unable to get typeomatic on keyboard

I have a dell laptop which has stopped providing any type-a-matic operation and at the same time, duplicate key presses fail unless approximately 2 seconds are between key presses. I also have a wireless keyboard/mouse and the same identical symptoms are when using that device. I have uninstalled the keyboard drivers and let XP reinstall them without any change in operation. I cannot find any BIOS or control panel setting that effects this action. When I go to the control panel, keyboard and change either the repeat delay or repeat rate, there are no changes noted - the key does not repeat. Since the failure is noted on both the laptop keyboard without the wireless attached, and also on the wireless when it is connected via USB, I believe the problem to be with the XP support, but what? Thanks for any pointers.