Tech Tip for Writers #25: My Keyboard Doesn't Work
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I'll share one of those with you. They're always brief and always focused. Enjoy!
You sit down to type, start in on that long project with an imminent deadline, and nothing happens. The cursor blinks… and blinks… and blinks… but goes nowhere.
What do you do?
Before you go buy a new keyboard, try a few things:
Is the keyboard's power light on? If it is, check your screen. Is there something that's preventing you from typing? Maybe a dialogue box that wants an answer? If the light isn't on, continue down this list
Check the plugs. Maybe the cord that connects the keyboard to the computer is loose or fell out.
Reboot. Sometimes the stuff in the computer's boot-up sequence that makes the keyboard work gets lost. Restart your computer so it can re-establish itself.
Do you eat at your keyboard? Does anyone? I say this next solution hesitantly: Bang on the keys. Sometimes they get food between them and get stuck. If that doesn't work, turn the keyboard over and see what falls out.
None of those work? Throw the darn thing out the window and buy a new one. They don't cost much any more.
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I'll answer it within the next thirty days.
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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she's working on a techno-thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
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