Laptop Keyboard Not Working? Here Is What To Do!

You’ve been tapping away on your keyboard hoping to see text on the screen, but all you’ve encountered are random letters. Or, the keyboard on your laptop is not working at all. Sounds frustrating, right? A computer is useless without a working keyboard. This is even more annoying with laptops, as you can’t simply swap or replace the keyboard like a computer.

Don’t worry!

If your laptop keyboard has stopped working, here are a few tricks to get your device back on track.

Reboot Your Laptop

Giving a system reboot a try is the most obvious advice you’ll hear when your laptop has a problem. There are no surprises here because a reboot brings your machine back to brand-new. Restarting your laptop will restore everything to normal, so go ahead and perform a reboot.

Reinstall The Keyboard Drive

Sometimes, the driver controlling your keyboard may experience issues, especially if you frequently install third-party software and/or turn your computer off without using the Shut Down command. A quick keyboard driver reinstallation should solve the problem.

For this, open the Start menu and enter “Device Manager.” Expand the keyboard area in the Device Manager window in the Control Panel. If you find a yellow exclamation mark next to any items in this section, it indicates a problem.

If you don’t see an exclamation mark, right-click your keyboard in this menu and select Uninstall Driver. Simply reboot your laptop, Windows should automatically download the generic drivers for your keyboard, which might make it function properly once more.

Check For The Keyboard’s Connection

Sometimes the keyboard’s electrical connection to the laptop’s motherboard breaks, leaving you with a keyboard that works occasionally or doesn’t work at all. Read the manufacturer’s instructions to get information on how to disassemble your laptop so that you can reconnect the ribbon cable.

It is recommended to take your device to a laptop repair professional who will diagnose the issue and provide you with a feasible solution to get the laptop back to working properly. One important reason to leave this work to professionals is you can rest assured that there is no risk to your device. Furthermore, they are skilled enough to deal with all types of laptop anomalies. Thus, if you need a laptop screen replacement or battery replacement along with a keyboard, you can avail all these services and get back to work quickly.

Clean The Laptop’s Keyboard

Cleaning a laptop keyboard is more difficult than cleaning a standard keyboard. While you can easily clean a USB and wireless keyboard, it is difficult to achieve in the case of a laptop.

You cannot shake and tap the back of a laptop; if you do, it may cause damage to the entire unit. However, in order to dislodge dust or debris from a laptop keyboard, first you need to shut the device down. Then, turn it upside down and gently tap on the base. Thereafter, run your fingers across all the keys while the device is still in an upside-down position.

Change The Keyboard’s Layout

Your language or keyboard layout may have been mistakenly altered if your keyboard’s keys function properly but write different letters than the keys’ indications. Below are the steps to change the keyboard’s layout-

Open the Start menu and type ‘Language’ to locate the Language settings panel for Windows.

Click Language Settings and move your cursor to your list of languages.

Check if QWERTY is listed under keyboards on the next page and remove all the keyboard layouts you don’t use.

Hopefully, one of these solutions successfully fixes your laptop keyboard.

Laptop Keyboard Not Working? Here Is What To Do