BB Curve :: 8520 "E" Button Not Working?

I have a BlackBerry Curve 8520 and all of a sudden my "e" button does not work anymore. This has happened before (however, the last time was a couple of months ago) and back then it just fixed itself after a few minutes. But its been 5 days now and nothing I try works. Not the number 2, letter "e", capital "E" or anything like that works.Firstly, I didnt drop the phone or spill any fluids on it (as far as I know). Secondly, I've done a few things as suggested on other support sites including rebooting the phone (took battery out while the phone was on) about 15 times now. But that didnt work. I also tapped the keypad around the "e" key and blew in it just in case there was a bit of dust stuck under the key, but still nothing.

I did a backup and was ready to do a complete Wipe. However, to confirm the wipe I had to type the word "blackberry"! So, needless to say, I couldn't continue because there's an "e" in the word blackberry and as I was using OS version 4.6.1.272, I couldnt copy and paste the letter "e" either. So I upgraded to V5.0.0.592 with the hope that this will fix the button. But no such luck. I then tried a wipe again and this time I could paste the "e" when i was prompted to type the word "blackberry". So I eventually did the wipe, but still no change.I've also noticed that previously I was able to type the punctuation symbols by holding in the "alt" button and simultaneously pressing the punctuation keys. Now when I do that nothing happens. I have to press and release the "alt" key and then press the punctuation keys on its own.