Gateway MT6707 - Cat slept on keyboard and then no keys worked til reboot?

[DaveLembke]

-10F outside and 65 F inside and so our cat decided to lay across the keyboard of my Gateway MT6707 keyboard today and when moving cat off the top of laptop it was very warm but she didnt crash the laptop. Oddly the keyboard was no longer responsive to Windows Key or CTRL + ALT + DELETE. I was looking to see if there was a Fn key combination that she mashed somehow to disable the keyboard but cant seem to find a key combination that would completely disable the keyboard.

Rebooting the laptop the keyboard started working again. But wondering if the cat mashed a keyboard disable function that I didnt know about or if she started to cook the keyboard controller by using the laptop as a heated bed.

Looked on google and saw CTRL + ALT + L   but trying that on this laptop has no effect.

Windows Key + L sends the laptop into a locked condition as if I locked it from access, but the symptoms of before the reboot was that mouse and everything else worked without lag but no ability to enter anything with keyboard.

I suppose I should have grabbed my USB keyboard to my desktop computer and connected it to see if that wouldnt allow input  from keys as well, but didnt think about that til now.

Just curious if the cat roasted the keyboard controller or somehow mashed the right combination that I dont know the combination of to make a laptop keyboard non responsive? If that combination exists, I'd like to know it, Otherwise I will assume that the cat started to send the laptop into a melt down of internal components and I stopped her from completely killing this poor old Pentium T2060 1.6Ghz Dual-Core laptop.

[DaveLembke]

Heres the cat.  Took a quick picture and moved her. Then 30 minutes later she went right back to it and had to move her again.

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[patio]

Have you asked her yet ? ?

[DaveLembke]

haha actually I did say what did you do to the keyboard... she was silent and left 

Came back to laptop again and she wasnt on it but she must have saw me coming and bolted. This is what I found on the screen.

Now if she could just show me the one that locks out the keyboard functions if it exists. I had Facebook up and walked off and came back to this. I checked my wall to see if she posted on my behalf. She did try to LIKE something though pressing L from the one message. 

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[BC_Programmer]

It sounds like maybe FilterKeys got enabled by holding the Shift key for 8 seconds. It makes it so you have to hold down the key for a good second or so before it registers.

[DaveLembke]

Hi BC ... well tried to enable that by holding the left shift then typed into notepad then tried right shift held for about 12 seconds and then typed to notepad and then held both shifts for 12 seconds and still no lock to keyboard.. Decided to hold longer than 8 seconds so that if its a function of the laptop it would trigger and lock out keystrokes.

One detail I forgot to mention is that its running Windows 7 32-bit on 2GB RAM if the OS matters for support of the FilterKeys function.

It shipped initially with Vista and the prior owner upgraded it to Windows 7 32-bit before throwing it away because it no longer powered up. I was given the computer because it was going to cost him $20 to get id of it and I said I can dispose of it for you for free. He gave me it and I troubleshot the issue to a faulty power cord. Chopped the end off of a HP power supply that no longer had a laptop associated with it from another laptop that I scrapped for parts and added this Gateway plug end to the HP power supply with proper polarity same voltage and amp rating and the laptop came to life. Was going to give it back to him but he said I can keep it because he already bought a new laptop. So this laptop replaced my around the home and on the road clunker laptop that if it gets broken or stolen no big loss.

If the cat was sprawled out across my pricey Core i5 laptop I would have freaked out. Its sort of like having a clunker car that works and if it has a cat on it no problem no yelling just move the cat nicely, but with a brand new car I'd be freaking out that the cat is going to damage its paint etc. 

[BC_Programmer]

Here's a Support article about Filterkeys though it sounds like it was disabled altogether. Looks like the total time would be 16 seconds but you would have heard tones.

[DaveLembke]

Thanks for sharing that BC. Never knew of that feature. Wonder if anyone actually use it. I type fast and just use backspace as needed when I mash an incorrect neighboring key or have auto correct assist. I cant imagine having to press a key for a longer duration for it to register with not holding long enough on a key press then not registering, but I suppose someone out the with a keying handicap could use it if they arent annoyed by how slow the words per minute are with the delay in key presses needed.

On a slightly different subject, it makes me wonder why the keyboard layout is as it is as for it makes for some interesting correct spelling typos at times. The best was when someone asked why a person was gone from a raid group in an online game and another person responded with its because the raid leader Licked them..... Licked them?.. ok then... well he meant to type Kicked but L and K are right there and well it was sent to the 25 people in the group making for some laughs and the raid leader likely didnt like that word perfect typo. And upon entering the fight someone had to throw in there "ok NO LICKING keep it clean in there" to the raid leader. There are other combinations that I cant share where 1 letter off from a correct word to another correct word in typo is a bad thing! 

[BC_Programmer]

Wonder if anyone actually use it.

It's an accessibility feature, and like other accessibility features it can be valuable to people with certain disabilities; eg somebody with poor coordination may peck the wrong key quicky a few times before getting the right one, requiring the key to be held down before activating can be helpful.