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My cat sat on my laptop and now if I type either L or P, it inputs 3 or * instead. The rest of my keyboard still works correctly. The problem is bad enough that I had to use the touch screen of my computer to type this in.

How can I restore the correct working behaviour of my keyboard?

Gaff
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user660920
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4 Answers4

253

That's the standard tenkeyless Num Lock key layout found on many PCs.

Picture of tenkeyless Num Lock key layout on a keyboard

Turn off Num Lock - on my Lenovo, it's Fn + F10, but the combination may vary by manufacturer.

Gaff
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Aibobot
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    It's actually not a proper `NumLock`, despite sharing the name. It's a separate function to activate the keypad. `NumLock` proper changes the function of the keypad itself, regardless of whether the keypad is embedded and separately activated (like this one) or a proper independent keypad. With `NumLock` turned off the keypad becomes a set of directional arrows with PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, etc. – J... Nov 07 '16 at 14:47
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    Huh. I didn't know there was an option to lock that; I thought you always had to hold a button down to get the numpad functionality. – user2357112 Nov 07 '16 at 22:23
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    IIRC on at least some laptops it shares more than just the name, I.E. if you plug in an external keyboard and press the numlock key on the external keyboard then the function of they keys on the internal keyboard change from regular letter keys to "embedded numpad" keys. – plugwash Nov 08 '16 at 03:03
  • @plugwash Yes, I've "broken" my wife's Fujitsu this way, using the real NumLock on external kb. – Agent_L Nov 09 '16 at 12:21
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    With several keyboard microcontrollers it is _exactly_ proper NumLock. Such microcontrollers switch amongst four possible sets of mappings according to the current states of the `Fn` key and the host's NumLock LED output. – JdeBP Nov 10 '16 at 09:26
  • For an example, see [the Sprintek SK5126](http://sprintek.com/documents/datasheets/DS0026_SK5126_Datasheet.pdf#page=7). – JdeBP Nov 10 '16 at 09:34
  • @JdeBP is your first comment stated as a "the first comment by *J...* is mistaken"? – Raystafarian Nov 10 '16 at 22:12
26

You need to turn off Num Lock and it will work as expected again.

On my ASUS laptop the key combination is Fn + Insert.

Gaff
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Rizal Pahlevi
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14

Your keyboard is now set to be the numeric pad; this is accomplished with a Fn key press plus another key, which varies by manufacturer. The proof to this is to check the other keys: O, I, K, M, N, J.

If they also produce numeric keypad numbers, then, you need to press the Fn key combination again to toggle off the keyboard numeric keypad.

If they do NOT produce the keypad numbers, then your keyboard is broken. Use a paperclip and scoop out that dingleberry from underneath the L and P keys, and banish the cat from future use of your laptop.

4

On Windows, Alt + Shift toggles key mapping on and off. Your cat could have hit those keys when using your keyboard as its personal cushion.

Press Alt + Shift again to restore standard keyboard behavior.

Kevin Fegan
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Leslie
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