Packard Bell DOTMA manufactured in 2009 Dritek Launch manager keyboard driver for Windows 7 needed

I understand that nowadays Packard Bell trademark is owned by Acer, that’s why I came here. There is no forum for Packard Bell users. I have a problem with Packard Bell netbook manufactured in 2009, while Packard Bell is owned by Acer since 2008. So, my netbook was manufactured under Acer anyway, and it is written in the documents which came with the netbook.

I have a Packard Bell DOTMA netbook 13" with pre-installed Windows Vista home basic, manufactured in 2009. It is good enough for me, it has a Windows System Assessment index of 2.4. But with the end of Vista support by Microsoft, now I am trying to upgrade to Windows 7. It installs OK and works perfectly except one thing: keyboard functions oddly: many keys produce not the symbols they should produce but digits, asterisks, etc. Here is the correspondence which key produces which symbol:

qwertyuiop[]asdfghjkl;'zxcvbnm,./ this is normal keyboard

qwerty456*[]asdfgh123-'zxcvbn0,.+ this is my keyboard

I didn’t notice that immediately after installing Windows 7 because at home I use a full size external USB keyboard which functions OK. But the built-in keyboard does not.

With some difficulty I discovered that my Windows 7 installation differs from my Vista in the keyboard driver. Vista had a Dritek Launch manager driver version 2.0.1.218, while Windows 7 has a standard keyboard driver from Microsoft. So, I installed in my Windows 7 the driver from Vista, it comes on the netbook service disk. The driver program installs OK in Windows 7 and everything looks exactly the same, except that keyboard still functions badly.

I thought the problem was the outdated driver version, so I googled for a “packard bell dritek launch manager driver for windows 7”. It finds various drivers of many versions for Packard Bell notebooks, not for DOTMA though. Since I had nothing else, I tried those drivers. Dritek Launch manager ver.3.0.02 installs but the keyboard functioning remains the same poor. It appeared that installed with this package Dritek driver has the same old version 2.0.1.218 as my Vista installation. So I tried still newer versions like 5.1.7 and 6.0.11, but those refuse to install, saying “Unsupported hardware”

The mentioned google search also found the www.packardbell.com site. This appears to be an official Packard Bell site now. It says that site is owned by Acer, and the only contact suggested is postal address of “Acer UK Ltd Heathrow Boulevard III 282 Bath Road West Drayton Greater London”. The whole site is a fiction: it has a Download Center at https://www.packardbell.com/pb/en/GB/content/download and a full collection of notebooks is there, but no drivers for any models. No support at all, even for today’s customers.

So, it seems to me there is no way of resolving the problem. What do you think? And what about the quality of service of Acer owned Packard Bell today?

Accepted answers

AnhEZ28

@SargeAnt1 Try to press fn+f11 or f11 only to toggle the numlock

leonaip

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1174974#Comment_1174974

Press and hold "fn" key (do not release yet) then press "F11/NumLk" key once. Then release all. Try to type if it goes back to normal.

else repeat the steps.

In your case, numeric keypad is activated.

SargeAnt1

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1175044#Comment_1175044

Thank you so much, @AnhEZ28. It solved my problem. I never used this variant of Numlock key and did not even notice that F11 has also a NumLk on it, and didn't notice that some letter keys have also some digits on them. I never used those keys for inputting digits. Now I also noticed a Numlock status indicator on my keyboard

It appears that Windows remembers Numlock status of user. And that's why I had my problem: while using the external USB keyboard I always kept Numlock on, because I always used the Num key group. And Windows remembered this ON Numlock status

So, the driver or Windows version does not matter. It’s just a feature of netbooks which I wasn’t aware of

All comments

AnhEZ28

@SargeAnt1 have you tried turning off the Numlock? If the Numlock was on, it will use the small number on the top of the letter.

SargeAnt1

@AnhEZ28, thank you very much for your kind attitude to my edgy question.

No, the Numlock is not on, it is off. It did not matter whether Numlock was on or off - the results were just the same. And about "the small number on the top of the letter" - there is no such thing. There is nothing on top of the letters on my keyboard

SargeAnt1

I was a bit wrong in my previous answer. The thing is that there's no Numlock key on my keyboard. It's a netbook, there is no Num key group, please see the photo

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1174974#Comment_1174974

SargeAnt1, with the keyboard you need to change it for a new one, as after 14 years I think your Packard Bell DOTMA deserves a new keyboard by the way it looks from that picture.😁 as keyboards do wear out, and also, using an external keyboard, you might not have noticed those faulty keys.

Get the part number from underneath the keyboard and search the web for a new and appropriate keyboard, as the specs of your Packard Bell DOTMA are adequate for Win-7 Home and the keyboard should work after you installed Win-7 with the Win-7 assigned oem driver, as Win-7 drivers are suitable for this laptop as it was released just when this laptop was and your Vista must have been the last Packard Bell DOTMA with Vista OS.

SargeAnt1

Thank you very much @StevenGen, but

1) My keyboard is just as good as a new keyboard. I don't see why you concluded that it is weared out

2) I don't risk disassembling the netbook since I only know how to deal with full size tower case computers. Disassembling netbook I might ruin it

3) Could you please explain better what you meant in your second paragraph "Get the part number from underneath the keyboard": the part number is supposed to help me find a new keyboard, or to find a driver for my old keyboad?

4) Netbooks like mine are not sold now, and no keyboards for them probably too. All modern notebooks are named Packard Bell DOT MA, DOT M/A and alike, but no DOTMA I could find. The closest version to mine I found at https://www.cnet.com/reviews/packard-bell-dot-m-a-review/, and this page is of Aug. 11, 2009

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1175018#Comment_1175018

SargeAnt1 there is a place called "Laptopkeyboards.com" where they sell the Genuine Laptop Keyboard Replacement for LAPTOP MODEL DOTMA.so click on that link its $$98.88, Condition: NEW Item Code: LM100, so they say and list at the link I've given you? So, inquire there as if you will have the exact part number from your keyboard then you can be 100% sure👍

Also just to explain to you, what I mean by saying "Could you please explain better what you meant in your second paragraph "Get the part number from underneath the keyboard" is that all keyboards and parts on a laptop have a sticker or a reference number written on them on and your keyboard on this PB DOTMA has a part number either on a sticker or printed on the back of the keyboard as an ID so that you can get a better idea and search on the web to get the exact part number that your keyboard is.

AnhEZ28

@SargeAnt1 Try to press fn+f11 or f11 only to toggle the numlock

leonaip

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1174974#Comment_1174974

Press and hold "fn" key (do not release yet) then press "F11/NumLk" key once. Then release all. Try to type if it goes back to normal.

else repeat the steps.

In your case, numeric keypad is activated.

SargeAnt1

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1175044#Comment_1175044

Thank you so much, @AnhEZ28. It solved my problem. I never used this variant of Numlock key and did not even notice that F11 has also a NumLk on it, and didn't notice that some letter keys have also some digits on them. I never used those keys for inputting digits. Now I also noticed a Numlock status indicator on my keyboard

It appears that Windows remembers Numlock status of user. And that's why I had my problem: while using the external USB keyboard I always kept Numlock on, because I always used the Num key group. And Windows remembered this ON Numlock status

So, the driver or Windows version does not matter. It’s just a feature of netbooks which I wasn’t aware of

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