I am having no troubles with the laptop keyboard directly. My next test, when I get around to it, will be to put the keyboard on a different computer. I may try that tomorrow, as I have a little work to do on a PDA program, and the computer I use for PDA testing and dev work would be the easiest one to swap a keyboard out on.

Interestingly, the question has become somewhat moot at this point. Once the keyboard failed, I moved the entire laptop onto the keyboard tray. The tray is a really solid piece of work, and it is large enough, so it holds the laptop really well. The only problem with that setup is that it overbalances the whole platform, which makes it rotate forwards very easily. I remedied that by placing a 10 lb weight on the back of the platform to counterbalance the leverage provided by the laptop and tray. That works well, so I have no need for an external keyboard.

Eventually I will need a keyboard, though, once I set up a game computer to use on the treadmill, but that can wait until fall. I'll test the keyboard on a different computer, but if it fails on that other computer, I won't be replacing it anytime soon.