# Solved: Laptop keyboard stopped working



## DKTaber

Have a friend with a Dell Inspiron 2650 laptop. Yesterday in the middle of typing an e-mail, the keyboard went totally dead; not a single key does anything in any program (e-mail, Word, Excel, etc). If you plug in an auxiliary keyboard using the keyboard port, that keyboard works AND if you turn the caps lock on on that keyboard, the light *on the laptop* indicates it's on.

We tried turning the computer off for at least 2 minutes and then back on, but that did nothing. What would cause the keyboard to suddenly become inoperable? Did she inadvertently hit some key or key combination that disables the keyboard?


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## Blackmirror

Hello have a look in device manager /control panel /system /hardware 

and see if there are any yellow or red symbols please


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## DKTaber

Blackmirror said:


> Hello have a look in device manager /control panel /system /hardware
> 
> and see if there are any yellow or red symbols please


Shortly after putting my message on the forum, I was reminded by a friend that while the "unplug for at least 1 minute" thing solves many problems with a PC, a laptop has a battery, so unplugging the power cord does nada to interrupt the power. So I revisited my friend, unplugged the power cord, removed the battery for 2-3 minutes, replaced it, plugged the power cord back in and booted the computer. Voila! The keyboard now works.

The problem with fixes like this is that you don't learn anything about why it happened. She was just typing an e-mail reply and the keyboard just stopped working. With PC's, that kind of behavior is usually due to a power spike. Maybe that's what it was in this case, but with a battery between the power supply and the motherboard, doesn't seem likely.

In any case, problem solved. Thanks for the prompt response.


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## Blackmirror

DKTaber said:


> Shortly after putting my message on the forum, I was reminded by a friend that while the "unplug for at least 1 minute" thing solves many problems with a PC, a laptop has a battery, so unplugging the power cord does nada to interrupt the power. So I revisited my friend, unplugged the power cord, removed the battery for 2-3 minutes, replaced it, plugged the power cord back in and booted the computer. Voila! The keyboard now works.
> 
> The problem with fixes like this is that you don't learn anything about why it happened. She was just typing an e-mail reply and the keyboard just stopped working. With PC's, that kind of behavior is usually due to a power spike. Maybe that's what it was in this case, but with a battery between the power supply and the motherboard, doesn't seem likely.
> 
> In any case, problem solved. Thanks for the prompt response.


My pleasure .


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## JohnWill

As an amusing corollary, I just had a similar thing happen to this machine. All of a sudden, the keyboard wasn't working. I rebooted, and the keyboard still didn't work! I finally turned the machine off, waited 10 seconds, and fired it up again. All better.


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