My Curve had been working flawlessly for at least six months. Been working AOK all day today. Went to unlock the device just now and I keep getting "Incorrect Password" message.

Curve is asking me to type "blackberry" now. When I type in those letters it spells "bhlackberry". My 'l' key puts out 'hl'. My password contains the letter 'g' which when typed in also reads 'hl'.

Sorry if this has been covered before. This is my first time going to the forum for help. Thanks!

sounds like moisture in the keyboard.
disassemble and alcohol bath, or let it sit for a day and try again.
disassemble is preferred though, if you have the tools and are somewhat dexterous.

Have you read about this problem before on the forum? I'm semi-dextrous but am not really psyched about opening the unit up. It hasn't been in an abnormally wet environment as of late. I REALLY don't want to risk losing all of my data by trying the password too many times!

i have experienced the problem before.
i maintain 100+ blackberries for a courier company, so most of the units go through some fairly harsh environments.
i have disassembled every variety of BB i have owned (except my bold.. it will come sooner or later..). most come apart fairly easily, although i will admit, the curve is the trickier to get into by far..

usually it is moisture shorting a contact somewhere, and 90% of the time a disassemble / dry will fix it..
but on one unit i went so far as to take the keyboard sticker sheet completely off and wash the entire board, and manually short the contacts on the keyboard and was still getting the invalid input (two letters for one key, as you describe). i dont recall, but i think i may have just warrantied that unit..

i would also suggest doing a DM backup now... as your computer will be able to enter your password properly..
that way, if you do end up wiping the device, you still have a backup to restore from

Best Advice ^^^^^^^ Do this before anything else.

Try putting it in a ziplock bag full of rice overnight. Believe it or not, this really will suck all the moisture out of it.