When it came out in the early 2000s, I bought an Inspiron 3800. To put it mildly, it had many hardware issues. One of them was that after it warmed up, the I,J, and 8 keys didn't work. (Maybe it was the K key, not the J.) Before my girlfriend and I could see about repairing it, she left, taking the computer (and money, etc.) After the theft, I saw online that other people were having the exact same problem. I seem to recall Dell offering a free repair for the problem, but maybe I'm imagining that.
Anyway, *eventually* I got the computer back. I tried using it last night. It's got a new keyboard problem. One character--but not always the same one--will sometimes decide to repeat itself over and over, as if the key were held down or sticking. I tried plugging another keyboard in, figuring that would disable the built-in keyboard and make the problem go away, but no, they both worked at the same time.
I don't expect too much from the machine at this point--I really only want to use it with an old GPS setup I have--and I don't mind using a second keyboard. But with the key repeating thing it's unusable. So...
(1) Is there any way I can get Dell to fix this lemony keyboard on this lemony computer for free at this late date? (Stop laughing, please.)
(2) Is there any way to disable the built-in keyboard (but still use the pointing device)? I couldn't see any such option in the BIOS setup.
(3) Any other ideas about how I could fix this on my own?
Thanks
Anyway, *eventually* I got the computer back. I tried using it last night. It's got a new keyboard problem. One character--but not always the same one--will sometimes decide to repeat itself over and over, as if the key were held down or sticking. I tried plugging another keyboard in, figuring that would disable the built-in keyboard and make the problem go away, but no, they both worked at the same time.
I don't expect too much from the machine at this point--I really only want to use it with an old GPS setup I have--and I don't mind using a second keyboard. But with the key repeating thing it's unusable. So...
(1) Is there any way I can get Dell to fix this lemony keyboard on this lemony computer for free at this late date? (Stop laughing, please.)
(2) Is there any way to disable the built-in keyboard (but still use the pointing device)? I couldn't see any such option in the BIOS setup.
(3) Any other ideas about how I could fix this on my own?
Thanks