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In general	The keyboard doesn't respond
Problem with dates	Common causes
Problem with numbers	Prevent RSI
Special characters
ASCII-codes
ASCII-table 1 (from 0-128)
ASCII-table 2 (from 128-256)
Greek characters

In general
There're different kind of key-boards. Most common type is the  QWERTY - keyboard. (qwerty are the first 6 letter-key's) Some keyboards do have a Windows-symbol, function key's etc. Special sign's can be on another place too, so switching keyboards between computers can lead to problems. Some older keyboards have  have another connector, instead of a round connecter it's a flat one.

Beside the keyboard itself there's also a difference in the way European an Amercian handle numbers and dates

Dates:
The way they write a date in Europe is not the same as in the USA:

We Dutch write a date like this::
First the day; then the month; then the year

20-11-1964 is 20 november 1964.

The Americans write a date like this:
First the month; then the day; then the year:

11-20-1964 is 20 november 1964

Verry often both (Europeans & Americans) only write the last two digits of the year.

Conclusion:
An error is easely made:
example: date: 03-04-03
Is this april 3, 1993, or april 3, 2003 or march 4, 1993 o march 3,  2003?.

This is an item that can lead to problems in some programs. 

The way the computer shows the date is installed at:
Start--Control Panel-Regional & Lanquage options.

Numbers:
The way Europeans write down a number is different with the way Americans do.

Europeans write an amount like this:
$ -2.500,35 (two thousant five hundred Dollar and thirtyfive cents negative) or

Americans will write the same amount like this:
$(2,500.35)

They use parenthesis in stead of the minus sign;
They use a comma in stead of a point for the thousants
They use a point in stead of a comma for the decimals

This is an item that can lead to problems in some programs. 

The way the computer shows the numbers is also installed at:
Start-Control Panel-Regional & Lanquage options.


Special characters
In many countries they use accents to show the way of pronunciation.
With some specific key-combinations you can get these letters with accents. (Unfortunately this doesn't work in all programs)

Combination:	You get the charcater:
CTRL+` + de letter	à, è, ì, ò, ù, À, È, Ì, Ò, Ù
CTRL+' + de letter	á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý
CTRL+SHIFT+^ + de letter	â, ê, î, ô, û, Â, Ê, Î, Ô, Û
CTRL+SHIFT+~ + de letter	ã, ñ, õ, Ã, Ñ, Õ
CTRL+SHIFT+: + de letter	ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ, Ä, Ë, Ï, Ö, Ü, Ÿ
CTRL+SHIFT+@ + a of A	å, Å
CTRL+SHIFT+& + a of A	æ, Æ
CTRL+SHIFT+&  + o of O	œ, Œ
CTRL+, + c of C	ç, Ç
CTRL+' + d of D	ð, Ð
CTRL+/ + o of O	ø, Ø
ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+?	¿
ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+!	¡
CTRL+SHIFT+& + s	ß

ASCII-codes
ASCII is an abreviation of American Standards Committee for Information Interchange. This committee has made a standard for characters
The  1the table consist of the ASCII-characterset 128;
The  2the table consist of the ASCII-characterset from 128,
This 2the characterset is for graphical or drawings. It's also called the  "IBM-characterset".

The IBM-characterset is dependent of the choosen setup.

You will get a character by holding down theAlt-key and the number of the wanted character.

ASCII-table 1 (van 0 tot 128)

ASCII-table 2 (van 128 tot 256)

Greek characters:

Letter	Greeck letter:	Font Symbol nr.
A	A	65
B	B	66
C	C	67
D	D	68
E	E	69
F	F	70
G	G	71
H	H	72
I	I	73
J	J	74
K	K	75
L	L	76
M	M	77
N	N	78
O	O	79
P	P	80
Q	Q	81
R	R	82
S	S	83
T	T	84
U	U	85
V	V	86
W	W	87
X	X	88
Y	Y	89
Z	Z	90
a	a	97
b	b	98
c	c	99
d	d	100
e	e	101
f	f	102
g	g	103
h	h	104
i	i	105
j	j	106
k	k	107
l	l	108
m	m	109
n	n	110
o	o	111
p	p	112
q	q	113
r	r	114
s	s	115
t	t	116
u	u	117
v	v	118
w	w	119
x	x	120
y	y	121
z	z	122

The keyboard doesn't respond
First check if the LED's  num-lock, caps-lock and scroll-lock are functioning. (The num-lock key is above the number part of the keyboard.)) When the LED's are working, but the computer doesn't respond on the keyboard  (not even at Ctrl-Alt-Del or  Alt-Tab), then usually the computers memory went full and the computer has stopped. A restart usualy fix the problem.

When the LED's are off (including after a restart) then the keyboard is not connected correctly or a wire has broken.

Another problem could be a short-circuit caused by something like a paperclip, fallen behind the keys. You can hear this by shaking the keyboard. If you hear something like that, just remove it, by holding down the keyboard upside down and shake until the paperclips falls. 

When you get a keyboard error at the start, the problem could be in the connection. Maybe the keyboard connector has broken a leg, or you connected another thing on your pc (for example a headset)


Common causes
When you hear a lot of beeps repeating, there good be a book on your keyboard....

A cup of coffe with sugar, or a coke that has been fallen over your keyboard is a disaster. Because of the sugar, the keys are sticked on the keyboard's mainboard and therefore several key's are pressed simultaniously.

Does your college like joks? Maybe he connected your keyboard to another computer. (The LED's are working then!).

Is your keyboard not standing steady? Most keyboards have two legs that can be fold out. If only one leg has been fold out, your keyboard is not standing steady.

Prevent RSI
To prevent RSI it's important that your can lay your forearm on the desk. When your forearm isn't laying on the desk, you need your shoulders to keep the arm up. This causes shoulder and neck problems.

Soft gel-pilows do not prevent RSI. Your pulse is getting higher and the blood can not flow as good as normal. I don't believe in gel-pilows..

Sit straight behind your PC. When you're sitting a bit beside of your PC, you have to turn your neck, which can cause problems.

Listen to your body!!!!!Nobody gets RSI in one minute! You will feel some little pain, and it will slowly become more sever. Don't wait until you can't work anymore, listen to your body and change your bad sitting position, take a break, call an RSI-expert etc.