# Sony Vaio Question - Please Help!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 22, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377 "2003-03-22T16:07:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dahempfaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@dahempfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dahempfaerie)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/1 "2003-03-22T16:07:10Z")

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Someone pLease heLp me. 😕 For some reason, my computer won’t type what I want. Sometimes I have to hoLd down the function key, or eLse I will get a number or symboL and not what I was wanting to type. For exampLe, if I were to type the alphabet, here’s what it wouLd Look Like - abcdefgh51230n6\*qrst4vwxyz  
I have a feeling this is something that is easiLy fixed, and any heLp will be greatly appreciated. I have a laptop, Sony Vaio, with windows xp. This is getting quite frustrating!:mad:

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**Author:** ![awpti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@awpti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awpti)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/2 "2003-03-22T16:14:59Z")

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Make sure ‘Num Lock’ is turned off.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/3 "2003-03-22T16:15:28Z")

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It _might_ be software-related. Try starting in Safe Mode. If the problem goes away, we can start looking at software issues.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/4 "2003-03-22T16:16:37Z")

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Num Lock shouldn’t act like that even on a Vaio.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/5 "2003-03-22T16:33:34Z")

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This is a laptop, right? Sounds like the Num Lock to me. It turns a section of the keyboard into a numeric keypad. Usually the jkl/uio/789 section becomes 123/456/789.

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/6 "2003-03-22T16:36:58Z")

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After seeing **scr4** ’s response, and doing a little mental imagery with my desktop keyboard, I’ll retract my previous statemts and go with a vote for Num Lock as well.

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**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/7 "2003-03-22T16:37:30Z")

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Actually, looking at the layout of the numbers, I would bet money that it is a numberlock issue. That is more or less the exact layout of the “numberpad” that is in the middle of my regular keyboard on my Thinkpad.

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**Author:** ![dahempfaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@dahempfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dahempfaerie)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/8 "2003-03-22T17:31:20Z")

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I **KNEW** it was something simple like this! Man, do I feel like an idiot. :smack: It was the NumLk. Thanks to all. \<blows kisses\>

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**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/9 "2003-03-22T17:32:12Z")

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On my laptop, pressing num-lock does indeed turn jkl-uio into 123-456.

It’s not a bug – It’s a feature.

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**Author:** ![dahempfaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@dahempfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dahempfaerie)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sony-vaio-question-please-help/163377/10 "2003-03-22T17:44:40Z")

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Yes, I can see how it is definitely a feature. But, at the time, it was confusing the hell outta me. Not to mention how frustrating it was to try to write a paper while that whole NumLk business was going on. I guess this could be called a happy accident, or something like that.😃