I am having a bit of bother with my lap top. The problem is this. When I start typing it decides to space itself at will, as if I'm hitting the space bar, the only way to stop it is to hit a this it occasionally decides that it will scroll me down to the bottom of a page and refuses to let me scroll back up. It also lets me type half a line across the page and then decides to drop me down to the line below, where if I continue to type' it throws the word, once I've completed it and hit the space bar, back up where I was to the uncompleted line above as if I am typing it up there, if that makes any sense.
I've tried the obvious things like bashing the keys a bit harder,to try and release anything thats stuck turning it upside down to shake the crumbs and stuff out of it, I've even ventured as far as poking it with a knife. My guess is (bearing in mind that I havn't a clue) that me space bar is getting stuck down now and again, if thats right how do I go about cleaning it cos I'm loathe to prise it off just in case I break something, or could it be something else. I hasten to add that this is intermittent.
thankyou
Obvious thing number 76... rebooted?
Obvious thing number 77... vacuum it. With the brushy-muff attachment.
recognise this prob - reminds me of the whole "nooo cappucino over keyboard" incident that i (M) had.
if the button is stuck down or damaged even slightly, even if its not noticable, it can cause havoc.
How many people splutter drinks on the keyboard on this site! This is about the 10th thread where it's been mentioned!!!
Learn from past mistakes - don't drink whilst reading potentially funny threads!!!
good point - what ya could do is get a drinking hat - maybe it'll minimalise the risk!!!
Lots of good tips. I'm used to taking my desktop full-size keys off every year or two or just using one of those compressed-air cans to clear out the hair, crumbs and crap that accumulates. You'd be surprised how much does.
Also done it on many laptop keyboards, well IBMs anyway, sure most others work the same, just prise the keys away carefully (I think working from the bottom corners works best but it's been a while so unsure) and although each key may bend a little it should pop off fine (and make sure you know what order they go in so you can put them back right - it's too much hassle swapping them round once you've put them back wrongly).
Putting them back - easy just push and they'll pop on once lined up, be careful with the larger keys like space/enter/tab as they might well have thin metal bars to help keep them flat as they move, just make sure this is hooked into the appropriate bits on the key and round the right way when it goes back on. You don't need to take all the keys off obviously but just enough to check if they're sticking.
If you're still scared to do it, go down somewhere like PC World or a local specialist shop and get them to show you/ confirm it can be done, just don't get served by a spotty student on part-time who hasn't a clue. Or find someone nearby who's experienced at these sorts of things. I'd offer to come and help if I was near enough.
Not guaranteeing this'll be the problem. Make sure you've not got anything weird running and have done a reboot, if that doesn't work do a cold reboot first (power fully off not just "restart" option) to reinitialise the hardware properly and make sure Windows doesn't keep anything in memory. It's as likely a software problem as anything else.
Thankyou for all your comments, it really is most frustrating it simply goes walk about on it's own. I've laid it flat out on the floor and hoovered it as vix suggested, taped my thumbs to my wrists to stop them interferring as jags suggested and am very tempted to boot it as some others have suggested except I am wearing flip flops and don't wanna hurt myself, but it is still doing it's own thing. It won't even let me turn it off as it defaults to standby when I try and click on shutdown. Clearly it's a bigger problem than can normally be cleared by shaking it, calling it filthy names and kicking the cat, so I will take it to someone with a tad more knowledge and patience.
thankyou again.