PRACTICAL 3
AIM: To study operation, components, internal parts and troubleshooting of
Keyboard and Mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small device that a computer user pushes across a desk surface in order to point
to a place on a display screen and to select one or more actions to take from that position.
An optical mouse works in a completely different way. It shines a bright light down onto your
desk from an LED (light-emitting diode) mounted on the bottom of the mouse. The light
bounces straight back up off the desk into a photocell (photoelectric cell), also mounted under
the mouse, a short distance from the LED. The photocell has a lens in front of it that magnifies
the reflected light, so the mouse can respond more precisely to your hand movements. As you
push the mouse around your desk, the pattern of reflected light changes, and the chip inside the
mouse uses this to figure out how you're moving your hand.
Some optical mice have two LEDs. The first one shines light down onto the desk. The light
from that is picked up by the photocell. The second LED lights up a red plastic strip along the
back of the mouse so you can see it's working. Most optical mice also have a wheel at the front
so you can scroll pages on-screen much faster. You can click the wheel too, so it functions like
the third (centre) button on a conventional ball mouse.
Troubleshooting of Mouse
• Inspect if the Mouse is connected to the correct port.
• Try to connect the Mouse to another laptop or PC, in order to ensure whether the Mouse
is just not functioning on your system or on another system too.
• Ensure that all the USB ports are working properly and are not damaged.
• Disconnect and re-connect the Mouse, plus, also ensure that Mouse is securely
connected to the port.
Keyboard
A keyboard is one of the primary input devices used with a computer. Similar to an
electric typewriter, a keyboard is composed of buttons used to create letters, numbers,
and symbols, and perform additional functions. The following sections provide more in-depth
information and answers to some of the frequently asked questions about the keyboard.
Types of keys in a keyboard
1. The Alphanumeric keys
The alphanumeric keys are those keys on the keyboard, which can type in letters or numbers
in the editor, which includes all the alphabetical keys from A to Z and the number keys above
that. The number keys can not only type numbers, but they can also double up as a symbol
keyboard, which can be used to type in different symbols which include the $, %, @ and a set
of other useful symbols.
2. Punctuation keys
The function keys are those keys on the keyboard, which can type in punctuations, which
includes ‘.’, ‘,’, ‘;’ and a number of other punctuation symbols that can be used in text editors.
These keys are also used at the time of typing, and as you can look at the keyboard you are
using.
3. Function keys
The function keys are those keys on top of a normal keyboard, which begins with ‘F’, and they
range from F1 to F12, where each of them can be used to carry out different activities
depending upon the selected program on the operating system that you are using. However,
there are some common uses of most functions keys, like the F1 button is used to open the help
file, F3 to find something, etc.
4. Control Keys
Mostly, these keys can’t function alone, and you will have to use a control key in combination
with another key to accomplishing a task. For example, ‘Ctrl’, ‘Alt’ are those keys on the
keyboard, which can be used in combination with other keys to trigger certain tasks depending
upon which application you are working on.
5. Special Keys
The special keys on the keyboard are used to carry out some special activities like
the ‘Delete’ button to delete some file or any character which is in front of the cursor, the enter
or return key to move to the next line for typing some text and so on.
Working of Keyboard
➢ The Key Matrix
The keyboard has its own processor and circuitry, a majority of which forms an important
component called key matrix. The key matrix is a collection of circuits under the keyboard,
which is broken at a specific point under every key, which results in making the circuit
incomplete. When you press any particular key, it completes this circuit, thus, enabling the
processor to determine the location of the key that was pressed.
➢ Working of the Keys
Beneath each key, there is a little hole, which is at the top of a long, round bar. You might be
able to observe this if you try to dismantle a key off the device and notice it. Now, when you
press a key, this bar pushes through the hole, thus making contact with the circuit layers below.
Inside the hole, there’s a little tiny piece of rubber that prevents the key from moving down
and pushes it back up when released. The springing factor of the keys is due to this reason.
➢ Detection of Keypresses
When you type or press any key, a switch is pressed, which completes the circuit and allows a
tiny amount of current to flow. A processor analyzes the position of the keys pressed and sends
this information to the computer, where it is sent to something called the ‘keyboard controller’.
This controller processes the information that is sent by the keyboard’s processor, and, in turn,
sends it to the operating system (OS). The OS then checks this data to analyze if it contains any
system level commands, like Ctrl+Shift+Esc, which is the keypress to bring up the Task
Manager. If such system level commands are present, the computer executes them; if not, it
forwards the information to the current application. The application then checks if the
keypresses relate to commands in the application, like Ctrl+P, which is the keypress for the
print command. Again, if there are such commands, they are executed first, and if not, then
these keypresses are accepted as content or data. All this happens in a fraction of a second, so
even if you press many keys, there is no lag in the system. What actually happens behind the
scenes is that, there are three separate layers of plastic. Two of them are covered in electrically
conducting metal tracks, and there’s an insulating layer between them with holes in it. You can
see dots at the places where the keys press the two conducting layers together. There are lines,
which are electric connections allowing tiny electric currents to flow when the layers are
pressed tight to one another by a key moving down from above.
➢ Character Mapping
The key matrix has a corresponding chart or character map that is stored in the read-only
memory (ROM) of the computer. When you press a key, the processor looks up the position of
the circuit that was closed, or completed, with the character map, and determines which key
was pressed. All the keys are mapped and stored in the memory. For example, in the character
map, if just the location of the ‘x’ key is determined to be pressed, then the resulting lower case
alphabet ‘x’ will be displayed or taken as a keypress, but if the locations of the ‘Shift’ and ‘x’
keys have been determined to be pressed, then the resulting uppercase character ‘X’ will be
displayed or taken as a keypress.
To put it simply, keyboards use switches and circuits to change keystrokes to a format the
computer understands. Every keyboard contains a processor that does the work of translating
the keystrokes, or the keys pressed, to the computer.
Troubleshooting of Keyboard
1. Your keyboard is damaged. Physical damage can cause issues when you're trying to
use your keyboard. Especially in the case of an USB keyboard, make sure to inspect
both the body and the connecting cable for any signs of damage.
2. Your battery is low. If you use a wireless keyboard, ensure that the battery is charged.
If needed, change the battery.
3. Your drivers are missing or outdated. Driver updates are needed to make sure your
computer parts all function as intended, even if they aren’t natively supported by
Microsoft. If correct keyboard drivers are missing or outdated, your device may not
work.
4. You’re using the wrong USB port. It’s possible that you’ve plugged your keyboard into
a USB port it’s not compatible with. You may also have a damaged USB port that needs
to be replaced.
5. Your power settings are poorly configured. Windows 10 has many power saving
options. One of these functions allows your computer to turn off inactive devices,
possibly turning your keyboard off.
6. Windows 10’s Filter Key bug. There’s a known bug in Windows 10’s Filter Key feature
which causes issues with typing on the login screen. At the time of writing, Windows
10 updates released by Microsoft seem to fix this.
7. A new major Windows 10 update. Sometimes major Windows 10 updates can break
things on your computer.
