Laptop's period key... not working... workaround?Follow

Hey guys/gals...

I just got a laptop (HP dv6) from a friend and it is relatively new, but it has one major problem...

The period key doesn't work on it, and it is the reason it was given to me.

I have "felt" the period key to see if it feels like anything is under it, and have even popped off the key to make sure... it still doesn't work.

My guess is the actual sensor or whatever for that key is jacked up.

I am writing to ask if there was a way I could maybe make my right-hand ALT key do what the period key would normally do.. like type periods and the greater than sign.

Also, if I was to just replace the keyboard on the laptop (can you do that?) is it cheap, and simple to do?

The laptop is basically a 4th computer right now and probably won't get used a lot (I have two desktops and one other laptop), but I would like to be able get it to work properly.

Thanks a lot for the answers and/or suggestions.

Pent

Hmm, that keyboard shows the numpad on th right side of it... this laptop doesn't have that.

I have looked on the site and I might have glanced over it, but I can't seem to find the right one.

The model of the laptop is HP Pavilion dv6-3019wm.

Awesome, thanks!

I actually watched a video on Youtube on how to go about removing the keyboard... it helped a ton knowing to just remove the screws with the keyboard by them. =P

I doubled checked the part number on the keyboard and it matches up with that link also.

I have one problem regarding the RAM/HDD cover on the bottom of the laptop... for some reason the side without a ***** will not snap on. I was able to get the entire cover back on except one side. When I snapped that side in first the screws weren not lining up correctly for some reason.

I guess if all else fails after I install the keyboard and the cover won't snap down... I'll file/sand a little bit off of the one snap that is the problem.

I was able to get the keyboard replaced (kinda... keep reading) and the HDD/RAM cover back on correctly, but...

I actually took the keyboard out of another same model of laptop... on the laptop that I was "borrowing" the keyboard from I checked to make sure every key (the period key worked) worked before disconnecting it... I then took the keyboard off of that laptop and replaced the the one on my laptop...

Once the "good" keyboard was installed onto my laptop the period key still doesn't work even though it worked on the other laptop...

What else could be the problem? Mainboard? The place the keyboard ribbon slides in? I am at a loss, and I am happy that I was able to test out a keyboard before actually buying one since it doesn't seem to be a problem.

:(

edit: ... just tried an external USB keyboard and it won't type a period either.

edit #2: Hmm... I installed Sharpkeys to see if I could remap my period key to my right CTRL key, and here is what I found out... On Sharpkeys you can either choose a key from a drop down list to 'Map from' or you could just press the key you wantto 'Map from'... well.. just out of curiousity I pressed the period key on the laptop and Sharpkeys saw that the key was pressed, BUT... it said it was the RIGHT CTRL key.

I tested all the other keys around the period key and they are the correct keys showing up. So I figured I would press the actual RIGHT CTRL key to see what it would show in Sharpkeys... and it showed it was mapped correctly as the RIGHT CTRL key...

So.. now I know the actual key works but the laptop is seeing it as the RIGHT CTRL key... so... um... how do I fix that?


EDIT #3!!! No clue what I did, but it is working for now.

I went into the regional settings in the Control Panel and made sure everything was set to US. I then was looking around and saw the decimal key was actually listed as a key (or a symbol to use) and something hit me... why not try to map the decimal key to the RIGHT CTRL key. So I hit Apply on the Regional Settings window even though I don't think I changed anything and proceeded to open up the Sharpkeys program again.

I opened up the Sharpkeys program and scrolled down til I found the "." NumPad key and clicked it for the 'Map from' key and then clicked the actual RIGHT CTRL key for the 'Map to' key. Then wrote it to the registry.

I then logged off and back on and tested it out... nothing happened. I was hitting the RIGHT CTRL key and nothing was happening, so I decided to at least try hitting the actual period key... and it started typing periods! I was all "WTF" and O.O ... I then decided to push my luck to see if it would let me hold shift and get a 'greater than' sign to type... and it let me do that even!

Like I said.... no clue what I did, but it worked... now I hope it doesn't reset after I log off of it...




Edited, Feb 20th 2011 10:25pm by PentUpAnger