# Oh boy, I messed up (Laptop fell and broke letters "A" "S" and "Q"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 16, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759 "2005-03-16T04:08:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/1 "2005-03-16T04:08:29Z")
I’m on a laptop. I could superglue the letters. but I’d rather not… I hooked up an external keyboard which is how I am typing.
I went to fry’s electronics today and I couldn’t buy keys for the keyboard. I figured if anyone had them, they would… no luck.
So, I need to get these keys! I don’t care, I’ll buy a set… but where?! I have an HP laptop… heeeelp!
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### Author:  [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/2 "2005-03-16T04:23:06Z")
uite conincidence - I did exctly the me thing!
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### Author:  [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/3 "2005-03-16T04:26:48Z")
… nd my pelling tink too!
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### Author:  [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/4 "2005-03-16T04:31:40Z")
Have you tried calling HP themselves? I guess your best bet would be eBay or a local mom and pop computer shop.
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### Author:  [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/5 "2005-03-16T07:10:41Z")
> [@chefIL11](#):
>
> I’m on a laptop. I could superglue the letters. but I’d rather not… I hooked up an external keyboard which is how I am typing.
>
> I went to fry’s electronics today and I couldn’t buy keys for the keyboard. I figured if anyone had them, they would… no luck.
>
> So, I need to get these keys! I don’t care, I’ll buy a set… but where?! I have an HP laptop… heeeelp!
Had the same problem with me Dell–cat popped off one of the Caps Lock keys. Not sure how HP laptops work, but on the Dell the key can snap back on if you’re careful and use a pair of tweezers. If the keys themselves have gone broken or missing, you’re stuck buying a new keyboard. Again, can’t speak to the HP but for the Dell the keyboard came out with 5 screws and a new one was only 30 bucks. I saved the old keyboard, figuring it was good for a nearly full set of replacement keys should my cat do this again.
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### Author:  [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/6 "2005-03-16T07:52:46Z")
Man, I wish some of my keys broke. Specifically, the damn Insert key. Maybe Caps Lock too. Oh, and F11.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/7 "2005-03-16T07:59:44Z")
> [@Duderdude2](#):
>
> Man, I wish some of my keys broke. Specifically, the damn Insert key. Maybe Caps Lock too. Oh, and F11.
You can use a program like [KeyTweak](http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/) to disable the keys you don’t want.
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### Author:  [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2005, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/8 "2005-03-16T08:09:36Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> You can use a program like [KeyTweak](http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/) to disable the keys you don’t want.
Thanks, that’s not a bad idea.
My friend took another route, he physically removed the insert key from his keyboard, leaving only a big hole. Hey, it worked for him 😉
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### Author:  [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/9 "2005-03-17T00:13:00Z")
You might believe you couldn’t type properly when not only one key, but three, broke off. I think, with minor effort, you’ll find them to be completely unneeded (though your left pinky finger might wither from boredom). 😃
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/10 "2005-03-17T00:42:04Z")
I’ll let Sasquatch know that he shouldn’t be expecting any emails from you.
In the mean while, you can use your character map to pick out any letters that can’t be typed. I know it’s tedious, but a tolerable stop-gap measure.
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### Author:  [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/11 "2005-03-17T01:13:12Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#):
>
> I’ll let Sasquatch know that he shouldn’t be expecting any emails from you.
Rarely do I laugh as hard as I have just laughed at your post. I’m still laughing. that was hilarious.
Anyways, I spent twenty minutes on the phone with HP today and finally got the issue resolved. I had to buy an entirely new keyboard for $38.00 ☹ that’ll teach me to bungee cord my laptop to myself from now on.
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### Author:  [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/12 "2005-03-17T02:37:03Z")
Wow. I’m surprised you had to buy a whole new one. Did the keys really just not snap back on? Mine do.
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### Author:  [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/13 "2005-03-17T02:42:54Z")
> [@monica](#):
>
> Wow. I’m surprised you had to buy a whole new one. Did the keys really just not snap back on? Mine do.
well there are eight pieces of tiny plastic on the keys with two on each corner of the key… little holders for the underpiece to connect to. Well, unfortunately, some of them broke. Like a real american I tried superglue with no success… I guess I should have tried Duck tape.
If you can’t duck it… well, you know the saying.
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### Author:  [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2010, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/14 "2010-06-22T09:07:48Z")
Do any Windows users use the onscreen keyboard feature at all? Can keylogging software detect what you are typing on that, too?
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### Author:  [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2010, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/15 "2010-06-22T09:30:17Z")
Reminds me of the time my neighbors’ Shih-Tzu, Fozzy, hopped on my keyboard and popped the F key off. We think maybe he was trying to spell his name.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/16 "2010-06-22T18:21:54Z")
There are services on ebay which will sell you individual keys and the clip on hardware needed for a wide variety of notebooks for reasonable price. I used this when my kid popped off and lost some of her keys. Much less hassle than replacing the keyboard. This assumes the socket portions of the keyboard that would allow the keys to be clipped back in have not been damaged or broken.
See below
[http://cgi.ebay.com/LAPTOP-KEYBOARD-KEYS-Dell-Sony-Acer-Apple-Toshiba-HP-/300433516672?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA\_Mice\_Trackballs&hash=item45f33ba880](http://cgi.ebay.com/LAPTOP-KEYBOARD-KEYS-Dell-Sony-Acer-Apple-Toshiba-HP-/300433516672?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item45f33ba880)
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-boy-i-messed-up-laptop-fell-and-broke-letters-a-s-and-q/294759/17 "2010-06-22T18:24:04Z")
Sorry - I didn’t realize this was a Zombie thread that had been re-opened.