Is my keyboard dying? Sometimes, for no apparent reason,

[yy4me]

my keyboard will not work. When I boot up, no lights come on, nothing on the keyboard will engage. I reboot, I plug and unplug the keyboard and mouse from the rear of the computer. Eventually(so far) the num-lock will come on and things seem to be back to normal. At times, the mouse will not engage either but that seems to be only when the keyboard will not work. If the keyboard is out of commission, I cannot click on anything. No cursor flashing.

It is an HP keyboard and mouse that came with my Pavilion 526X.

Should I just go buy a new keyboard in anticipation of a someday no-go or do you think it is something else? I tried about 5 times this AM before things would work.

Thanks for any help.

yy4me