Thinkpads Forum

Ok...I couldn't use the keyboard before but the machine never returned an error(only b, n, h, g, and the down arrow worked), and the trackpoint works fine, so I tried cleaning the sensor membrane inside the keyboard with a little bit of water to see if that would fix the problem. After letting it dry completely, when I start it up, I get an error 00 301, which I know is a keyboard error. The error screen that shows up with the test and restart buttons, and I click test. I then test the system board, which every few times I try it, returns an error. It also beeps once every second. Is this a stuck key, or is it some other, much worse problem?

note-when I cleaned the sensor membrane, I was working under the assumption that someone probably spilled something on it (a couple spots on a few sensors had a little bit of what looked like rust on the part that attaches to the circuit on the membrane).

It sounds like one of the keys might be stuck.

Take your index finger and slide it across the top of the keys like a piano keyboard. This will add a slightly angled pressure to each of the keys and hopefully the "stuck" one will release.

Thanks forr trying to help, but I somehow ended up back where I started (before I cleaned the keyboard membrane). When I tried doing what you suggested, the stuck key would change every time I turned the laptop on. After leaving it off for a couple days, the errors are gone, but only those five keys work, and I'm thinking it might be the keyboard. I think it might be pretty much dead.

Also, a question that's a little off-topic: Is there a driver or TSR for DOS that lets you use your mouse to click keys on a virtual keyboard?

there was something about hitting ctrl-a in ezsetup if thats what you mean. its on here somewhere. it brings up a keyboard onscreen and shows when theyve been pushed.