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So my new motherboard doesn't have a ps/2 connector, so I bought a Microsoft natural keyboard 4000 to replace my old natural keyboard. But, some of the keys stopped working, so I bought another 4000... which then had different keys stop working.

I tried cleaning them out, but no go. My guess is some condensation or something fell on it and shorted it out... but if it is that easy to short out, I can't imagine how my old keyboard lasted for years. Did I just get unlucky or are newer keyboards more vulnerable? Any recommendations?

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  • Exact same problem here: changed my old Elite for a 4000 and the spacebar died after-get this- ONE month.
    – Ghost
    Mar 3, 2013 at 20:05

3 Answers 3

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Keyboards are pretty hardy bits of hardware, and usually last for quite a while. I think you either got unlucky, or something just went wrong somewhere.

You mentioned water damage as a tag, and I assume you have opened up the board. Apparently some people report washing out the membrane panels with water and a little detergent works may work - see elpin's comment there.

Most keyboards I have do seem to last quite a while, so its not new keyboards in general.

Finally, if your old keyboard still works and you want to do it, get an active USB -> PS/2 adaptor and use it with your system.

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  • Got the adesso usb to ps/2 adapter from amazon and using my old keyboard now... gotta get used to the keys again, but so far so good.
    – Saebin
    Oct 22, 2012 at 5:18
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For this to happen with 2 keyboards is really unlucky - to the point I'm thinking there must be something else wrong (as per journeyman Geek's comments, keyboards are pretty hardy).

The issue though is you don't know if you've created new issues since your cleaning operation! Therefore I would suggest you try different USB ports and a different USB keyboard and also to try your keyboard in another computer/laptop.

Don't get me wrong, you may have been just very unlucky with 2 dud keyboards but some how it seems too unlucky for it to be believable.

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I actually managed to kill a Microsoft Natural 4000 by splashing water on it. I called Microsoft, was honest, and they got me a replacement. Definitely try contacting them if your keyboard is under warranty

It turns out that Natural 4000s are very sensitive to getting splashed by water, and I think they may have extended the warranty on the keyboards due to this

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