I have recently installed the original Baldur's gate 1 and 2 games on my computer, but when I try to name my character or save the game my computer fills the text line in with random letters. When I try to hit backspace it keeps on filling the empty space in.

I don't know what is going wrong and I haven't found any means to solve this problem. Any help in the matter would be greatly appreciated.

This is a common driver problem. The solution is simple: reboot your computer. Seriously.

I have tried this, but the problem still remains.

Then first, update your keyboard drivers if possible. If not, check the board physically for stuck keys.

I am actually running the game on a laptop and so far the keys seem to be working OK for every other game and programs that I have.

Like I said, this is a common driver issue; I see it a lot. You need to look to your drivers if your keyboard is sound and clean.

I have updated all my drivers and I have tried to run the game in Windows XP compatibility mode, but so for the problem still continues, each time it seems to change which letters fill up the text lines.

Do you have any key mapping software installed?

Not to my knowledge, could you give me an example of mapping software just in case.

If you don't know then it's highly unlikely that you do, since you would be the one to choose which keys map to what. I don't use any myself, but sometimes keyboards themselves may come with such software, or you can download utilities such as SharpKeys. I doubt that's your problem if you don't know. I have to admit that I'm surprised that rebooting didn't work. My only other suggestion, other than checking your keyboard options in Control Panel, is to completely uninstall the game/s, remove any remnant files and reinstall. Maybe, just maybe it could be an installation/configuration glitch, though I've never heard of such a glitch. Worth a try though.

I uninstalled everything, deleted any remnant files, and installed the game in a different drive on my computer. What's strange is that the glitch has changed that instead of letters the text line it fills up with nothing but 1.

I also double checked my other Infinity Engine games and the glitch effects them as well.

Right, a check list. You have said the following:

Reboot - Check
Updated drivers - Check
Keyboard - No sticky keys (right?)
No software key mappers - Check
Not a bad install - reinstallation performed - Check

The only other thing I can come up with is possible USB signal interference. If you have any USB devices plugged in, remove them. If that doesn't work, then I'm out of ideas.

I removed the USB devices from my computer and started the game and the glitch is gone. All of my infinity engine games now work properly.

Thank you so much for all your help!

Is your laptop using fastboot or something like that which is stopping it from doing a full reboot.

Excellent. It figures that it's the obscure reason that fixes it. :)