Unresponsive keys on Dell XPS 15 (Late 2013) Keyboard

[MarkJungle]

I've had this XPS 15 for a month and in the last two weeks it has developed an odd problem.

Some keys on the keyboard have become unresponsive. It's only certain keys and they tend to be the keys I use for entering foreign language characters: -,`,6,5 and left ctrl are all unresponsive a lot of the time. I have to hold them down or tap a few times before a character is revealed or before it registers that I've pressed the character. Often it feels like this problem is caused by the space bar but sometimes even when the space bar isn't involved I experience the problem.

I have searched all over for a solution and have tried plenty of methods to resolve the problem:

ctrl+fn+left shift
edited the sticky keys section

uninstalled keyboard

checked for viruses and malware (it does 'feel' like it could be a virus as it seems completely erratic when it happens and when it doesn't (often it's absolutely fine)).


start in safe mode and problem still persists.

tried removing international keyboard/replacing language

any advice would be greatly appreciated,

thank you

 

[norsestar]

You could try a USB keyboard with it: if the problem persists, then it's a keyboard driver problem; if not, it's the keyboard itself. My guess would be it's the keyboard.

Dell should fix it for you if you've still got warranty coverage but I'm guessing you don't. I haven't worked on that model, but on older models it's pretty easy to swap out the keyboard. I'd first pull the existing keyboard, clean it, and put it back to see if it's just debris or a loose connector. If that doesn't fix it (and I suspect it won't), my next step would be to get a new keyboard. A quick survey shows prices in the US$25-35 range.

 

[MarkJungle]

i've tried with my on screen touch keyboard and it doesn't experience the main problem. Is it still necessary to try with a usb keyboard or do they run on the same driver? thanks for your response

 

[norsestar]

I don't have that kind of detail about how the driver stack works. They'll share a driver somewhere down deep and have different device-specific drivers at the top level. The on-screen keyboard may be as good as a USB one: I was just assuming that you'd have a USB keyboard you could borrow for the test.

If we call the on-screen keyboard test close enough, the next steps would be to pull the machine's keyboard, clean, and reseat it. Assuming that doesn't fix it, the next step would be the new keyboard.