Resolved keyboard error ?

Some nine or ten of the keys produce figures or symbols instead of letters - thus if I try and type part of the top row from the keyboard , i.e. "tyuiop" what I get is " ty46* "

This maybe happens in all programs, but certainly in Microsoft Office 2007 Word for Windows,Photoshop, and Internet Explorer.

This is on a laptop running Vista Business Edition.

Any suggestions as to where I have goofed ?

 

Numlock switched on?

 

I thought of that ; but being a laptop there isn't the usual number keypad to one side ; so something somewhere switches some letter keys as a substitute . But what is the switch ? Nothing too obvious - nothing actually marked numlock ( as there is on the pc keyboard).
Problem is it gets to be difficult trying to ask question of Help - when the language comes out garbled !
So = I think you've got it Wildfire, but how do I get rid of it ?

 

Looking at your answer again, did you men I type "Fortytwo" , or 42, or hold both down together ,...
Or colon and upper case D together ?

I tried them all, but only a couple of times, I'll have to change my sign-in name to numskull (joke) I think

 

LOL

There's no set standard Geoff but on my laptop at the lower left hand side I have a Fn (Function Key), it's usually a different colour facade than most of the others.

If you find it then treating it like a shift key look for Numlock in the same colour (mine is the Ins key).

If the above doesn't help post make/model of your laptop and we can give more precise instructions.

 

Yes I have an Fn key, but pressing it makes no difference... Maybe some combination of Fn and Ctrl or something ?

Its a Vaio VGN- SZ55MN/B.

Thanks

 

Hi Geoff,

According to the user manual and other Vaio users, your laptop does have a Num Lk key on the upper right hand side.

 

You are right ; but I needed a bright light tpo find it. The keys are black, the letters etc are marked in white, the Fn key and a few others are a very dull green just about visible, but the Numlk is in such a dinghy red as to be nigh invisible.

Whatever - as my grandchildren sem to say all the time. I found it , pressedit, and hey presto. Resolved.

Thank you.

 

No problem, thanks for letting us know.

It may be worthwile looking in your BIOS settings, my laptop allows disabling numlock for the keypad (Numlock for external keyboards still works). I don't know how common this feature is but worth a look.