I've read several support articles (one from MS) stating this problem, and the solution was to use a ps2 keyboard... great... I dont have ps2...
so can I not reformat this computer???
All Dells notebook and desktop computers have a special partition on the drive. So if you ever need to re-format your system you can usually due this by pressing one of the F1-F12 keys as soon as you power it on. So their is no need for CDs.