You are working on your laptop and a few minutes later, you realize the “I” key has stopped responding on your laptop. Perhaps even worse, the keyboard has completely stopped responding. Having problems with your computer can annoy you, especially when you have work due. However, there are some steps you can take yourself in order to get back to work.
Consider narrowing down the cause of your problem before seeking random fixes. The keyboard hardware may be affected, but what about the software? Does Windows not recognize keystrokes because of a glitch in the software? Getting this figured out at the start could save you lots of time later. Attempt to boot into the BIOS or UEFI by restarting your computer.
In most cases, you have to press any of the following keys as your computer boots: Delete, Esc, or some other key. You should see a warning along the bottom of your screen telling you which key to press. A hardware problem may be the cause of your inability to enter the BIOS and navigate it using a keyboard.
In the BIOS menu, you should be able to enter the problem key(s), which means the problem is within Windows. Don’t save your changes after you exit the BIOS and follow the instructions below. For troubleshooting, you may need to connect a USB keyboard.If the keyboard is not connected properly to the computer through the internal wire or the computer driver is not compatible, laptop keyboards usually stop working.
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Fix: Keyboard Not Working
In many cases, simply power looping your computer will resolve the problem. There might be dust or items between the physical key and the receptor that are preventing the signal from reaching the receptor if some keys are not working. You should clean this keyboard after removing the original casing in this case.
Method 1: Remove The Battery and Restart Your Laptop
Trying to power cycle your laptop will help us remove your keyboard’s drivers before we uninstall them. After a power cycle, all the hardware components are reloaded and connected from scratch, and all the computer parameters are reset. Once the battery has been removed, we will wait for a few minutes to ensure that everything has been completed.
Step 1: Your laptop should be shut down completely. You may need to forcefully shut it down if you are unable to do so. Press the power button for a few seconds to do so.
Step 2: Take out the battery after the computer has been shut down. When you hear a click sound, slide the battery off the laptop after sliding the buttons (if there are any).
Step 3: Make sure the computer has been completely drained of power by waiting a few minutes. Turn on your computer and reconnect the battery. Now attach the power cord and restart the machine. The issue should now be resolved.
Method- 2: Default Drivers Installation
Try installing the default keyboard drivers if power cycling the laptop does not work. If the computer cannot find the correct drivers for your device, it will initialize the drivers stored in the BIOS. If the problem is not a physical one, you can use this method to troubleshoot the driver.
Step 1: To launch this tool, press Windows + R, type “devmgmt.msc” in the dialogue box, and press Enter. The device manager can also be accessed by clicking on the Windows icon.
Step 2: Click the Uninstall device option in the right-click menu of the Keyboard once you access the device manager.
Step 3: Restart your computer after you have uninstalled the device. Once the system detects that the keyboard’s driver isn’t installed, the default driver is installed. To search for any hardware changes in the device manager, right-click on any empty space and select Search for hardware changes.
After you manually download the driver from your laptop manufacturer’s website, right-click the yellow exclamation mark on the keyboard and select Update driver.
Method- 3: Modifying The Ease of Access Settings
Most Windows versions have an Easy of Access setting to assist the user in using their computer. It might happen that these settings aren’t configured correctly/are working incorrectly, resulting in keyboard problems. To test if the problem is resolved, disable these settings.
Step 1: Simply type “Ease of Access” in the search bar displayed on your computer’s left side. Access the application that results in your search.
Step 2: Select “Make the keyboard easier to use” from the Ease of Access Center.
Step 3: Check the following boxes on the screen and uncheck them:
“Turn on Mouse keys”
“Turn on Sticky Keys”
“Turn on Toggle Keys”
“Turn on Filter Keys”
Step 4: Try using the keyboard again after restarting your computer completely. Make sure that the issue has been resolved or not.
Method- 4: Hardware Troubleshooting
Check your computer for hardware problems if none of the above methods work. There are very few instances where laptop keyboards malfunction and cause problems like the one we have just discussed. In the event that the software method does not solve the problem, it may have a hardware problem. The following things need to be considered during troubleshooting:
- Clean your keyboard and make sure that there are no contaminants inside.
- If there are breadcrumbs or edible items inside the keyboard, remove them.
- Verify that the connecting strip of the keyboard is properly plugged into the desired port.
Additionally, you should check to make sure there is no conflict between the keyboard driver and any antivirus program. If necessary, temporarily disable these programs to troubleshoot.
