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laptop keyboard oddities

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didds
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laptop keyboard oddities

#336004

Postby didds » August 26th, 2020, 9:56 am

chum reports his laptop for a couple of weeks has had intermittent keyboard issues. When powered up, some keys will not respond though they certainly depress "as normal". rebooting the laptop sees either the same keys similarly still not responding, or maybe returning to use and some other keys not working.

Info i have is its about 4 years old, win 10. Chum thinks its a toshiba but can cofirm later when he retrieves it from his workplace where he left it


My intial suspicion is its just the age old IME laptop keyboard thing where they are just rubbish, and a USB keyboard will work fine. Certainly a USB KB test will be the first thing i'll do when he drops it round for a look see.

Otherwise I was considering seeing if a restore point an appropriate time back (if available) cured it in case it was sopme sort of poor windows update driver issue.

Other than that any expereinces/ideas? TBH I just put it down to the usual less than great hardware standards of laptops.

didds

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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336029

Postby Breelander » August 26th, 2020, 11:05 am

didds wrote:chum reports his laptop for a couple of weeks has had intermittent keyboard issues. ... My intial suspicion is its just the age old IME laptop keyboard thing where they are just rubbish, and a USB keyboard will work fine. ... I was considering seeing if a restore point an appropriate time back (if available) cured it in case it was some sort of poor windows update driver issue.

Other than that any expereinces/ideas? TBH I just put it down to the usual less than great hardware standards of laptops.


I've found all my laptop keyboards to be reliable, but this one could be the exception that proves the rule.

To determine whether it is a hardware or a software issue I would try testing if the keyboard works when booted from something other than the installed Windows.

One suitable test would be to boot to a Command Prompt using a Windows 10 install usb or a usb recovery drive (if you make one, you don't need to include system files). In the Command Prompt type Notepad and press enter, then you can test all the keys.

If they still play up then it's a hardware issue. You could try opening it up and re-seating the cable for the keyboard, but it's more likely to be a fault in the keyboard itself.

If they work fine then it's a software/driver issue. A restore point may help.

didds
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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336041

Postby didds » August 26th, 2020, 11:51 am

Breelander wrote:To determine whether it is a hardware or a software issue I would try testing if the keyboard works when booted from something other than the installed Windows.


yes - that struck me after i'd posted.

Ive got mint on a couple of usb sticks and an old knoppix on a Cd to try

didds

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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336049

Postby Breelander » August 26th, 2020, 12:08 pm

didds wrote:yes - that struck me after i'd posted.

Ive got mint on a couple of usb sticks and an old knoppix on a Cd to try



Good, a Live Linux usb would be a more convenient test if you know how to use it. Not everyone is familiar with Linux, so I suggested a Windows based method that anyone could use.

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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336067

Postby didds » August 26th, 2020, 12:56 pm

Breelander wrote:
didds wrote:yes - that struck me after i'd posted.

Ive got mint on a couple of usb sticks and an old knoppix on a Cd to try



Good, a Live Linux usb would be a more convenient test if you know how to use it. Not everyone is familiar with Linux, so I suggested a Windows based method that anyone could use.



Indeed BL. Ive done *nix sys admin for decades now - not mucbh windows stuff aside from "what i needed to know"

Breelander
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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336084

Postby Breelander » August 26th, 2020, 2:05 pm

didds wrote:Indeed BL. Ive done *nix sys admin for decades now - not mucbh windows stuff aside from "what i needed to know"

I'm the opposite, I was a sys admin for Windows server networks before I retired, but my *nix skills are "what i needed to know". :D

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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336099

Postby Infrasonic » August 26th, 2020, 2:50 pm

Only found out about these the other day but popular with sys admins and repair techs apparently...
http://iodd.kr/wordpress/
http://en.iodd.kr/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

UncleEbenezer
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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336107

Postby UncleEbenezer » August 26th, 2020, 3:14 pm

didds wrote:Indeed BL. Ive done *nix sys admin for decades now - not mucbh windows stuff aside from "what i needed to know"

hwo dose ti dlee wth yuor typnig?

(BTW, I might be confusing you with someone, but I have an idea I used to know you on some techie Usenet group(s), very likely something *nix-focussed)

didds
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Re: laptop keyboard oddities

#336277

Postby didds » August 27th, 2020, 10:02 am

UncleEbenezer wrote:
didds wrote:Indeed BL. Ive done *nix sys admin for decades now - not mucbh windows stuff aside from "what i needed to know"

hwo dose ti dlee wth yuor typnig?

(BTW, I might be confusing you with someone, but I have an idea I used to know you on some techie Usenet group(s), very likely something *nix-focussed)



very possibly UE :-)

didds


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