Some buttons on laptop keyboard have stopped working...

[kaigan]

The laptop is a Toshiba Tecra A2 and the OS is Windows XP Professional.
This problem started just a couple of days ago, and the keys 4 and 6 and the spacebar have stopped working suddenly. Nothing was spilled on the keyboard and nothing drastic has happened to the computer since a very long time. And the strange or rather good thing is that the windows on-screen keyboard works fine, its only the external keyboard on the laptop on which the three keys don't work.
Any ideas on how to fix this or how this could have happened?
Thanks.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I don't suppose there are any hotkeys assigned to those keys?

Go to your Laptop Manufacturer's website, go to Download and Drivers, locate your laptop model and download its keyboard drivers (if present).

[kaigan]

i tried to find a driver for the keyboard but there wasn't a keyboard driver on their site. no there are no hotkeys as far as i no, but when i press the key nothing happens, meaning the character does not come...this only happens with the keys 4 and 6 and spacebar.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Can you try to see if the problem continues with another keyboard? (external)

[kaigan]

umm..actually i dont have an external usb keyboard...

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Can you borrow one at all?

What about another mouse?

Does the mouse-pad work?

[kaigan]

the mouse (touchpad) works perfectly fine. its only the three keys 4,6,and space which dont work on the keyboard..the rest of the keys on the keyboard work fine. i dont think i can borrow a usb keyboard from someone...atleast not for now...

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Oh yes, I was thinking about another topic.

I would try to see what happens with another keyboard before trying anything else.

[kaigan]

i think the other topic is something to do with the mouse and keyboard spoilt or their hardware or something like tht...anyway..i also want to mention that when i pressed the keys on the onscreen keyboard from microsoft they worked fine...its only on the keyboard..and why is another keyboard required here..just asking...?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Just to see if it's a problem with keyboads or just your internal keyboard.

If it's only a problem with your internal keyboard, there might be things stuck under the keys or a connection may have been severed.

[kaigan]

i see...well if i can get an external keyboard then i will tell you, but for now what should i do?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Well I guess you could check Device Manager for any Yellow Question/Exclamation Marks.

Also, any new software/setting changes before the problem started?

[kaigan]

i did check device manager and in the keyboard heading it said it was working fine. no i dont think there was any new software/setting change before the problem started...as far as i know..

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Try another keyboard and we'll start from there.

[kaigan]

hey! sorry im replying so late but i finally got a usb keyboard.
ok so i tried it and the keys which were not working before on the built-in keyboard (4,6,spacebar) are working on the external keyboard. so what do you think the problem may be?
once again sorry for posting after so much time...