I know this is a strange problem, please bear with me.

I have a keyboard that I bought about 2 years ago, it always worked great. It is a Rosewill type...I am not sure of the model. I use this keyboard with expanded drivers so I may use it to type in Japanese symbols.

Suddenly, it stops working. I didn't spill anything on it, or drop it. It stopped working one day when I started my computer.

I uninstalled the drivers for the keyboard and re-installed them to no avail. My keyboard works on other computers just fine. When starting my computer, F2 and F8 do not work. Other keyboards work on my computer, but will not type the Japanese symbols.

Thank you for your help. I am sure there is an easy solution...I just can't find it.

Is this Keyboard a USB Keyboard or PS/2?

It is a PS/2 But when i use a adapter for USB it still doesn't work.

The lights for Num lock and CAPS lock will still go on and off when I press the keys, and the computer does not give any messages that the keyboard isn't connected correctly.

I uninstalled the drivers for the keyboard and re-installed them
My keyboard works on other computers
Other keyboards work on my computer, but will not type the Japanese symbols
It is a PS/2 But when i use a adapter for USB it still doesn't work
lights for Num lock and CAPS lock will still go on and off when I press the keys
computer does not give any messages

Wow - it sure seems like you tried everything with the hardware you could. When you tried your kybd on another PC, could you type foreign characters? You said other kybds on your PC would not type Japanese characters - do your Regional and Language Options under Control Panel appear correct?

When did it stop working? If only a couple days ago, you might try a System Restore to a point in time to when it was working.

Have you scanned for malware?

When I tried my keyboard on another PC it would type Japanese symbols as well.

I checked my Regional and Language options and they are all set to English with Japanese capabilities. My on-screen keyboard will type Japanese symbols, but any keyboard I plug in will not work correctly with a program I have. It's an automatic kanji finder. While I can type the individual symbols, I can not, for some reason, convert it to Kanji.

System restore was already tried, I should have noted that. It had no effect.

This isn't really a dire problem, just an annoyance issue. My current keyboard does not have the symbols on the keys...my old one did. I can pay for a new keyboard to be delivered from Japan, but I don't want to spend the money unless absolutely necessary.

I have done just about every scan known to man, and I made sure to only have one program installed and running at any time. I found a few things, but it didn't help this problem.

Thank you for so many options in the one answer, though. I felt I was being productive for a while.

Going back, you said, "suddenly it stopped working". Did you try "System Restore" as mentioned earlier?

What happens now if you press a key?

My on-screen keyboard will type Japanese symbols

On-screen keyboard? Not sure what you mean? Is this the one available through Start > Accessories > Accessibility? Or is this an installed 3rd-party tool?

This isn't really a dire problem, just an annoyance issue.

Often the hardest to track down, thus adding frustration to the annoyance factor, never good for blood pressure, acid reflux, or hair lines! - so, just thinking out loud again, tossing out stuff,

I can pay for a new keyboard to be delivered from Japan

But,

Originally Posted by you"

When I tried my keyboard on another PC it would type Japanese symbols as well.

Other keyboards work on my computer, but will not type the Japanese symbols

I uninstalled the drivers for the keyboard and re-installed them to no avail

That sure points to your computer and not your keyboard - though it could still be a driver issue.

Do the other keyboards display Japanese symbols fine on the other computers?

Why would it have to come from Japan? Are you saying that keyboard has Japanese symbols on the keys - that is, it is not a QWERTY keyboard? There's no label on the bottom?

How did you reinstall the drivers? Do you have a driver disk for that keyboard? Any model numbers printed on it, or seen during install? Any utilities or other programs on it that need to be installed?

What does Device Manager say you are using for a keyboard? The Rosewill, or Microsoft keyboards?

Is that an English version of Windows?

If you find a model number, go out to the Rosewill Keyboard Downloads page and get the latest for your model. If you click on a model, it brings up a nice description. Perhaps you can find yours that way. I would also recommend you check out a couple of the manuals to see if Rosewill has a preferred driver upgrade procedure.

If your still do not have the number, and can't find a download description that matches, you might have to send them a note.

It appears they have 2 PS-2 models here. Is one yours?

Some times is seems Windows just hangs on to driver settings no matter what and the only way to clear it is to install something totally different, forcing Windows to start over. This happens with video cards - so installing a ATI/AMD when having nVidia upgrade problems often allows you to then immediately uninstall the ATI, and then go back to a successful nVidia install.

So I recommend you uninstall your current keyboard drivers, shutdown Windows, power off the PC, then UNPLUG the power from the wall for about 10 seconds. The ATX form factor standard calls for all ATX motherboards to have +5Vsb standby voltages applied across several points on the motherboard, even when powered off. Unplugging ensures there are no lingering voltages strong enough to keep any unwanted hardware settings alive.

Then swap your motherboard with a plain old standard keyboard and boot, allowing Windows to use internal default drivers. Then follow the Rosewill instructions for installing the Rosewill keyboard and drivers.

Things to ponder:
Microsoft Global Input Method Editors (IMEs)
Using Japanese Text Input on a Microsoft Windows PC

Thank you again for the help.

Yes, I did try system restore which didn't help. The keyboard still wouldn't work.

The on-screen keyboard from Start > Utilities has a Japanese option, and sometimes I use this, yes. I have no 3rd-party on-screen Japanese keyboard.

I explained something incorrectly....Keyboards other than the broken one will display the symbols, but it's in a strange fashion. It's hard to explain without explaining the romanization of Japanese symbols. It uses the "pronunciation" of the symbols to display them, instead of assigning each symbol to a specific key. So instead of pressing the か key、I have to write "ka" with English letters, then hit space for the symbol to appear.

As for the keyboard, it is a Japanese keyboard with Japanese symbols on the keys. But every Japanese keyboard also has the English letters on them, for example :

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/...e_Keyboard.gif

It is the button on the top left that changes the keyboard from Japanese to English.

I installed the drivers simply by starting up my computer, and Windows recognized the keyboard. I did not get a driver disk for the keyboard. The keyboard works on other computers without any drivers needed.

The device manager tells me that when my broken keyboard is plugged in, there is no keyboard.

I run an English version of Windows XP Professional.

I have downloaded Rosewill's latest drivers, but my computer doesn't "see" the keyboard. When I press keys, nothing happens but the Nums lock and caps lock lights do go on and off.

My keyboard was bought about 2 years ago, neither one of the models shown are the model I own.


I shut down my computer, etc. but when I started it back up the second time with the broken keyboard, it still didn't work. One thing my friend mentioned, so I looked ...It does not display a "Keyboard not found" message but I can not even get into the BIOS screens.

And thank you for the links, these are both the programs and methods I was using before to write Japanese, but neither of them work in an "I use this all the time, and it works fast" kind of way. They are slow to use and writing Kanji is just left of impossible unless I want to scroll up and down long lists of silliness when I type a word. Also, like I explained above, it does not assign a symbol to each key, it depends on the "romanization" or "pronunciation" to be typed in.

Hmm, well, perhaps someone else reading has some ideas. Sorry.

Like I said at the start, this is a strange problem.

I'm just worried it will happen with the next keyboard I buy.

I'm just worried it will happen with the next keyboard I buy.

Considering all the swapping you have done, I fear that too.