Mainly the letters of the top line below the numbers, but I notice once again, that it has returned to normal.
I first posted on another forum after noticing it trying to type to Facebook, but although the title then was scrambled, the letters came good as I was typing the message. As they have done here, although including the title this time.
This is really bizarre, anybody have an idea why?
Dead/dying keyboard by the sound of it.
The keys are usually arranged electrically in a row/column matrix, you’ve probably lost one row or column to an intermittent connection.
If you have a separate USB keyboard, I’d attach that and see if it improves matters…
Old laptops get dry joints - just like humans 
Elsewhere on some forum or other someone suggests (not for the feint of heart!)
Hi. Basically you have to resolder dry joint. There are few techniques, ranging from fairly standard to outright crazy. But let’s cover the basics first.You’ll need:a. solder iron (finer the tip, better off are you) OR soldering torch OR butan lighter-torch OR baking ovenb. solder wire (tiny bit)c. dry jointYou can recognize dry joint by it’s matte surface when compared to proper solder joint.You fix it either by resoldering joint or putting motherboard into oven preheated to 225?C for couple of minutes and them knocking the board once, so components can reseat on their own.Of course last method is not for feint-hearted or if you have lot to loose regarding the board.If you need to know how to solder, try checking up this website http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htmHope it helped.
Yow! It’s much more likely that they keyboard has failed than the motherboard and replacements are usually available.
IF you are comfortable dismantling a laptop it is probably worth taking the keyboard cable out of the connector and reseating it - but sticking the whole motherboard in the oven sufficiently to melt all the solder, then “knocking” the board is rather more likely to screw everything up than it is to fix a bad keyboard.
Thqnk you both I do hqve q spare keyboqed this one but it is French qnd as you can see not all the keys see; to correspond<
I bought it many years ago but it zqs zrong right from the off, took it back to Leclercs but of course it then zorked perfectly so I cqst it aside.
As to being faint heartedm I am zhen it comes to techin stuff like this so zill give soldering a miss.
Zhy doesbthis azerty think it is a qwerty ? 
Right, back on the qwerty now which seems to be working. This laptop is only a few years old but I only started to use it a year or so ago. I could bring the qwerty from the PC I suppose if this plays up again, but it is a bit of a chore when I want to switch back and struggle to find the right hole at the back. 
Your first few paragraphs reminded me of this:
Replacing a laptop keyboard may seem daunting, but there’s plenty of online video tutorials that show how easy it can be. Using one of these, I was able to replace my keyboard in about fifteen minutes.
En passant - whoever designed the French keyboard must have been illiterate. It’s incredible that the full stop requires using the shift key, whilst much less frequently used colons and semi-colons don’t - and one needs three fingers to type @ !
I’m guessing you’re using a keyboard without a separate numbers block? The standard numbers block has a point/full stop next to zero. I agree the @ is a pain, but surely you only need two fingers - AltGr + 0/a (grave accent)?
I have to say I’m quite happy with Azerty and swap between that on my computer and Qwerty on my iPad quite readily. Mind you I’m a two-finger typist (three on a good day) so there’s not a lot to lose.
Motherboard into the oven at 225? Not for the faint hearted indeed.
If the motherboard is knackered it is time for a new laptop - if just a replacement keyboard then that is essy enough - but worth establishing if this is the case using a USB or wireless keyboard first.
Thanks to all for the advice, some of it will be taken today. Back on the pc this morning but last night the laptop keyboard was working again so, after the shops and walks today, I will remove the keyboard and give everything a brush round inside and put it back together again. If that doesn’t work replacements are only about 30 quid online, delivered, so I will order another.
In fact, the moment I order another as a backup, that will be the moment the old one starts and continues working for the rest of my life. 
Dampness is another thing that makes them play up as it gets into the membrane layers.
Thanks for that. The . on my numbers block is so fine and minute, that I’d never noticed it before!
Perhaps you can also tell me why ‘¤’ is so essential ? I’d like to find a use for it
was it ever thus… My Bouygues supplied Huawei B528 4G router has been annoying the hell out of me for a couple of weeks requiring it to be turned off and back on again to get more than <1 Mb!
So, yesterday I ordered a TP-Link 4G router from Amazon to replace it and guess what… the bloody thing has been delivering >15 Mb all day 
You’re welcome! And thanks in turn for the Control+Alt+ option for @ etc. Sometimes it’s easier to do that, albeit with three fingers, than using Alt Gr with two.
As for the other symbol, I’ve never used it either. A bit of experimentation suggests it might be a wild card; if you Google it you get several billion results. About as useful as the proverbial chocolate teapot, it seems.