Control-P not functioning 1

[rocmills]

Hi Gang!

We have two new computers here in the office that we built less than a week ago. They have both been running fine since they were assembled, but today they *both* developed a very weird problem. Pressing the key combination CTRL-P no longer brings up a Print window. It does nothing at all. All other CTRL- combinations work; CTRL-O opens, CTRL-S saves, etc.

Has anyone every encountered this before? Any ideas, suggestions? I'm a bit baffled by this one...

Thanks in advance!
--Roc

--Roc
"Whatever one man can dream, another can accomplish" - Jules Verne

 

[elmurado]

Try different keyboards?Can you print using the file>print option?

 

[bcastner]

It would baffle me to.

As Forum member emurado suggested, do a cold start with a different keyboard known to work. (a hot swap does not help in this case).

 

[rocmills]

Tried new keyboards, cold boot, but the problem hasn't changed. We can print from the drop-down menu without a hitch, but the drafters would prefer not to have to take their hands off the keyboard everytime they need to print. I have run virus scans, AdAware, Spybot... the machines seem clean.



--Roc
"Whatever one man can dream, another can accomplish" - Jules Verne

 

[Xaqte]

Might sound like a dumb question, but what is the status of the Num Lock key when this is happening?

X

 

[stduc]

They haven't (accidentally) assigned Ctrl/P to a macro or similar perchance?

 

[rocmills]

CTRL-P does not respond regardless of what position the NUM LOCK key is in.

No macros programmed... don't think the drafters even know what macros are!

Is there a possibility that this could be related in some way to the motherboard? I mean, I built these two systems from new component parts - they are identical in just about every way (one has a dvd writer, the other just a cd burner), and they both have this problem. Could I have done something while building these system?

I *could* do a complete reinstall of XP, but I'd rather not have to go through that if it can be avoided.



--Roc
"Whatever one man can dream, another can accomplish" - Jules Verne

 

[rocmills]

Well, I tried a complete reformat and reinstall and still the problem persists. I checked the status of the CTRL-P function before installing any secondary programs, nothing but XP installed. Nothing happens. I'm at my wit's end here...

--Roc
"Whatever one man can dream, another can accomplish" - Jules Verne

 

[elmurado]

Have you tried uninstalling the driver for the keyboard in device manager? Then reboot. What if the controller for the keyboard is stuffed on mainboard? Try USB keyboard?

 

[rocmills]

elmurado,

Aha! I did indeed find the conflict. The I/O resources 0060 - 0060 and 0064 - 0064 conflict with/are previously claimed by the motherboard.

So I found the motherboard element (device manager, system devices, motherboard resources - many entries thus named, clicked on all until i found the one with the conflict) but cannot seem to find an acceptable i/o number to reassign. The option to manual configure the keyboard resources is greyed out.

Uninstalling and reinstalling driver did no good. I'm thinking that a simple USB keyboard will do the trick if I can't find an acceptable number to reassign the I/O to.

Anyone have any ideas about how I can find an acceptable resource for the motherboard, or am I not making sense?

Thanks!



--Roc
"Whatever one man can dream, another can accomplish" - Jules Verne

 

[rocmills]

(insert very long stream of nasty words here...)

Well, so much for that idea. Tried a USB keyboard and STILL the Ctrl-P command/keycombo does not open the Print window. It was one of those keyboards with programmable extra keys, and I even tried to assign Ctrl-P to one of the spare keys.... but the "macro" recorder (record the keystrokes you want this hotkey to represent) would not recognize Ctrl-P either! Ctrl alone - yes. P alone - yes. But not in combination.

ARRRGHHH!!!!!

So... I am back to trying to solve the resource conflict between the PS/2 keyboard and the motherboard.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.





--Roc
"Whatever one man can dream, another can accomplish" - Jules Verne

 

[ifix1]

might be a dumb suggestion but,
try flashing the bios?
i don't understand the os giving a bad i/o
i'd be thinking motherboard software{bios}

just a thought!

 

[elmurado]

In agreement with ifix1 here roc, it's pretty unusual for the o/s to give bad i/o or set wrong irq etc
But then if even a usb keyboard is going wrong that would point to underlying--eg BIOS or O/S.
And as it doesn't matter which keyboard is attached.
One other thing, which keyboard type is it set to?
ie US or english etc?
Could this even be a regional settings thing?

 

[rocmills]

ifix1 & elmurado,

I've already upgraded the bios on one machine (i'm leaving the other alone as a control until the problem is solved) and it made no difference.

The keyboard type is "Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard". When the USB keyboard was attached it was identified as "HID standard".


The conflict message is thus:

I/O address 0060 - 0060 is in use by motherboard resources
I/O address 0064 - 0064 is in use by motherboard resources

The option to set resources manually (device manager) for the keyboard is greyed out. The option to set resources manually for the motherboard is NOT greyed out, but I have no idea what to change the numbers to. I'm thinking that it may be time to contact MSI as they are the motherboard manufacturer.

Sigh.

--Roc
"Whatever one man can dream, another can accomplish" - Jules Verne

 

[stduc]

Best of luck contacting MSI! They usually reply - but I can never quite understand their replies! lol

To see what is free to change the number to...
In device manager, go to Action then Print. Look through the listing, especially look under memory summary and find some spare space. You only actually need two addresses. So you could just find the highest address used and add one for the first range and two for the second range as each range is a range of one address.

Hope this helps.

Make a restore point first though! Before changing anything. Just so you can get back to suare one easily.