Keyboard and UEFI Issues - ASUS X401U

[RedErniy]

I have an ASUS X401-U Laptop with the following issues:

Every 10-20 reboots the machine does not post unless I remove all power sources including the CMOS Battery.

The Keyboard itself has lost the key mappings. For example the return key is F8, half the keys do not type and those which work, display the incorrect characters. External keyboards work fine.

100's of Boot entries in the boot list

What has been done:

Updated the UEFI Firmware (although it required the X501 Firmware) to the most recent one.

Tested with brand new replacement Keyboard - Same issue

Tested with replacement mainboard - Same Issue

Full clean reinstall of Windows 8 using the ASUS install on the HDD recovery partition.

Plugged HDD into a like model of laptop - works fine.

Any ideas?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'm lost. You're saying that a complete reinstall doesn't fix it, but a new mainboard or keyboard doesn't fix it either? That's basically the entire machine.

 

[RedErniy]

The only original part is the HDD. Unless something on the HDD can scramble the keyboard input! (which I personally have never heard of)

I suspect that it is the way the OS is talking to the UEFI. I do not fully understand the way Windows 8 controls and communicates with it or how the UEFI can control drivers (if it can).

The onboard keyboard does not let me into the UEFI either, yet the External one can. This is what makes me think this is an issue with the OS more than the hardware itself. I thought that if I do a clean install of Windows 8 any changes it has made to the UEFI would have been undone - or am I mistaken. Either way this is a really strange problem, and one I have never encountered before.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Try pulling the HDD and getting into the BIOS without it.