Key Problems

My Windows-based (Vista HP SP2) laptop (Acer Aspire 5920) has developed a minor problem. When I press the down arrow key instead of it moving a page of a document or a web page down a little, it takes you straight to the bottom of the page. Conversely, the up arrow key is not moving anything at all. It did not have this problem yesterday. It has been doing this since I switched it on this morning.

 

Greetings, mark59...

Sounds more like a software problem - were there any updates installed overnight? Do the symptoms change when the machine is booted into Safe Mode?

And, if this does turn out to be hardware: are there any function or FN keys they may have been inadvertently pressed?

 

Hello Caliban

It was just a guess. It was a part of the hardware. I am aware that software runs the hardware.

Absolutely not!

No, they do not.

It might be possible that a function key has been inadvertently pressed.

However, the symptoms have now gone. Don't you just love computers (not)!:confused

Thank you very much for your advice and your time.

 

Intermittent problems can be amongst the toughest to troubleshoot - hope your symptoms stay gone...

Good luck, and thx for the feedback...

 

That is true!

They have returned this morning. It only happens now in web pages. Consequently, I can't check if the problem happens in Safe Mode.

Even with web sites it is intermittent. I went to the "BBC" web site to look at the news and I had the problem. I've come to Majorgeeks to post and it's not happening on this web site.

I've checked to see if my "Scr Lk" changed anything and it doesn't.

 

Try a different browser: this is sounding more like a settings problem...

 

Thank you, you appear to have identified the source of my problem. I normally use Mozilla Firefox, which is where the problems are happening. I've tried Internet Explorer and the problem cannot be repeated in that browser.

 

Hey - we got lucky. If you feel like it and/or if you get a chance, try to find out the FF version #, add-on, etc. that's causing the problem for future reference and so that others might benefit...

Again, thx for the feedback - glad you got it sorted.

 

It's version 13.0.1

I don't know that. Because the problem doesn't happen in IE it means it might be an FF-related issue. However, I don't know what it is about FF that's causing the problem.

 

No problem. I'm running FF 15.0.1, but I imagine 13 is roughly the same.

Your add-ons, extensions and plugins should be listed under Tools > Add-ons. If you really wish to try to find the source of the problem, then you could selectively disable any add-ons, extensions or plugins listed until you find the culprit(s).

 

That's interesting. I'm using FF 13 because when check for updates it says that FF is up to date. That's clearly wrong if you have a later version.

 

I kid you not, as evidenced by the attached pic...

Probably because I'm on the release update channel - I do beta versions, etc...
.

 

I think I know where the confusion has arisen. When I said, "That's clearly wrong if you have a later version", the phrase "That's clearly wrong" referred back to my previous sentence. I am checking for updates. Firefox is telling me there are no updates. I was saying Firefox is misinforming me.

I did not disbelieve you. You said there was a later version, I believed this. My comments were referring to what the updates are telling me.

 

Thank you for the information. I've already changed to that latest version. I exported my bookmarks and then completely deleted Firefox and the Mozilla folder. I didn't want any settings saving so I got rid of it completely. Then I downloaded and installed the latest version of FF. After which I imported my bookmarks back into FF.

 

Hi All,

Just had a call about a similar problem with the Control and Shift keys. That one was fixed by removing the driver from Device Manager and rebooting. Windows keeps a copy of all drivers in use and will reload the driver upon rebooting. Programs/Drivers get corrupted occasionally. It's always a good idea to try this with that type of problem.

Luck, Jim