Why is the keyboard not working?

When the iBook boots up, the keypad works okay and the clicker works. BUT NONE OF THE KEYS RESPOND. AND NOTHING HAPPENS WHEN I USE THE KEYPAD TO MOVE THE CURSOR OVER A LINK OR A WIDGET AND CLICK!

I get somewhat smoother operation with an external keyboard and mouse. (i.e. I was able to get into Applications and use the mouse click to open System Preferences and change the date and time.) But the keys remain frozen/inoperative.

Is there a simple fix?

ps: First signs of the problem:

Had trouble getting iBook to boot up. Did it, finally, in safe mode. Got a message saying the date and time needed to be corrected. Toolbar disappeared.