Toshiba Satellite problem

[laserblazer]

A teacher has just handed me his laptop. It boots but once the desktop is displayed it doesn't respond to any keys including ctrl/alt/del. I've booted it up in Safe Mode and asked him to backup any data he wants to keep.

 

I suspect a registry issue but would appreciate any suggestions that might speed up fixing it as it looks like I'll be doing it in my own time.

[cromertech]

Does the keyboard work in safe mode. If so this would suggest a driver issue. Does he need to type credentials to get to the desktop? Is this running XP Vista or 7?

[sted]

does it do that for all users?

id be tempted to msconfig everything out in safe mode and see what happens then

[smitho1990]

I have seen this issue, and am pretty sure it was driver related. Only solution I found was to remove hard drive, get it plugged into a desktop (if its SATA, happy days - IDE you'll need a converter) and just back everything up.

Format the bugger/reinstall the OS.

[tommccann]

I would just run a xp repair over the top, it will keep all the files and programs and just renew the os. that would save all the restoring time, but leep the backup until you have tested it all

[laserblazer]

I would just run a xp repair over the top, it will keep all the files and programs and just renew the os. that would save all the restoring time, but leep the backup until you have tested it all

 

That was my plan. It is XP and the same for all users.

[PeteM]

I've had a number of Toshiba's lose their keyboard - it appeared to be a corrupt driver and a repair instal fixed it