Hey i was just searching my old posts and ran across this one that i forgot to update you guys on. I sold the laptop and purchased a new one, but i still didnt know an actual cause for the keys skipping. I think that you were right in the keys being grimy because i used a wireless keyboard, and it stopped skipping. no worries though. Thanks for the great help on these forums, i love it!
On a side note, do you think i got a good price for my laptop?:
$250
17'' HP
dead battery
some (negotiable) screen defects like discoloration and some dead pixels.
40gb
p4 3.2
4gb ram
he reformatted so any software is irrelevant...
I payed i think $2k for it and sold it 4 years later (6 months ago or so...)