"Enter" key not working

Older ThinkPads.. from the 600, the 7xx, the iSeries, 300, 500, the Transnote and, of course, the 701
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jdsingleton
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"Enter" key not working

#1 Post by jdsingleton » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:21 pm

A few months back, I picked up a used 770. I've used it a few times and everything seemed fine. (The only "problem" would be that it has both XP and Win2000 installed and I don't need both.) Saturday, I tweaked the system a bit, installing some software and deleting some. On Sunday, I noticed that the "Enter" key is no longer working.

Pressing the "Enter" key does nothing, but all the other keys seem to be working fine. It's not a problem with XP, since it does not work at the screen where I select the operating system. Is it common for just one key to die?

I'm thinking of checking to make sure the keyboard cables are seated, but is there some sort of diagnostic I can run? I did not notice a keyboard test when I looked at the BIOS tests.

Thanks,
Jim Singleton

tfflivemb2
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#2 Post by tfflivemb2 » Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:56 pm

To test the keys:

1. Start the system while holding the F1 key.
2. In EZ Setup, click on the "Test" icon.
3. Once in the test portion of the BIOS, press CTRL and A. This will take you to a page that says "Thinkpad FRU Connections".
4. Press exit on the "Thinkpad FRU Connections" page.
5. A virtual keyboard will pop up. You can test each of the keys to see if they respond, by holding them down. If the icon blinks for each key it works.
6. If it doesn't respond, then press "Exit" and go back into the "Test" page and test the keyboard, by pressing the "Keyboard" icon.

jdsingleton
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Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:19 am
Location: Washington, DC

#3 Post by jdsingleton » Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:01 pm

[quote="tfflivemb2"]To test the keys:

1. Start the system while holding the F1 key.
2. In EZ Setup, click on the "Test" icon.
3. Once in the test portion of the BIOS, press CTRL and A. This will take you to a page that says "Thinkpad FRU Connections".[/quote]

Thanks! The CTRL-A part in the BIOS is what I was missing. I knew there must have been something there. Thanks, again.

jdsingleton
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Location: Washington, DC

#4 Post by jdsingleton » Tue Mar 14, 2006 7:45 am

[quote="tfflivemb2"]6. If it doesn't respond, then press "Exit" and go back into the "Test" page and test the keyboard, by pressing the "Keyboard" icon.[/quote]

Each of the other steps worked fine and when I tested the 'Enter' key on the virtual keyboard, there was no response. All the other keys were fine.

When I press 'Exit' and go back to the 'Test' page, I don't see a 'Keyboard' icon. There are icons for the system board, memory, drives, usb, etc., but there is not one for the keyboard.

Thanks, though, I at least know there is a problem with the Enter key.

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#5 Post by tfflivemb2 » Tue Mar 14, 2006 8:35 am

Sorry, I was thinking that there was an icon for it.

At any rate, I would try reseating the keyboard cables. Since the 770 series has ribbon cables that slide into connectors, versus having a connector on the end that connects into another connector, it could have worked loose. If they don't have a perfect connection, you can looe access to some keys.

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