My laptop has a strange problem with its keyboard. A few months ago many keys on the right, including the space bar, "n" key, and some arrow keys, stopped working. I formatted, updated drivers, tried different O/S but nothing would work. If I attach an external USB keyboard then everything works fine. Recently, I've tried using the laptop and a few keys work on and off, like the space bar and "m" key. I'm fairly sure that this is a hardware problem but I don't know what the specific problem is. I've opened it up and cleaned around the keyboard but that doesn't seem to help. Does anyone have any ideas?

If you did a clean format and reinstall, then you can bet on a hardware problem. Give gateway a call and hopefully it is still under warrantee.

Unfortunately it is not under warrantee anymore and the Gateway rep I talked to said it would cost $300, which is not worth it to me.

One other thought would be to see if by chance there is a start up program running in the background causing the grief. Go to start run/type msconfig change start up type to selective. then go to start ups and disable all apply exit. reboot see if any change. Also see if there is any bios or chipset driver updates for your system from Gateway. Good Luck

You can often find "parts" laptops on ebay, things like dropped/broken displays, and so on. Here's the ebay search page: http://search-desc.ebay.com/Gateway-Solo-1150_Computers-Networking_W0QQfromZC3QQsacategoryZ58058QQsatitleZQ22GatewayQ20SoloQ201150Q22QQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1QQsotextsearchedZ2 and the very first Gateway listing is a keyboard with 13 hrs to go for 45.00: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31545&item=3496448379&rd=1 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31545&item=3496577601&rd=1 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31545&item=6700483645&rd=1 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31545&item=6700131470&rd=1 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3714&item=6700638988&rd=1

That is a great source for parts but here is the problem. It needs to be determined if it is the keyboard or the port on the motherboard before you replace the part. I am sure there is someone local who can work on laptops that is not pricey. Check around.

Eric - I'm having the exact same problem with my Solo 1150 (3 1/2 yrs old). I have run virus, spyware, etc. programs with no detection. My bottom right arrow keys stopped working about a year ago. Now the spacebar and the letter 'm' have stopped working. Also, I randomly lose control of my IE taskbar, webpages, and icons. The taskbar and icons will highlight randomly, making it very difficult to make a selection - webpages and outlook express messages will scroll aimlessly. I was wondering if you've had any further success since August. Thanks.I'm still using Windows ME.