Question LG Gram - No Keyboard/Trackpad

[MRLGATO]

I work for a school. We have an LG Gram 16" convertible touchscreen laptop that a visually-impaired student uses. Recently in the last week, they report that the auto-rotate function when folding the laptop flat into a tablet stopped working. Then, the keyboard and trackpad also stopped working. I tried just about every driver update and tweak I could find to fix the keyboard/trackpad issue with no luck. I also tried a Reset to re-install Windows (11 22H1), which didn't work. Finally, I booted to a recovery flash drive, deleted all partitions, and re-installed Windows 10 from scratch, and STILL no joy. I will try upgrading it to 11 again to see if that helps, but I am doubtful. I have also tried disconnecting the battery and held the power button to reset it that way.

External USB keyboards/mice work fine, so I figured it had to be hardware related. BUT the kicker is that both keyboard and trackpad still function just fine in BIOS - just in Windows it registers zero input. My hunch is it has something to do with a sensor that talks to Windows and detects when the device is flipped from a laptop into a tablet, thus disabling the keyboard/trackpad and is "stuck" in that mode. With the back panel removed, I can see what I THINK is the sensor cable, which is connected but I fear that the issue may lie behind the touchscreen, which really wouldn't be easily accessible.

Has anyone else seen this before, or have suggestions to try? I am hesitant to send this in to LG support, because this issue actually happened once before and it took over three months to get the device back. The visually-impaired student relies on this device very much in their day-to-day learning and I would really like to avoid having it potentially be unavailable for that length of time again. Thank you.

 

[Lutfij]

If the issue isn't removed with a driver reinstall or even a clean install of the OS, then it's highly likely that the hardware on the laptop itself might be faulty. The ribbon cable would need replacing, perhaps but that's based off of an assumption. When you speak of reinstalling the OS, where did you source the installers for the OS from?

Did you manually install all relevant drivers for your afflicted laptop manually, in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator? Having the system tethered to the www can and will cause the OS to download and install drivers it thinks is right for your platform which isn't a good thing. You're advised to disconnect from the www prior to installing the OS. Once your OS install is complete, manually install all relevant drivers, then connect to the www to run an update for the OS.

 

[MRLGATO]

If the issue isn't removed with a driver reinstall or even a clean install of the OS, then it's highly likely that the hardware on the laptop itself might be faulty. The ribbon cable would need replacing, perhaps but that's based off of an assumption. When you speak of reinstalling the OS, where did you source the installers for the OS from?

Did you manually install all relevant drivers for your afflicted laptop manually, in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator? Having the system tethered to the www can and will cause the OS to download and install drivers it thinks is right for your platform which isn't a good thing. You're advised to disconnect from the www prior to installing the OS. Once your OS install is complete, manually install all relevant drivers, then connect to the www to run an update for the OS.

I first reinstalled the OS from the "Reset this PC" option in the existing Windows itself. When that didn't help, I then created a bootable flash drive via the Media Creation Tool to format the drive, delete all partitions, and install Windows again from scratch.

I did not manually install drivers, as LG only offers network drivers on the support page for this model of laptop and directs you to their "LG Update Center" app instead (which I've already run).

What I don't understand is if it's faulty hardware, why does it always work in BIOS? On occasion, they will also function for a couple seconds when Windows first boots and loads the login screen. The keyboard backlight also works, so it doesn't appear to be completely dead. I guess I am going to chalk it up to intermittent hardware failure at this point. Very frustrating.

 

[Lutfij]

On occasion, they will also function for a couple seconds when Windows first boots and loads the login screen.
Which would probably be the OS downloading drivers it thinks is right. I'm fairly certain the app you speak of will download the files onto your laptop, then run the installer, meaning the installer is physically on your drive.

Maybe see if you can manually remove the keyboard from Device Manager and see if that revives the keyboard's functionality.

 

[skimpot]

Did you ever resolve this issue? The same problem just started with my LG Gram this morning. Keyboard works in the bios but as soon as windows starts is goes off. When I push the monitor past 180 degrees the keyboard will turn back on, it's like is some sort of opposite mode and turning off tablet mode does not help.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

please ad all hardware involved with make make/model of all devices with specifics of their place in the chain of command

 

[MRLGATO]

Did you ever resolve this issue? The same problem just started with my LG Gram this morning. Keyboard works in the bios but as soon as windows starts is goes off. When I push the monitor past 180 degrees the keyboard will turn back on, it's like is some sort of opposite mode and turning off tablet mode does not help.

I did not, we ended up sending it back in, and LG had the nerve to send it back still broken. We returned it AGAIN and they've been sitting on it for almost a month. I think you're on to something about the opposite mode. It's got to be some sort of sensor malfunctioning and thinking the device is in tablet mode when it's in laptop mode and getting stuck there.

 

[skimpot]

Thanks for getting back to me and letting me know! Your situation sounds so heart breaking - hopefully the school has found a temporary replacement for that child. I will keep trying to get this fixed on my own, if I figure it out I will let you know.

 

[MRLGATO]

Thanks for getting back to me and letting me know! Your situation sounds so heart breaking - hopefully the school has found a temporary replacement for that child. I will keep trying to get this fixed on my own, if I figure it out I will let you know.

No problem, I really appreciate your concern! We are currently getting by using an iPad with accessibility settings, however it is less than ideal and still a bit of a struggle. We're really hoping LG will make it right and issue a new device outright, as issuing a refund would only put us even farther behind.

 

[skimpot]

Well, if you get it back again and it's still not working I found a workaround. I disconnected this cable (shown below), I think this is the sensor you were talking about that goes up behind the touchscreen & knows the screen is flipping/flipped. Once I did that the keyboard works fine. But, you lose the functionality of auto screen rotation, I believe. I have not tested fully as yet since I am restoring the disc image from backup.

 

[MRLGATO]

Well, if you get it back again and it's still not working I found a workaround. I disconnected this cable (shown below), I think this is the sensor you were talking about that goes up behind the touchscreen & knows the screen is flipping/flipped. Once I did that the keyboard works fine. But, you lose the functionality of auto screen rotation, I believe. I have not tested fully as yet since I am restoring the disc image from backup.

I'd love to find out if that helps, please let me know! Thank you!

 

[skimpot]

Everything is working great except for when you to try to flip to tablet mode - auto rotate does not work. So if that's an often used function then probably not the best solution, but I don't use that enough to care too much and you can probably find a way to manually rotate, if necessary. There does not appear to be any other ill effects. I will update if I find any.

 

[MRLGATO]

Interesting, the auto rotate was the first thing to stop working on this, followed by the keyboard/trackpad. We have one more Gram in the district, so if it happens again I might just workaround that instead of this rigmarole we've been through with LG. I really appreciate the info on this!