I've got a 4 year old Alienware m9700 laptop that has been giving me quite a bit of trouble over the last few months. About three months ago, the touchpad just completely stopped working, and for the last two months the keyboard will lock up at random times. USB keyboar still works, but as I'm in the air/on the go a lot, having to carry around a big ol keyboard is highly unrealistic. The computer is amazing when it works, but it's just getting ridiculous.
On top of that, the wifi cuts in and out as though its searching for other channels (Ive already uninstalled the realtek software so theres no contradicting software issues) and tried switching channels, but thats not my real issue--the KEYBOARD is.
I think I've ruled out it being a hardware issue, as the keyboard works fine for a few minutes and then boom, it just locks up. What makes me think its some sort of software issue is if I go into standby mode or hibernate and come out, it works just fine--until it locks up again, then I have to standby and come out...makes for a real hard time when I'm trying to edit. But heres the real doozy--this problem started a few months ago when I had my old hard drive--but this is a brand new hard drive, with a fresh copy of XP on it...weird, huh?
I've searched high and low for a resolution. They dont make this keyboard anymore, so I'm out of luck in terms of getting a new one. Every "similar" post I've seen has been graphics related or cpu related, and I checked all my connections and everything is seated properly.
So I ask you, oh techy god's, WHAT THE F?!