Keyboard Keypad not working

Question

iMac G5 rev.A OS 10.4.11, Original Apple Pro Keyboard
I never noticed that the numerical keypad on the RH side of my keyboard was inoperative, in that I cannot use the keys to type the digits in any text, nor for entering numbers in an Excel spreadsheet cell.
I never use it except to use the 12346789 keys to nudge the pointer. I always use, by habit I guess, the number keys above the letter keys.
I checked the Finder’s Help and did not find any specific info about the numerical keypad. I thought that may be the Extended Keyboard that came with the computer, somehow had not been identified properly when I installed OS 10.4. Reading Finder’s help about that subject, it said to “Open Preferences, Click Keyboard and Mouse, Click Keyboard, Click the “Change Keyboard Type” button, and Follow the steps when the Keyboard Setup Assistant appears.”
I have one problem: my Keyboard and Mouse Preference does not have a Change Keyboard Type button.
Any suggestions as to how I can get the numerical keypad to work?
jb

Answer 1

Hi,
This morning my numeric keypad quit working and
I lost an hour trying to fix it
(COUGH theft of my time).
This article didn't come up in a Google search
because this article doesn't use correct terminology.
So, for Google's benefit, I'll add a few search terms here:
numeric keypad stopped working
numeric keypad doesn't work
numeric keypad won't work
numeric keypad quit working
Mac OS X 10.3
G3 G4 G5
_Recommended Solutions_:
1. Press the Option key 5 times to turn Mouse Keys off.
2. Better yet, disable the feature so it can't get turned on again
every time a book leans against the keyboard.
Go into System Preferences,
click Universal Access,
click the Mouse tab (even though this is a keyboard problem),
and uncheck the checkbox labeled "Press the option key five times to turn Mouse Keys on or off".
Gotchas suck!
Sincerely,
J. E. Brown (mr.)
Software Engineer and Tester
Testing Pays!
<Edited by Moderator: Please See Terms of Use for URL in Signature>
Los Alamos, New Mexico USA
+J. E. Brown has been a software engineer for over 20 years.+