help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

i have an hp laptop.. suddenly the shift keys do not work. they are not stuck.. does anyone know what the fix is

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

Audrey, do you clean your keys regularly? There could be some debris under the shift keys so, what I'd suggest for the time being is, carefully stand your laptop on its edge, and gently tap from the back or, if you have a small brush, try to clean underneath by swiping through the keys.

It's amazing how much stuff can collect under the keys - dust, biscuits (sorry cookies), dry foodstuffs but, if you regularly clean the keys you shouldn't have a problem.

This may not solve the problem, but it's worth a try.

I once had this happen to me with another key and when I did a good brush out there was a tiny sliver of paper which had become lodged.

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

It was both shift keys.. My son fixed it somehow.. I think he just rebooted. My cats regularly sit on my keyboard and they must have done something.. I hate hate hate computers.. but I could not live without one..

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

Probably just the keyboard driver got its knickers knotted.

First rule of computer maintenance:

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

Me too! Your cats could have quite possibly dislodged the shift keys. It's easily done. Glad you're back to normal now.

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

Just checking... Yep.. Still working. Anything to do with computers is frustrating to me. When I turn it on.. I expect it to work. I have googled a bit and learned that shift key malfunctions are quite common.

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

Blow the computer is the cat OK

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

Both my computers locked me out yesterday!

Hubby switched everything off - after trying other remedies - and it was fine. He is my hero

I dust/brush my key pad each morning, while I'm waiting for it to start up.

Re: help.. shift keys suddenly stopped working

My cat does it constantly,its sits on the laptop key board and somehow manages to push 2 keys at once,so when i type the letters come up as numbers?
In the top right corner is a key that is marked "number lock" another is "screen lock", you just push the key and hold it,on some laptops you have to push "alt" or "control" at the same time.


Billy