Only phone keypad for soft input options

JimSmith94 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-12-2010, 10:17 PM

This is on a Sprint Touch Pro 2 running the stock WM 6.5 MR2, and I haven't installed anything new in the last few days. When I tried to reply to a text message today, instead of the QWERTY keyboard, a phone-type keypad popped up.

I've been searching and trying things all day, but no luck getting my keyboard back. I have soft reset and powered off several times. In the attached pictures, you can see the phone-type keypad and instead of the input choices, it only says "Touch Input". I have been able to get the different choices to show up a few times, but no matter what I choose, it stays at the phone keypad.

Any ideas?

jamio88 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-12-2010, 11:36 PM

Click on the keyboard icon (Bottom of the TouchScreen, Middle Icon) hold it in for a few second and a list will pop up.

then just click on the QWERTY option.

JimSmith94 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-12-2010, 11:46 PM

Nothing happens if I press and hold the icon. If I click on the icon, "Touch Input" is the only option, as the picture shows.

As I said, I've been able to get the full options to show a few times, but even though I click on "Full QWERTY", it stays at "Phone Keypad".

jamio88 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-12-2010, 11:52 PM

What Mods, Registry Edits, or Cabs have you installed recently? Also if all else fails you could always try to install another keyboard (Swype for example) and try to use it.

JimSmith94 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-13-2010, 12:21 AM

The only change I have done before it broke was this to get ICS working:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\InternetSharing\settings]
ForceCellConnection="Sprint" (from "Phone as Modem")

Oddly, I just checked it and it had switched back to "Phone as Modem". I guess it changed on reboot, but I don't recall that being mentioned before. Regardless of which way it's set, my soft keyboard is still fubar.

JimSmith94 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-13-2010, 12:47 AM

I installed Swype and was able to select it as in this picture, but the other selections are still missing. If I extend the keyboard, "Full QWERTY" shows as an option, but if I select it, the "Phone Keypad" pops up again.

So far, I haven't found where these are in the registry. A registry search didn't even find "Swype"! Can someone point me to that location? I'd like to fix it rather than hard reset and get everything tweaked again.

JimSmith94 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-13-2010, 12:39 PM

No one has seen this before?

kevintmr · #8 (**permalink**) 07-13-2010, 02:03 PM

The exact same thing happened to me when i was running 6.5 stock sprint. The soft input became stuck on phone keypad even when selecting any other option(compact qwerty, full qwerty, etc)...unfortunately i was never able to find the cause or correction.
Just an idea...maybe unistalling all your cabs/edits to see if that will fix it. If it does, start installing them one by one(soft reseting each time) to see which one messes it up.
On the other hand, I find my device runs way better with 6.1. If your gonna stay stock, 6.1 is the way to go.

kevintmr · #9 (**permalink**) 07-13-2010, 06:37 PM

To the OP..I found that softkb.dll is the file to control the soft keyboard. I tried this on my TP2 and it worked:
Create an empty text document on ur pc. Name it softkb.txt. Move it to ur storage card, then rename it softkb.dll. Using Total Comander, copy/move the file to \windows directory and overwrite the original. Soft reset. Now go to the \windows directory and delete softkb.dll. Soft reset again. Since softkb.dll is in rom, it will automatically reload. Now see if your issue has been fixed
Post back the outcome...

JimSmith94 · #10 (**permalink**) 07-13-2010, 09:33 PM

Kevin, your suggestion sounded so good, and I wanted it to work so bad that I did it twice, but still no luck. When I deleted the 0 byte softkb.dll, the original 16.3 kb file date 01/07/10 immediately reappeared before the reboot. Is that correct?

Weird, but possibly related: With the phone in my hand, I see all keyboard options. With it plugged in to take screen shots with MyMobiler, the only options are "Swype" and "Touch Input".