Keyboard suddenly not working

[bwcajp]

Hi everyone.
My daughter used my imac to play an online game last night, using mainly just the mouse. I know she didn't do anything out of order to the machine. When I started up my desktop imac as usual this morning the space bar and several keys on the right side of the keyboard have suddenly stopped working.

Restarting, checking the system prefs etc makes no difference.
It's a Japanese keyboard, keys not working are sets of 4 on each of three rows the right side of keyboard: iop@ kl;' ,./
also the space bar, return key and 0 on the number pad.

Any suggestions?

iMac 4.1. OSX.5.8

Many thanks!!

 

[hughvane]

Did you unplug/replug the keyboard with iMac going; or try a different USB port?

Run Disk Utility > First Aid to see if it picks up a hardware fault.

Last, repair permissions with OnyX for OS 10.5.8. Then let us know if the k/b is restored to full function.

 

[bwcajp]

Many thanks Hughvane
I unplugged & replugged as suggested, the same. Then ran First Aid - no problems with hard disk.
Finally I downloaded OnyX, however I can't install it as I'm asked for my password, but am unable to type it in due to the non-functioning keys.

 

[bwcajp]

I just tried the keyboard on my macbook and get the same result, so obviously the problem lies with the keyboard.
I thought maybe if I dismantle and clean it the problem might disappear. Any advice? If I unscrew the base will I be confounding the problem?

 

[chscag]

You may be better off just purchasing a new keyboard. I have no idea what the cost is in London but here in the US a new aluminum wired keyboard for the iMac is $49.