CF-50 keyboard problems

First,

Let me say that I have had problems will all but one the CF-50's I've bought, (six) and they are different mrks and from different vendors.

That said, It all seems to revolve around the keyboards, either they dont work, or more often, they dont work properly. Type the h key and get a 1,
the k and get a 3, and other not at all.

At first I bought different keyboards, then I tried drivers, however the drivers for the latest batch either dont work, or I've gotton the wrong ones. The actual model doenst appear to be listed, and so I'm left trying the closest ones, and some install and others do not.

I downloaded the instructions sheet, and tied doing it in exact order, but the second step, installing the hotkey driver through the "update driver" never works as it never recognizes it in install process.

I'm about to do to it what I did to two of the others, though with two wars ongoing, ammo is getting more expensive.

Can someone please help me fix this one, I promise to never buy a CF-50 again, EVER.


THIS MODEL IS CF-50MB7FDKM

Sam

 

Sam , I have 1 CF-50 which works great. You should not need to load drivers for the keyboard.....never had to for any of my toughbooks and I am talking about a lot of them . I would try reseating the keyboard ribbon cable, sounds like it's not in right.

 

I agree with the keyboard ribbon not seating fully.
I use a CF50 daily and have built half a dozen. The only time I have had the same issue as you, is when the keyboard cable wasn't seated. They feel like they are bottomed out, but they go in another 3/16 of an inch. It just happened to me yesterday as I was assembling my new CF51. Same type keyboard as a CF50.

 

Make sure it's straight in and not sideways....even just a little will mess up the keys

 

Well. I must be SOL because Ive now tried that with two different cf-50 keyboards, and neither works as intended.

I'm afraid to use anymore pressure in putting in the ribbon, and I did put it in straight, slow and methodical.

The keys on the left side work, but h, j, k turn into 1, 2 3, etc.

Thanks, any other suggestions..

 

I say try a bit more pressure, maybe wiggle it a bit as you push. What's the worst that can happen? You might break the cable of a keyboard that doesn't seem to work right anyway.

Make sure the clip is lifted up the whole way before inserting the cable. If it is only partially up, it won't allow the cable to insert fully.

Gimme a few minutes. I will try to post a photo of a cable fully inserted.

 

here's the photo.

 

Thanks for the pics, I think that is the depth Im at. I'd throw it out the window, but then they'd ticket me for FOD on the apron.

I'll try it again, and see how tough it realy is.

 

Sounds like you have the "numlock" set try toggling numlock and see if it changes the problem. The units you have may have the numlock state set in the BIOS so check that as well.

 

OK, tried that and for a minute, I actually got the actual keys, only now when it turns on the monitor stays black.

un believe able.

 

Uninstall the keyboard and hotkey drivers. Let Windoze use the default keyboard driver. Don't worry about the hotkeys until you see if the problem goes away. You may have to disable the hotkey drivers to prevent Windoze from re installing them.
Sounds like it maybe a conflict of some sort.
Have you tried booting from a live ubuntu or linux cd? That would tell you if it's hardware or software. Gork has a thread dedicated to one version that works well on Toughbooks.

 

Try toggling the Fn+F3 maybe during your frustration you accidently toggled to external monitor only.

Gotta keep it simple before you start messin with the hotkeys software. The keyboard does not need any software for basic keyboard functions.