I've been an avid Dvorak user for many years and smoothly made the
transition in XP pro two years ago. But after several months, some
letters on the keyboard no longer type. Rebooting sometimes helps
restore the faulty letters, but not all of them. New keyboards work
great in XP as soon as they're plugged in, but after a few months the
same letters stop working. In a pinch I've sometimes switched back to
qwerty to type one or two elusive letters then gone back to Dvorak to
continue my work, but this is not always successful.

I say letters, because it's the alphabetical letters that are failing,
not the keys they're programmed for. For example, in qwerty, the keys
on a std keyboard marked D, R and C type the letters D, R and C
respectively. In Dvorak, the letters D, R and C are typed by the std
keys H, O and I respectively. After a few months using a new keyboard
in the Dvorak layout, the LETTERS D, R and C are the first and most
common to go out. When I switch to Qwerty, the LETTERS D, R, and C work
fine, as do the keys H, O and I. When I switch back to Dvorak, the
LETTERS D, R and C still do not type even though they're coded to H, O
and I (while the LETTERS H,O and I type fine in Dvorak).

I've got two XP computers, and both are configured for Dvorak, and both
are experiencing similar problems after a few months on a new keyboard.
I've been through 3 keyboards so far, and just plugged in my fourth to
get through a crisis deadline without the hassle. I also have a win98
system, and all keyboards work perfectly on it, in both Qwerty and
Dvorak layouts, so I know the problem is not with the keyboards
themselves.

It's been suggested to me that the only way to fix this is to do a
complete XP reinstall. That is not an option I'm willing to accept to
make the Dvorak layout function properly for the life of the keyboard.

Has anyone else experienced this problem in XP Pro?

that is the weriedest thing that i have heared of. I have used dvorak for
several years now and i have been using the same keyboard the entire time and
have never had any problems. baised on what you said it would seem that you
have some form of data corruption but I have never heared of any thing quite
like that.
you said that you have gone through like 3 keyboards and that when you
install a new one the new one works for awhile and then stopps. after
switching to a new keyboard and having that one go bad can you switch back to
the old keyboard? will it still have the problem, or will it act like it is a
"new" keyboard?

so by your description you are saying that the querty layout has no problems
but for some reason the dvorak layout is the only one with problems. the only
other thing that I could think of is that you have some sorta virus or
spyware thing that somehow currupted your "default" layout and not other
layouts that you have installed.
one thing you could try is to completely uninsntall the dvorak layout and
reboot and such and then reinstall it.

let me know if anything helps :-)

"cacoggins@gmail.com" wrote:

> I've been an avid Dvorak user for many years and smoothly made the
> transition in XP pro two years ago. But after several months, some
> letters on the keyboard no longer type. Rebooting sometimes helps
> restore the faulty letters, but not all of them. New keyboards work
> great in XP as soon as they're plugged in, but after a few months the
> same letters stop working. In a pinch I've sometimes switched back to
> qwerty to type one or two elusive letters then gone back to Dvorak to
> continue my work, but this is not always successful.
>
> I say letters, because it's the alphabetical letters that are failing,
> not the keys they're programmed for. For example, in qwerty, the keys
> on a std keyboard marked D, R and C type the letters D, R and C
> respectively. In Dvorak, the letters D, R and C are typed by the std
> keys H, O and I respectively. After a few months using a new keyboard
> in the Dvorak layout, the LETTERS D, R and C are the first and most
> common to go out. When I switch to Qwerty, the LETTERS D, R, and C work
> fine, as do the keys H, O and I. When I switch back to Dvorak, the
> LETTERS D, R and C still do not type even though they're coded to H, O
> and I (while the LETTERS H,O and I type fine in Dvorak).
>
> I've got two XP computers, and both are configured for Dvorak, and both
> are experiencing similar problems after a few months on a new keyboard.
> I've been through 3 keyboards so far, and just plugged in my fourth to
> get through a crisis deadline without the hassle. I also have a win98
> system, and all keyboards work perfectly on it, in both Qwerty and
> Dvorak layouts, so I know the problem is not with the keyboards
> themselves.
>
> It's been suggested to me that the only way to fix this is to do a
> complete XP reinstall. That is not an option I'm willing to accept to
> make the Dvorak layout function properly for the life of the keyboard.
>
> Has anyone else experienced this problem in XP Pro?
>
>