Dell laptop some keys not working

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Hello,
My dell Inspiron 1525 4,5,t,r,f,g,v And d keys are not working. can anyone shed any light on this problem
 
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If a group of keys fails it usually means that the keyboard matrix is broken. It can be the printed circuit cable between the keyboard and motherboard.

Either way you are usually looking at keyboard replacement -- shouldn't fail in normal use so talk to the vendor (presumably Dell) about a repair (at their cost) even if a little out of warranty.

If you don't mind a little DIY I would negotiate that they just send you a new keyboard and explain how to do it yourself.
 

k2learn

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Feb 5, 2011
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after what I've read, it sounds like more than just a bad keyboard. I had my hard drive replaced and when I got it back, my Standard 101/102 Keyboard "enter" key did not work. I have searched for updates the driver. I have reinstalled it. I'm not sure if it actually is a bad keyboard or maybe a hardware or software issue. Please advise if anyone has any new information. thank you in advance.
 

lysinger

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Nov 26, 2010
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Plug in an external USB keyboard and see if those keys work on it. If those problem key work on it, then you know for sure.

Yours is probably the keyboard and they are easy, just use a thin flat blade screwdriver on the plastic above the keyboard and finesse it. Do not gorilla pry or you will bend it up and break the plastic retainers. Dell has good service manuals on their site.

As crazy as it sounds (after plugging in an external keyboard and having the *same* key problem, which you should not have), try updating the bios and see if it throws any errors.

I had a dell 1501 laptop that was running super slow and had choppy audio. After trying to remove viruses on it for 8 hours (the HD tested good), a row of keys on the numlock keypad area stopped working. I plugged in an external keyboard and the same problem was there. As a last resort I upgraded the bios before calling it a dying motherboard and it threw an error on backing up the existing bios. Then it wrote the new one, rebooted, reinstalled ALL the drivers, and ran like a charm and all the keys fixed themselves. Corrupt Bios, extremely rare outside of the overclocking community.
 
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I had a similar problem on my Dell Inspiron 1520 for a couple of days.....6 or 7 of my keys just stopped working at the same time for no special reason ........but for God's grace it got solved.

At the moment I am staying in a fairly remote place ; so didnt had option to contact dell customer care to replace my keyboard or a buy a USB keyboard to try the above mentioned things.

Since no help was available so I also opened the laptop from inside and tried to trouble shoot if anything can be done; but it didnt helped either.

I tried all the diagnostic tools ....all in safe mode also ....downloaded new software for Dell care also ; in case it gives some help. That was also not much of a help.

Did all virus scan ........ didnt help either . After that i installed stronger fire wall also on my laptop so as to avoid any virus issues in future.....not sure if it helped in any manner.

I tried to press the non working keys hard to see if electric contact could start working again .....it didnt helped either.

But all the time i was just praying to god....somehow the issue resolves on it own...... and finally somehow the keys started working again.

It was painful to use the online keys for 1 week without few of my alphabets in my keyboard not working.

Well since 6 or 7 keys stopped working at the same time ; so it was little fishy to me. If it would have been a hardware problem the keys would have gone down 1 by 1. But 7 keys going down at the same time doesnt seems any hardware issue to me.

But whatever the cause was.....but issue got resolved on it own..... I have seem similar funny things happening on my dell laptop...!!

I didnt used to shutdown my laptop for weeks before....but since this problem i have been shutting down my laptop everynight before sleep....... may be overworking or parts or thermal stress have effects on machine parts.

So don't loose hope ....keep working with the laptop for a week atleast . ....may be thing work for u as well.


 

dougdougdoug

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May 13, 2012
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Hi all - just had the same problems - with a Dell Studio 1555. It begun with the keys 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 0 stopping working, and I saw plenty of cases of the same thing happening to others. I thought it might be a software problem, and tried the diagnostics - but in the end, it simply was the obvious - a malfunctioning keyboard - being dell, there are plenty of replacement keyboards available on online auction sites - I got one for under £9 delivered in a couple of days, and it worked perfectly. I'm no computer whizz, but it was straightforward to swap in the new keyboard using a +tive screwdriver and an online guide

All the best

Doug
 
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