Laptop Issue

[LostSoul]

Hey Guys. I need your help. First of all answerbank Internet &Technology is a great place. I have an Advent laptop. I cannot get the keyboard to work on the laptop so I have to use an external keyboard. It's a brand new laptop. Any ideas. I'm a Computer Engineer and the ways I fix this problem it too complicated and time consuming. Thanks for any advise given.

[Oneeyedvic]

I'm obviously being really thick here -- but if it is a brand new laptop, why not take it back under warranty?

[LeMarchand]

Have you checked the keyboards drivers are OK?

[LostSoul]

Le marchand. It's weird on device manager it doesnt appear to recognise my k/b. When ever i log onto win xp as soon as I try to type the mouse goes too.

[LeMarchand]

Just checked a couple of working laptops and they both show their keyboards and touchpads/pointing devices in Device Manager. Although I would hope/assume that Windows would pick up any hardware it thought was "new" it may be worth running the "add hardware" wizard. Might also be worth checking any installation disks you might have for drivers.

Failing that, if the computer is not under guarantee and you're confident enough to try a partial dismantle, some laptops have a fairly accessible keyboard connection plug/socket that may be disconnected.