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Problems typing on HP Pavilion dm1-4020sa notebook - Please Help!

post #1 of 15
1/7/12 at 7:03am
Thread Starter 

I just bought my HP Pavilion dm1-4020sa notebook and am having problems typing which are driving me crazy! I will be mid-sentence and some kind of shortcut will get inadvertently activated so I can no longer type and instead whichever key I press activates a corrsponding shortcut, e.g. 'n' will open a new page or screen, 'h' will open help, 'p' will open print, etc. etc. It's as if the control key is being held down but it's not, and no combination of keys tried seems to return the keyboard to normal. The problem occurs whether typing in Microsoft Office or on email or web pages. Please can someone help urgently as I have a deadline! So far the only way I can resolve the issue is to keep restarting the computer which I do not have time for! Any help very gratefully received.

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post #2 of 15
1/7/12 at 8:30am
Take a look and see if you de-activate the touchpad whilst typing. Is this your first time with an 11" system?

cheers ...
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post #3 of 15
1/7/12 at 8:39am
Thread Starter 

Thanks qhn. So would I have to deactivate the touchpad every time I type? That's rather annoying. Don't understand what's causing the switches - could it just be my hand hovering over the touchpad?

 

Yes it's my first time with an 11" notebook. I have had the same cumbersome 17" laptop for nearly 7 years (lasted well!) so this dinky thing is bit of a leap for me...

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post #4 of 15
1/7/12 at 8:44am
You don't have to deactivate the touchpad. It should be an option in the mouse properties (depending on the driver winknudge.gif )

It's not fun typing on a small form notebook. One needs a piano's hands/fingers.

cheers ...
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post #5 of 15
1/8/12 at 3:49am
Yes, as qhn mentioned, there should be an option in the control panel in the Mouse section where it turns off the touchpad while typing..so if not typing, the touchpad works like normally should
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post #6 of 15
1/8/12 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks both. However the problem is still persisting. My mouse/touchpad propoerties does not have an optiion to switch off whilst typing, instead there is a small dimple in the top left of the touchpad that you can tap twice to switch on/off on demand. The problem still occurs whether I do this or not, so I'm not convinced it's related to the touchpad. Could it be some combination of keys that I'm hitting by mistake?

 

On one occasion when the problem happened while typing in Microsoft Word, I exited Word and reopened my document, then got a dialogue box saying that the control key was locked down, and offered me the option to open in safe mode, which I did but still could not type and instead new functions kept getting activated. So all I could do was reboot...

 

I've even had tech support from the HP team who advised me to uninstall and reinstall the keyboard driver, which I did, but it has not helped...

 

Any more thoughts?!

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post #7 of 15
1/8/12 at 12:11pm
Turn off all HP related startup processes and the touchpad management process - leaving only your antivirus software per example, and see

cheers ...
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post #8 of 15
1/8/12 at 12:23pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks, not sure how to do that - is it ctrl+alt+del, task manager, processes...? Seems to be an option to end process there.

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post #9 of 15
1/8/12 at 12:36pm
Download cCleaner - look into the Software thread for the latest version. My favourite tool smile.gif

cheers ...
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post #10 of 15
1/8/12 at 2:50pm
Try using Statup Lite...You didnt mention what OS you are using Vista or 7????
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post #11 of 15
1/8/12 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks Saugen48 - it's Windows 7. Startup lite - where do I get that from?

 

qhn - I'm not sure why I should cleanup my Cdrive when it's brand new...

 

I've been doing some more research on the problem and found some similar threads on other sites - e.g. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/53434-29-computer-thinks-ctrl-pressed - so it seems to be a common problem concerning the computer thinking the CTRL key is held down - but the solution remains unclear - the mystery deepens!

 

Think I may have to take it back to the shop :(

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post #12 of 15
1/8/12 at 3:30pm
It's not about cleaning up the drive. It's about disabling unneeded startup processes.

Good luck with have it sorted out at the shop

cheers ...
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post #13 of 15
1/8/12 at 3:33pm
Wondering if this has something to do with your issue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_keys

cheers ...
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post #14 of 15
1/8/12 at 5:38pm
Do a google search Startup lite download
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post #15 of 15
5/19/12 at 7:05pm

Sorry for digging up an old thread but I am having this exact same problem on the exact same computer.

 

At a random point in time, the computer will suddenly begin to think the control key is being held down in _all_ applications.

 

Pressing the control key does not resolve the problem. StickyKeys is not enabled. So far I have only noticed the problem when using Microsoft Office 2010.

 

I am going to update everything including the HP drivers and see if the problem persists. If not I will try to take the computer back to the retailer.

 

A computer that is unable to run Microsoft Office is useless to me. If anyone else is having this problem or has resolved it, please let me know.

 

Regards,
Mark.

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