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From: "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,alt.windows7.general
Subject: Re: Still ... Keyboard problem
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2017 22:43:58 +0000
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In message , FreeMan 
 writes:
>Lenovo T500
>Win XP Pro  all updated
>mfr drivers.
>
>One time out of 25 when I cold boot the keyboard is unresponsive 
>Meaning hit a key and nothing happens.
>
>ReBoot and all is well using the mouse.
>
>Trouble shooter says nothing wrong.
>Using the standard keyboard driver.
>
>Things like the mouse and fingerprint scanner work just fine at the 
>time the keyboard is not there.
>
>Suggestions please.

Not a suggestion of what's wrong, but a question: can you tell if 
Windows thinks it's a PS/2 or a USB keyboard? This might help others 
wiser than I to make suggestions about what's happening (or not).

I'm _guessing_ that (a) it thinks it's PS/2, (b) there is a fragment of 
dirt - or otherwise loose connection - somewhere, that very occasionally 
isn't making contact at the point during boot that it looks to see if 
it's there. (PS/2, unlike USB, are only detected at that point; if you 
plug them in afterwards, Windows doesn't notice you've done so.) The 
most likely place, I suppose, for the grit is in the ribbon connector 
under the keyboard; I don't know the T500 as such, but most 
laptops/netbooks have a keyboard which is a separate module, connected 
to the motherboard by a ribbon connector. Not usually a plug-and-socket 
like EIDE or even SATA - it tends to be a "connector" formed by the end 
of the ribbon cable itself made stiffer by the addition of side 
contacts, which goes into a slot, and is held down by a fragile clamp. 
But it _could_ be somewhere else - my second guess would be where the 
connector (the slot part _is_ a board-mounting connector) is soldered to 
the motherboard. (Or possibly where the other end of the ribbon is 
connected to whatever's inside the keyboard module; I've never been in 
there; a replacement keyboard would probably be easier.)

Or it _could_ be a software fault, though I can't think what.

In the meantime - Start | Run | osk to get the on-screen keyboard, which 
you can use with the mouse, and it should remain in the Run memory so 
you can bring it up next time it happens, and use it with the mouse (or 
set it to come up, minimised, with Windows, or from a desktop shortcut) 
- that'll allow you (somewhat tediously) to do simple things when it 
happens without needing to reboot, if you'd only turned on the machine 
to do something trivial. (Don't wait for it to happen - do it now; you 
need a keyboard to type the O, S, and K!) Or get a USB (external) 
keyboard. (If, next time it happens, you plug in a USB keyboard, and it 
_doesn't_ work, that may be useful information too.)
-- 
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar{at}T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Science fiction is escape into reality - Arthur C Clarke
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