# [SOLVED] Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck



## cats-eye (May 11, 2008)

Control key not physically (at least obviously) stuck. But it's behaving stuck about 85% of the time. This renders the keyboard effectively useless.

A USB keyboard was also useless, although I'm guessing this was probably the fact of the main keyboard still sticking a ctrl key in.

Q1: How to unstick it?

Q2: Failing that, how can I disable the laptop keyboard so that an external keyboard will work?

Q3: Is it a hardware failure? It happened the day after an Epson printer install. After much aggro and patience, managed a system restore to undo that. But if it isn't hardware, all I can think of is virus.


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

Hi,
whats the make and model of laptop? have you tried uninstalling keyboard in device manager and restart laptop. does it do same thing in safe mode? you could remove the ribbon cable from the motherboard and try an external.


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## cats-eye (May 11, 2008)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

Thanks for the response. It is actually a relative's computer. A few years old. Compaq Presario CQ62 Celeron 2.2GHz 2GB RAM. Running Windows 7.

Uninstalling the keyboard driver didn't work. It still does the same thing in safe mode.

I have found a work around, by using a keyboard mapper utility, disabling the two control keys and mapping neighbouring application keys to the controls.

It would still be useful to know any best guesses for what's behind this (software, hardware, virus...) to see if a full system reinstallation is worth doing for a complete solution.


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

have you tried a restore point before problem occurred.


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## cats-eye (May 11, 2008)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

Yes, that was the first thing I tried.


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

you could try ubuntu on it. to see if the keys are the same. do not install it you can run it off of a disk. Home | Ubuntu


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## cats-eye (May 11, 2008)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

Can't do that as yet, since it won't boot from USB, and it looks pretty daunting to figure out how to do it otherwise.

However, I'm having problems with the keyboard during the bios programme, so it seems likely the ctrl problem is there before Windows starts (but disappears after the new mapping kicks in).

I'm guessing that suggests a hardware problem?


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

Yes that would seem to be a hardware problem.


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## cats-eye (May 11, 2008)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

Okay, thanks very much for all your suggestions. Great help.


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

your welcome, if they deside they want to try a new keyboard then here is a guide to show how to replace it.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02641795.pdf


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## cats-eye (May 11, 2008)

*Re: Laptop keyboard ctrl key registers as stuck*

Great, thanks again.


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