are dead.

To think that I was about to trash my TP 600X thinking it was a bad motherboard!

I am lucky I got a TP 600E with a working keyboard and now it's just a matter of doing the 'organ transplant'.

Thanks for the advice.

Good luck on the transplant and glad to hear there might be a happy ending for your 600X troubles.