jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My son just ran into an odd problem with his desktop (Win10). When he presses any key on the keyboard, the computer shuts down and restarts. I'm going to swap kbds and see if that solves the problem.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Now that is a weird problem Jerry - ghosts in the machine?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Using a basic Dell keyboard solved the problem. I'll take the old one apart and see if there's dirt in there. It's an odd situation, though. Pressing any key does a restart. That's gotta be a clue.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

I once heard that you can put a keyboard through the dishwasher. I have not done that and I am not recommending that.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

A lot of things can be put in a dishwasher. I don't think I'll put my camera, lens and flash in the dishwasher after a day of BMX Motocross. I might put my baseball cap and perhaps a few pans into the "dish-boiler!"

A new keyboard may be just the ticket to a properly working computer.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Probably a wise plan!

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Banging too hard on the keys while gaming?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

No gaming, just typing. It's a slightly upscale Dell.

Anhanga Brasil Loc: Cabo Frio - Brazil

Probably defective electronics on the keyboard unit. No dust does that.
I have always cleaned my keyboard units by carefully disassembling it,
keeping all (but the keyboard itself) organized and washing the
keyboard (top part) with water, brushes, sponges, etc. Wait for
it to dry and then mount it again.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

Take it outside with an air can and get all the dust and debris out.

CaptainBobBrown

Note that almost all the computer problems cited here are on Windows systems. In particular the ones involving some interaction of the OS and hardware and that's probably due to the "open" architecture adopted by IBM many years ago when IBM decided to adopt open hardware interface standards so other manufacturers could build compatible hardware to grow the market for barely functional microcomputers. Of course, this exploded hardware problems and when Bill Gates et al built the first real microcomputer operating system they didn't have the resources to be able to deal with the exploding variety of hardware issues. Microsoft has struggled for years to make this kludge setup work reliably but it will never succeed in building a universal operating system but they keep sucking people in with cheaper machines.

The best they can do is to improve feedback about run-time problems so users can figure out what to do to get around the problem. Jerry's reported problem is a perfect example of too little information reported so it's by guess, by golly.

The real problem though is that the Windows GUI code is so complex and the variety of potential hardware related error conditions astronomically large that the OS would be completely bogged down error trapping if it were to give users enough information to be able to address these kinds of problems. That's why the Apple ecosystem with it's limited hardware choices has higher initial cost but much greater reliability. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Jerry I am glad I read your post rather than just stop at the title which is very confusing. Makes some sense after reading the post.

I mean no offense but it seems over the time I have been reading your posts that you have a not of computer problems. Perhaps it only seems that way to me but you SEEM to be rebuilding, buying, repairing a lot of computers.

I only say this because other than an odd virus I would get when I had a PC I have never had any computer problems. After I bought an MacPro I had none to speak of other than operator error of not knowing what I am doing.

I hope I am mistaken and all is really well with you and Cyberland.

Dennis

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

Sounds to me as if there is a stuck key that turns any other into a shutdown command. Might check the "Alt" and "Cntl" keys to see if they are stuck? Or that funny "Windows" key.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

How many bullet holes does the computer have at this time?

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

See what time you could have saved by trying another keyboard BEFORE posting here?