I tried to alter mappings but nothings changed

What specifically were you trying to change? Were you trying to change one key for another?

Was this through the Keyboard Control Panel in Start->Control Panel ?

Did you reboot after saving the changes?

I can't get the pound or euro sign to work even when holding down shift key.. I've also tried Alt & Shift key together but nothing happens plus Alt Gr.. so I tried to change them by going into character mapping though control panel & no I didn't reboot after ? Does that mean you have to shut down & restart the Pc ?

OK, here is an easier way that I found. Usin the Right ALT key only, for the pound sign, do ALT 0163, using the numbers on the 10-key keypad. I am not sure which the Euro sign is, but you can see all of the commands in character mapping under Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->character map, then find the symbl you need, and look in the bottom right of the window for the keyboard shortcut.