Some keyboard keys do not work

I have a problem with the keyboard on my laptop.

The following keys do not work:

3,e,d,c
note: these keys are diagonally in a row,

I’m not sure if that means it is is problem with the keyboard itself , or the controller.

Any idea ?

I’ve managed to remove and refit the keyboard and he problem persists, so it isn’t just a loose connection.

I’ve seen this problem before. When keys seated diagonally in a row stop working, most likely it is the keyboard related problem.

41 Responses to “Some keyboard keys do not work”

  1. 1
    Sam Says:

    i just bought a laptop from ebay. its a dell 1525 inspirion. as soon as i went to put on the laptop the keyboard did not work. i was astonished becuase the laptop is brand new! what can i do????????

  2. 2
    Tom Says:

    I have an HP Pavillion dv6000 laptop and my “Y” key doesnt work. sometimes when i push the “T” key it will type a Y with it and act as if the “Y” key is stuck down and results in a “YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY…” any idea as to why this is happening and if so how do I fix it?

  3. 3
    Carol Says:

    PLEASE HELP!

    I am typing from my On-Screen Keyboard. I have a GATEWAY M-6307 LAPTOP. I have had it about a year.

    I have the following issues. I have a problem with the keyboard on my laptop.

    The following keys do not work:

    12347890; qweruiop; gh; backspace,arrow keys, MS LOGO, and quite a few symbol keys.

    HELP!

  4. 4
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Sam,

    i just bought a laptop from ebay. its a dell 1525 inspirion. as soon as i went to put on the laptop the keyboard did not work. i was astonished becuase the laptop is brand new! what can i do?

    I guess if the laptop is brand new, you can either return it to the seller or ship it for repair to Dell.

  5. 5
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Tom,

    I have an HP Pavillion dv6000 laptop and my “Y” key doesnt work. sometimes when i push the “T” key it will type a Y with it and act as if the “Y” key is stuck down…

    Sounds like a bad keyboard. I think you’ll have to replace the keyboard.

  6. 6
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Carol,

    The following keys do not work:
    12347890; qweruiop; gh; backspace,arrow keys, MS LOGO, and quite a few symbol keys.

    It’s hard to tell what’s wrong without testing the laptop with another keyboard.
    1. Could be bad keyboard (most likely) and you’ll have to replace it with a new one.
    2. Could be bad keyboard controller on the motherboard (less likely) and you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.

  7. 7
    Prince Says:

    I have a dead diagonal zone on my Toshiba Tecra too, except it the 4 r f v diagonal.

    I just installed a new keyboard and the problem persists to my dismay!!

    So if it isn’t the keyboard what can I do to fix it?

  8. 8
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Prince,
    Try cleaning pins inside the keyboard connector with a contact enhancer.
    If it doesn’t help, apparently there is a problem with the keyboard controller. You’ll have to replace the motherboard.

  9. 9
    Robert Sanders Says:

    I own a Dell Inspiron E1505 and it have 8 keys on it that is not working, the keys are A,S,D,F,J,K,L,;. Wield that those happen to be my home row keys. The other keys around it are working just fine.

  10. 10
    Angel Says:

    yeah im having similar problems… the keys that dont work on my laptop are ” q w e r u i o p ” and the right shift, and also the left and up arrows…

    its wierd because sometimes its working and sometimes its not… when its not, i use my desktop keyboard but it is starting to become a hassel…

  11. 11
    Candice Says:

    Last night I was using my HP pavillion tx1210 laptop (it’s about a year and a half old and runs like a gem), all the keys were working fine one minute, then all of a sudden the T and the Y wouldn’t work, i restarted and same problem. I’ve never had a keyboard problem before, and there doesn’t seem to be anything stuck under the keys. Please help!

  12. 12
    Sharon Says:

    I ran a test disk and it shows the motherboard keyboard controller is out. Does this require replacing the motherboard?

  13. 13
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Shanon,
    If the keyboard controller is bad, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.

  14. 14
    derek Says:

    hi there
    wondering if you could help me.i have a acer laptop and the key for @ is the number 2 button and not the @ button and i dont know how to get it back to the @ hope you understand it’s driving me mad
    thanks
    derek

  15. 15
    Mary Says:

    I have a laptop comupter running XP. Everything was fine originally, then without any reason the right half of the keyboard is swiched. For example the M key will type 0,J=1,u=4 etc. So in order to use the keyboard I have to push Fn and the letter.
    Unable to find an answer, I use a wireless keyboard and mouse. I would be helpful, since it is a laptop to be more mobile.
    Thank you all for your advice.
    Mary

  16. 16
    Nicole Says:

    I spilled tea on my laptop. I let it dry out, but weird dead-keys and improperly working keys continued. I then removed the keyboard, cleaned it, and let it dry. I reinstalled the keyboard but it is still not working. AND *strangely*, after I plug a USB keyboard into the laptop, the USB keyboard suddenly develops the same weird dead-keys and improperly working keys!

    Now my question is: Should I try replacing the keyboard first and then move on to the motherboard if a new keyboard doesn’t fix the problem? Or is this most likely a deeper problem (eg. Motherboard)?
    cheers,

    Nicole

  17. 17
    colin Says:

    if you hold down the fn key and turn off num lock

  18. 18
    ps Says:

    i all,
    my g h and backspace keys are not working.
    my laptop os about 3 yrs old and is an hp pavillion.(out of warranty)
    this is wat i have done so far
    1.cleaned the keyboard
    2.took out the problematic keys cleaned throughly. after i took them out I tested them by directly pressing the soft rubber cover . it didn’t work.placed them back it didn’t work
    3. connected with usb key board. it works fine. so my mother board is fine.

    now wat sould i do.

    tanx

  19. 19
    Laptop Freak Says:

    ps,

    my g h and backspace keys are not working.
    This is wat i have done so far
    1.cleaned the keyboard
    2.took out the problematic keys cleaned throughly. after i took them out I tested them by directly pressing the soft rubber cover . it didn’t work.placed them back it didn’t work
    3. connected with usb key board. it works fine. so my mother board is fine.

    There is not much else you can do. Apparently there is a short somewhere inside the laptop keyboard and it has to be replaced.
    Most likely replacing the keyboard will fix the problem. If not, there is something wrong with the keyboard controller on the motherboard.

  20. 20
    Candice Dawn Says:

    Aghh!! My 9 o l . keys do not work! just happened suddenly too it was working then they stoped! What the heck is wrong with laptops?!

  21. 21
    Dale Prine Says:

    I have a Dell D630 it came with vista and corporate took it off and put XP Professional on (which I like) but when function mode the numbers on the right below the numbers stright accross do not work in Function or external keyboards. Please help

  22. 22
    Laptop Freak Says:

    Dale Prine,

    I have a Dell D630 it came with vista and corporate took it off and put XP Professional on (which I like) but when function mode the numbers on the right below the numbers stright accross do not work in Function or external keyboards.

    Have your tried enabling the NumLock? Press and hold down the Fn key and at the same time press once on the NumLock.
    Maybe they didn’t install all needed device drivers. Try downloading and installing input device drivers, system utilities from here. Let me know what works for you.

  23. 23
    peter godfrey Says:

    SOme of my keys on my laptops keyboard just don’t work these are most of the number keys and a few letters, but the letter keys are random one day a key won’t work and other days it will work, I bought a new external keyboard and it works fine, i would like to know if there is anyother way to try to fix the broken keyboard or do i have to replace it.

  24. 24
    Alekos Says:

    In my acer laptop, keys “m” and “space” are sometimes not responding. I thought it was hardware failure of the keyborad but I realised that is not. I installed a key remapper and a changed m and space keys with left windows and application key keys, respectively. The funny thing is that the remapped keys were working only when the normal keys were working also!!!! when normal keys were not responding the same was with the remapped!!!!????? funny hah?

  25. 25
    ishan Says:

    hiii… my laptop’s ‘R’ key is not woking properly… i need to push it hard to write R.. my laptop is under warranty.. wat u think only key will b replaced or whole keyboard n will it be covered under warranty…?????????? thanx

  26. 26
    HC Says:

    Hey I have very strange problem with my old laptop. Whenever I type 0 key on my laptop’s keyboard it is ok, but when i type 0 with shift key it do not print anything, why man?
    same with other key
    5 – %
    = – +

    Help please…

  27. 27
    Will Says:

    Robert Sanders Says:
    December 24th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
    I own a Dell Inspiron E1505 and it have 8 keys on it that is not working, the keys are A,S,D,F,J,K,L,;. Wield that those happen to be my home row keys. The other keys around it are working just fine.

    Did you ever find out what the problem was for this? I have the Inspiron E1505 as well and it just developed the same exact problem, only the home row keys!! AGH!! Thanks in advance for your or anyone else’s help!!

  28. 28
    Valerie Says:

    Anyone with questions about the Dell Inspiron E1505 and keys not working, you just need to buy an new keyboard. It’s not that expensive, shipping cost more than the keyboard. Replacing the keyboard isn’t hard. Instructions are on the Dell website under Service Manuel.

  29. 29
    Cheri Says:

    I had this problem. I replaced the keyboard and had the same problem. I noticed 2nd time into the laptop that the clip holding the ribbon into the motherboard was broken on one side (the snap part was gone). I replaced that from a broken laptop I had laying around (they are all the same size clip) and it fixed the problem.

    A cheap and easy fix if that is your issue.

    A work around is to get a USB keyboard. They do sell full size silicone keyboards that roll up, if transporting a keyboard around is an issue.

  30. 30
    gemma Says:

    Hi i have an advent laptop with touch keyboard. I have left my ;laptop for two weeks with other people so i dont know if any thing has been spilled on it but when i came to switch it on the x,c,v,m,,?,@ and the end key are not working. Any advice please.

  31. 31
    Richard Says:

    Howdy…I’ve noticed, twice now, that the “e” and “l” key wouldn’t work. It was as though the key was bad–rather new keyboard, but computer has appeared to be “wonky”, not working well. “Cursor arrow” has oddly “locked-up” and refused to work at all. Replaced keyboard, but, now this “e” and “l” thing. Randomly, and after a few minutes of pressing keys, they seem to decide to work again. Odd, hunh? Got any ideas? Odd virus or “command”? Random, as in days at a time-apart “occurances.” Intermittant, etc. Thanks, e-mail an answer back, please? (comp guys say I’m just annoying them.)

  32. 32
    Jacqui Says:

    Hi my friend baby was hitting my keys on lap top they are now not working, cursor and pad fine but cant type anything.

    can anyone help

    thanks

  33. 33
    SheSharpShoots Says:

    I have also come across this problem in the past as well. After cleaning out the dirt that wasn’t there, I finally removed the keyboard driver from the device manager and had it replace the one on my computer and now it seems to be working. We shall see, as it was always an intermitin problem

  34. 34
    Sara Says:

    My CV and H keys don’t work unless I press tHe sHift key wile using tHem. HenCe wHy tHe H,C and V in my sentenCes are Capitalized. Any idea wHat’s wrong?

  35. 35
    toni Says:

    10 of my Acer Laptop keys are not working. I suspect I’m the culprit here. I was cleaning my laptop keys with a damp paper towel and I suspect it was more wet then damp.and somehow dripped down to the keys. All all the left side.Never had a problem like this before. I’m not even sure this is the problem. The keys worked fine this morning, now it its evening, and they are not functional.
    Thank You

  36. 36
    coco Says:

    Hi i have a Acer Loptop, and my some of the keys dont work, im only using keyboard on screen.
    My problem began when we bought a mouse, after inserting its usb the keys suddenly dont work.
    Please help

  37. 37
    sun Says:

    I have a problem with the keyboard on my laptop.
    The following keys do not work:
    3,e,d,c
    note: these keys are diagonally in a row,
    I’m not sure if that means it is is problem with the keyboard itself , or the controller.
    Any idea ?
    I’ve managed to remove and refit the keyboard and he problem persists, so it isn’t just a loose connection.

  38. 38
    Lekhnath Says:

    some keys of my laptop doesn’t work,

  39. 39
    Loudclaw Says:

    None⠀of⠀my⠀keys⠀work⠀and⠀I⠀

  40. 40
    Loudclaw Says:

    am·on.a·MacBook!!!!!.HELP·ME·OR·I·AM·SCREWED!!!!!!!!!!

  41. 41
    garnett may Says:

    I cant use my keyboard, says no hardware found although keyboard is plugged in. Can you help?

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