# Solved: laptop keyboard stopped working after update



## cvoptimus (Aug 21, 2002)

After installing automatic updates on my TOSHIBA laptop with Windows 8.1 the keyboard no longer works.
Upon examining the details the updates were installed a day or two before but the issue started only after a reboot.

The following devices are indicated as not working in device manager:


1) HID keyboard device
2) Standard PS/2 keyboard:

"Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)"

3) Elan input device:

"This device cannot start. (Code 10)"

There is nothing wrong with the keyboard itself. This computer has a dual boot with a Windows 7 partition. The keyboard works normally in Windows 7.


These are the things I have tried (using the on screen keyboard);

Uninstalling the Elan software update that seemed to trigger the issue.

Uninstalling the items in question from device manager and rebooting. 

Uninstalling the items from device manager and scanning for hardware changes.

Installing OS appropriate drivers from TOSHIBA website

Reinstalling the Elan software update.

Running devices troubleshooting software from Microsoft.


I have been unable to find any useful advice online. 

I would very much appreciate any advice or suggestions.


The specifications for the laptop are as follows:

toshiba c655d-s5300
64 bit
dual boot with Windows 8.1 Pro 

AMD E-300 APU 1.3ghz
8gb RAM


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## kanaitpro (Feb 13, 2013)

my first thought is to open an elevated command prompt and type sfc /scannow and then hit enter. that may take care of it, it is the system file checker and will usually repair any corrupted files it finds. the alternative would be inserting the windows install disk and choosing to repair, but that is for windows 7, not sure if it would work in 8 or 8.1. also, another choice is to refresh the pc, either with or without taking it back to factory. make sure to back everything up first, even things on the win 7 side just in case it goes really wrong and you have to reinstall everything. 

also, on windows 7 i know you can uninstall updates, you should be able to in 8.1, but again, i am not sure. i haven't worked with 8 or 8.1 much. a google search should show you how, and you may want to try this first, and then install them one at a time, providing it fixes it.


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## cvoptimus (Aug 21, 2002)

Thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate your taking the time to help me. I might try the system file checker but am not hopeful.

I really want to avoid spending days and days rebuilding the whole intallation just because Windows Update messed up the keyboard. ( the upgrade from windows 8 to 8.1 takes almost 2-3 hours on its own ).

There must be some way to edit the registry in order to reset the drivers. Does anyone know if I delete the associated registry keys, whether they might successfully be rebuilt by reinstalling the drivers?

With almost a hundred views an only a single response, this is apparently a very obscure, difficult problem. I so appreciate your reaching out.


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## kanaitpro (Feb 13, 2013)

i have never heard of anything like it, but i don't work with windows 8 much. i was taking a shot in the dark and applying general troubleshooting, seems to me would be the best advice for you. roll back all of the updates, and reinstall them one at a time. i noticed that you did not restore to before the updates, was there a reason for that? that is an easy way to uninstall the updates. while i certainly appreciate not wanting to spend the time on rebuilding everything, sometimes you have to ask where the limit is, how much time is wasted trying other things and how much it would have taken to just scrap it and try again. sometimes you have to just do it.


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## cvoptimus (Aug 21, 2002)

Once again, thank you for thoughts and support. It is very much appreciated.

Actually my issue is not so unique. A google search of this issue yields quite a few posts over the last few years describing my situation down to the smallest detail. This sad fact was corroborated by the lone response I received to my post on the Microsoft Community forum. I have to agree with her that it's disgraceful that an update can render a computer unusable and Microsoft offers no fix years later.

I forgot to mention that I did try using System Restore but it failed. 

Rebuilding the partition from scratch may ultimately be my only choice but that's less a solution than a last resort.
That could theoretically be the "solution" to every non hardware related problem on this forum, but it's neither time efficient nor does it preclude the very real possibility that when I finally get around to reinstalling the hundreds of updates it might happen again.

If I can hang on until the end of July I could also just let the system update itself to Windows 10. (lol)

All for a registry issue. There must be some expert out there who knows how some tinkering with the registry might allow me to properly reinstall the tiny driver files that are causing the whole issue. Sadly for me, he or she doesn't appear to read these fora. Microsoft should be ashamed.


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

Hi Christopher, perhaps I missed something in your Post - so apologies in advance if I did - but I am confused by your very first sentence. You wrote "..... _After installing automatic updates on my TOSHIBA laptop with Windows 8.1 the keyboard no longer works_....."

How do you "*install*" automatic updates..?

T.


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## kanaitpro (Feb 13, 2013)

i took it to mean that he had restarted after the automatic update asked him too. he can chime in if i am incorrect.


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## cvoptimus (Aug 21, 2002)

Thank you Kanaitpro, for pointing out the obvious. 

You can set Windows to automatically install important and recommended updates which was the case here. Windows installs automatic updates as a background task.When I noticed a few were pending I rebooted to complete the installation. The keyboard has not worked since.

Since you seem interested in parsing my words so literally, it is indeed possible " to install automatic updates" by running an update check and choosing which of the updates found to install. You can also choose whether or not to install optional updates.

How is this relevant to my issue?


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## ofir2006 (Jun 4, 2015)

That's interesting, does an external keyboard work?

first of all I'd go in here: http://support.toshiba.com/support/modelHome?freeText=3133792
and update all of the drivers (even though they're probably windows 7 compatible, but I believe they will work).

and if you're saying that the problem started after the last updates, I'd go into windows update and check what are the last updates that has been made, and even uninstall them if necessary.


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

cvoptimus said:


> Thank you Kanaitpro, for pointing out the obvious.
> 
> You can set Windows to automatically install important and recommended updates which was the case here. Windows installs automatic updates as a background task.When I noticed a few were pending I rebooted to complete the installation. The keyboard has not worked since.
> 
> ...


Gee.... we are a little grumpy today...  .... I was just trying to make sure that I was correctly understanding the sequence of events prior to the problem. There is no harm in asking for clarity if one is uncertain. There is however no need to be sarcastic when someone is trying to understand your problem before offering their assistance.

T.


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## cvoptimus (Aug 21, 2002)

Thank you ofir2006. I really do appreciate every reply.

Since the external mouse works, I think we can infer that an external keyboard would work as well. As with other examples of this very issue that can easily be found on the web, the problem is confined to the internal keyboard and touchpad. 

I did go to the TOSHIBA website and tried to install the recommended drivers. It was not necessary to see whether any Windows 7 drivers might be compatible as TOSHIBA has posted Windows 8 drivers for this exact model. I didn't bother to update the other drivers because I had already done so over the course of several months prior to the incident; In other words, the other available drivers from the TOSHIBA website are already installed.

I did try uninstalling the other updates that were pending before the keyboard was disabled, but that didn't help.

After consulting with a friend I think I will try deleting the relevant registry keys and then try reinstalling the drivers.

At this point it can't hurt.


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## cvoptimus (Aug 21, 2002)

I am pleased to report that my keyboard is now working! As I suspected, I was able to fix the problem with a registry edit.

I found a clue as to where to start by taking some advice from a YouTube video which recommended changing the following key for a disabled keyboard:

HKEY LOCAL MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>Class...

... from there you need to find the entry associated with the keyboard. The hardware will appear in roughly alphabetical order.The video recommended changing the vale of the UpperFilters for the (Class) Keyboard to kdbclass and then rebooting.

That didn't work. 

So I just decided to delete the whole entry for UpperFilters and after the reboot, the keyboard came to life.

As Windows 8.1 reloaded it apparently rewrote the UpperFilters for the Keyboard Class registry.

So to all those who have suffered from this crazy problem and waited in vain for Microsoft to offer some useful advice, this seems to work. No need to rebuild your OS from scratch.

My heartfelt thanks to all who took an interest and responded to my post.


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