keyboard stopped responding...had to do a hard shutdown

[tekmoe]

ok this is weird. my keyboard stopped responding. well sorta. the f1-f12 keys seemed to work. i could do eject, adjust the brightness, blah blah. but any of the asdf keys had no function. the command key, option key, ctrl key, none of those worked. so i figured i'd put the powerbook to sleep. i let it sit for a minute, opened the lid back up, and i got to my username and password. i still couldn't type. i unplugged my usb mouse. still couldn't type. didn't think about plugging in a usb keyboard because i was actually sad that my powerbook would do something like this. so i shut it down hard. booted it back up and im typing this post with it right now.

i have installed a few apps including firefox, meteoroligist, menu meters, slim battery, duke nukem 3d, and office 2004. i don't think those could cause any problems, but i could be wrong. i tried to go thru the logs but i can't see anything that went bad at the time the keyboard stopped working. where else could i check for logs?

has anyone ever had this problem before?? i am using one of the brand new 15" powerbooks that was released on jan 31st. it is completely stock. no new hardware has been added.

thanks,
tekmoe

 

[tekmoe]

i also forgot to add that i have not done the 10.3.8 update. i am using mac os x from how it was installed at the factory. no new updates have been applied. it is 10.3.7.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Assuming that you didn't spill anything on it, take it to an Apple Store or rather, call up AppleCare first. AppleCare will tell you what to do. Which will be to take it to an Apple Store.

 

[tekmoe]

if i have to depend on applecare for every little thing, that is a crock of you know what. i can easily take this back to the store where i bought it from and exchange it for another one without any restocking fees whatsoever. i still have 10 days left on the refund/exchange policy.

i will reformat and reinstall os x tonight, as i won't lose much since i've only owned this powerbook for 5 days now. if the keyboard fails again in the next 10 days, i will take the powerbook back to the store and exchange it for another brand new one.

thanks for the not so much help. later.

 

[tekmoe]

have reformatted and reinstalled mac os x. seems to be running fine. only apps i have installed so far are firefox and rbrowser lite (ftp client) because safari is too damn slow.

 

[tekmoe]

i now know why the keyboard became frozen. it happened again the other night. and this is on a newer powerbook that i bought last month.

the fn keys worked and i could apple-tab. but nothing else worked. it turns out it was the...................

NUM LOCK KEY!@#$

if the num lock key is enabled, you really can't do anything besides play with the f1-f12 keys, and do apple-tab.

silly me.

mechcozmo - do you tell everyone to call applecare?

 

[IJ Reilly]

Gaaah! I could have told you that! Why do so many people want to reinstall OSX for every problem, no matter how trivial ??