BleepingComputer.com: Keyboard Capital S Failure

The Shift s, i.e. capital S, does not work on my keyboard.
I can only type a capital S by first hitting CAP LOCK, then must undo the CAP LOCK for other key entries. This affects only the S key, others work fine. There is no special mapping on my keyboard, just the defaults.
I have a Dell Dimension 2400, 768K RAM, running Windows XP Home with SP2 installed. I have a standard Dell brand 101/102 key PS2 keyboard. I have fully updated Windows Updates, Norton Antivirus and SpySweeper and run scans weekly.
I am new to the forum but have searched out topics, questions and answers and cannot locate this problem although I have tried different suggestions from previous answers to others questions related to keyboards.

Here is what I have tried so far:
Swapping in another keyboard. A Gateway standard keyboard has exactly the same response: all keys work fine except Shift S.
Checked regional settings, all Eastern US. Checked keyboard mapping, all defaults checked. These ideas from the forums.
Uninstalled keyboard driver, rebooted, computer finds new keyboard and installs driver. Rebooted, same result (this idea from this forum).
Ran HiJackThis log and submitted to Help2Go. It suggested deleting several items identified as malicious, deleting the folder MyWebSearch, rebooting, then emptying recycle bin and rebooting again. Also got this idea from the forum. Same result.

A possible clue: I rebooted in Safe Mode and the keyboard works fine, no capital S problem. Rebooting back into normal Windows and the problem is back. I conclude, hopefully correctly, that my PS2 port on the back of the computer works fine since the keyboard works OK in Safe Mode.
Could this be something in the Registry? I am not experienced in Registry examination and tweaking and am reluctant to try without more expert guidance.

Thank you for any replies and guidance.

I'm just guessing here, but I'd suspect (after all the troubleshooting that you've done already) that it's either a driver issue or a corruption issue.

For the driver issue, I'd suspect the motherboard/chipset drivers and/or the keyboard drivers. Uninstalling the device and letting Windows reinstall it will just allow the old drivers to reinstall themselves.

Download the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website. Uninstall the keyboard in Device Manager and don't let Windows redetect it on reboot. Then install the downloaded drivers and reboot to see if that fixes the issue. Do the same thing with the motherboard/chipset drivers if the new keyboard driver didn't fix it.

If this doesn't work, post back and we can suggest some other fixes to try.

Welcome and Happy New Year!

You have ruled out the keyboards
Does it do the same thing with both the left & right shift keys?

Yes, the same result occurs with either the left or right Shift key and only wiith the letter S.

I appreciate the replies.

I downloaded and installed a new keyboard driver from Microsoft after first uninstalling the original driver. I uninstalled without rebooting, because that automatically reinstalls the same driver. I installed the new driver and then rebooted. Dell doesn't have a keyboard driver on their webite; Only the Microsoft Intellipro Driver could be found. That didn't work; I still have the same problem.

After the keyboard driver did not work, I also downloaded from Dell the chipset driver and installed it. That didn't work either, I still have the same problem after rebooting following the installation.

I could not find a motherboard driver on the Dell Support site - is this the same as the chipset driver? They do have a BIOS driver and a Diagnostics Utility. Dell doesn't have a Firmware or Utilities driver on their support site.

I don't know how to identify my current motherboard driver in Device Manager.

Any other suggestions? Thank you.

Maybe the keyboard port could be faulty?

This is indeed a puzzler!

Only the capital S. Mutiple keyboards work fine on other systems. But both do the same on this system, right?
Works fine in safe mode.

Has to be something running in the background!

Just for the heck of it, try uninstalling all Norton products.
Google it and use the Norton removal tool. Dont just go through add/remove programs.
Run the removal tool

I have seen Norton products mess with a lot of stuff.

Why just the capital S? That doesnt make any sense!
Has to be a logical reason for it though

Eyesee, I totally concur with you about Norton. 2 years ago, I noticed a very strange noise on my computer. I called it a machine gun noise because that's what it sounded like. For almost 3 months I did everything I could think of, everything others suggested, but couldn't get rid of the noise.
One day an error from Norton appeared, telling me that I needed to uninstall and then reinstall.
Which I did, the noise continued. A few days later, again the same error from Norton. By that time, I had decided to ditch Norton. Uninstalled it, installed AVG and noticed the machine gun had stopped. An accidental discovery of the solution. The only thing I can think of was a update to Norton messed something up. So it's entirely possible that could be the case here. If it is a Norton issue, there won't be a logical reason for it.
trekrichl-at this point I'm betting you are willing to try just about anything in order to resolve the issue. Uninstalling Norton is worth a try. Just don't do any downloading or opening of email attachments until 1) you rule out Norton and reinstall it 2) OR until after you install another antivirus program.

Thank you Queen evie
It cartainly is worth a try isnt it?
Has to be something running in the background!

Make sure you run the Norton Removal tool!!!
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgen...005033108162039

Motherboard and chipset drivers are essentially the same for our purposes here. So you'll be fine with the chipset driver.

Thanks for all the advice.

I attempted to use the Norton Removal Tool but it stopped working part way through, twice, on the same file.
Prior to those attempts, the tool instructed me to manually delete ACT and Norton SystemWorks, which I did.

When I couldn't finish using the Removal Tool, I turned off Norton Antivirus manually. For a few minutes, my capital S worked properly, even when I turned Norton Antiviurs back on. But then the problem with capital S reoccured again.

I am going to try to uninstall Norton using the Windowns Control Panel uninstall and see what happens then.

A side effect is that I can't successfully reinstall ACT, even from the original disks. I have installed many times on different machines without difficulty. This time the reinstall looks correct but now says a file failed to correctly load when trying to start up ACT.

Norton disabled and the issue resolved itself temporarily. Could be you are on the right track with Norton being a possible cause.
If removal of Norton isn't successful:
Have you tried uninstalling in safe mode? Download the Norton removal tool, save it to your computer, boot into safe mode. You should always run the removal tool after an uninstall of Norton using Add Remove Programs. Norton is notorious for leaving traces of itself behind.