|bd| Forced to Buy a Keyboard

Posted by bendodge on Oct. 8, 2011, 7:49 p.m.

So, my beloved ASUS EEE 1005HA is finally starting to age. Several days ago, it started randomly typing the letter B by itself. It has interesting characteristics:

  • It comes and goes in several-hour blocks.

  • Every 60 seconds or so it starts repeating B.

  • If I have any modifiers depressed on an external keyboard it applies them.

  • If I press any key but B on the internal keyboard it stops for a while.

  • The B key itself doesn't actually work during one of these spasms.

  • And if I type normally, I get everything but B, and occasionally B is added on to other keypresses (lbibkbeb tbhbibsb).

  • I've found at least three other reports of the B key doing it, and scattered reports of 7, C, and others malfunctioning.

  • Replacing the keyboard doesn't fix it, according to the Internet.

    GearGOD proposes a bridge between traces, and recommends I use an oscilloscope to find it. If I had one, I would. So, I have ordered this from Amazon Prime, paying the extra $4 to have it here one day and many hours of typing sooner.

    HP TouchPad Wireless Keyboard

    It appears to be a very handy little device, and the price is competitive with similar keyboards. One reviewer states that it doesn't work with his HTC G2 Android phone, though, which I happen to have. Any thoughts on fixing this, or on the TouchPad keyboard?
  • Comments

    The Avatrol 12 years, 6 months ago

    Did you pop the key out and clean all the crap in there…?

    bendodge 12 years, 6 months ago

    Nope, but I'll give it a shot. I've treated it very nicely; even though it's about 3 years old it has almost no scratches (despite the ridiculously glossy design). It's also very clean.