Computer help needed

schreef:
It looks as if I'll have to do the repair myself.

New keyboards are available from the OEM (Vivo) for about $40. The HP
maintenance manual is available via the internet. That leaves a few
issues unresolved but since the thing was working in the past I'll
assume it can be returned to service.

-R.S.Hoover
-(KA6HZF)

Bob,
Allow me to suggest some clarification.
I understand you are after an "identical" or "matched"
or "certified" keyboard - but there's no need.
Any PC keyboard with the proper interface
(in your case, USB, I understand)
and the proper layout (US English, assumedly) will do.
Indeed it shouldn't be too difficult to locate a
suitable keyboard near you (neighbours? friends? shop PC?)
and borrow it for a quick swap, just to confirm the diagnosis.

As for returning the PC to service:
yes, sooner or later that's always possible.
Questions are
1) if it's worth the money (I abandoned a laptop
after breaking the display, the replacement was over-expensive)
2) whether you can recover the data from the harddisk.
This is crucial: a new harddisk is easily available
at reasonable cost, but is unfortunately supplied blank.
Indeed you'll likely find the data on the disk
much more valuable than the PC as such.

There's companies specialized in recovering data
from crashed harddisks but they're horribly expensive.

Hoping this helps,
KA