I cnnot type the mjority of keys on the left side of my keybord without weird appearances. Such being: a, [tab], Q, [caps lock], esc, exclamation point, & the button under esc. all that i've typed in that have been copied here. thank you

sounds like a collection of junk (dust, spilled soda, boogers, fingernail clippings, etc) got into your keyboard and is causing pressure in one place to cause contact nearby. you can try taking the keyboard apart to clean it, but you stand a decent chance of breaking it in the process. since keyboards are like, 5 dollars, i would just try a different one on your current machine. if the problem persists, you've got a really weird issue on your hands. if a new keyboard fixes it, your old keyboard is junked and just be grateful they're not more expensive to replace and no data is stored on them.

i once had a problem that was cured by tightening the screws on the underside of keyboard. I think at one of those points there were some contacts inside which were not making good contact until the screw was tightened bringing the casing closer together to pinch the contacts tighter

I would love to take that advice except for one problem: when i do type the a key, it comes up with l; then an [enter] key. the q key makes something weird like '~. Moral of story, i think it's a problem with the mother board. and the keyboard is connected to the laptop, so i would love to keep that keyboard and not have an external. any other advice?

I don't think anyone knew you were talking about a laptop. Try giving us the model number of your laptop and see if you don't get a more suitable answer to your question. Skip

okay, so besides my mistake, is there anything that can be done? my laptop is the LIVESTRONG HP Laptop, aka HP Special Edition L2000

laptop keyboards are one of the cheapest components, as well as one of the easiest to switch out. See if you can get a replacement keyboard from HP or ebay or something, and try switching it out for your current keyboard. you've done next to no troubleshooting, so what's convinced you it's the motherboard? I'm suggesting starting with the keyboard mostly because it's one of the easiest parts to test (much more so than the motherboard), but also because your symptoms seem confined to keystrokes. the hardest part will be getting the replacement hardware, but that'd be just as hard to find a mobo as it would be a keyboard.