KeyboardSpaceBarProblem

[confused001]

I have a keyboard that has a space bar problem. It cannot do a space, on any program.
it was working fine the night before, but when i turned on the computer, it didn't work.
Can anyone help me?
Any help would be greatly apreciated, for it is very anoying.
Thanks.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

First thing to try is another keyboard and see if that helps.

If it does, your problem is a faulty keyboard.

Regards Howard

 

[poertner_1274]

It looks like your spacebar is working fine in your post

As howard said, try using a different keyboard, or even unplug yours and plug it back in.

BTW
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:

 

[Rick]

KeyboardSpaceBarProblem

There's a certain, enjoyable irony here.

 

[Rick]

To answer your question - It's probably a bad space bar. Not much else can go wrong.

If you have this kind of keyboard (PS/2), we can use DOS to troubleshoot.
[CENTER]

[/CENTER]

If you don't have another keyboard or computer to test it out with, you can boot into DOS and see if it works there. This would rule out any Windows problems.

Make a bootable Windows 98SE DOS diskette using the link below.
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

It will require a blank floppy diskette, of course. Restart your computer once you make the diskette, it should boot into a command line DOS environment. Press you space bar and see if it works.

If you have a USB keyboard, this may not work and I won't bother explaining the details. USB is like this:
[CENTER]

[/CENTER]
The best thing I could suggest here is to boot into safe mode with command prompt to test your spacebar. Here's a great guide for that.

 

[kirock]

There's a certain, enjoyable irony here.

ITotallySawThatToo.

It could be a virus. Remember this one Howard? : Everytime the guy typed "they" he got "they are the crap". Or something to that effect. I remember being quite choked up about it, it was so funny.

 

[confused001]

Let me respond to all that you said.
First off, i have not tried the dos thing yet, but will try it later today.
Secondly, my keyboard is a usb one.
Thirdly, i am able to type spaces, becasue i am using another computer.
Fourth of all, I don't think this is a virus, because, I can boot into linux (live cd), and it still does not work.
Fith, i did try unpluging it, and pluging it back in.
Sixth, The other keyboard works.
Lastly, can anyone help me?
Tell me whats the problem.

How do i remove the space bar, so i can see if there is anything obstructing the contact points?

Thanks.

 

[kirock]

Sixth, The other keyboard works.
Lastly, can anyone help me?
Tell me whats the problem.

How do i remove the space bar, so i can see if there is anything obstructing the contact points?

At the back of the keyboard there are some screws, you need to take them all out and then very carefully turn over the keyboard and lift off the front cover. All the keys sit on a flexible membrane including the space bar. Inside that membrane is the key contacts a top and bottom contact. When the key is pressed the membrane touches the pads together. I don't think the problem will be in the membrane, it's most likely a partially dead IC. There are surface mount IC's in the keyboard that convert the key press to ASCI code and then mutliplex it to a serial data driver out to the usb cable.

Looks like it's time to buy a new keyboard.