Keyboard keys stop working

Question

Back in January of this year, I purchased an Alienware 17 R5 laptop. About a month and a half ago, the top row numbers and symbols would stop working at random times, and then start working again, just as randomly. I have been in touch with tech support, who are absolutely ZERO help. They suggested testing the keyboard with the hardware tester that is part of Support Assist, and when I do that, all the keys work. But as soon as I exit, they stop working again. Next, they suggested updating the BIOS, which I did, to no avail (Which I expected, since the keys work in the troubleshooter). Now, the problem exists MOST of the time, and my warranty runs out in 21 days, and I am just frustrated as hell. I know others have had this problem in the past, as I found many, many reports (but no solutions) during my search. Has anyone found an actual solution? I do not believe this issue is hardware related, because as soon as you pull up the keyboard test, all the keys magically work fine.

Alienware-Joe · Answer

Thank you for sharing that with us. Just for our own records. Could you please specify which keys are the ones affected?
Because, as you stated on the last message. It doesn't seem to be an issue with the hardware itself. I'm bending more towards this being a software related issue.

ScienceofSpock · Answer

Addendum: I just figured out that the keys work when the machine is locked. My Windows password uses numbers and symbols from the top row. If I lock the machine while the problem is happening, I can login to my account just fine using the top row keys. Once I am in Windows, however, the problem returns and the top row numbers and symbols stop working.

ScienceofSpock · Answer

I have tried replying to this post FOUR TIMES! It keeps getting flagged as spam and getting removed. I'm just trying to respond to a REQUEST for information and indicate which keys are broken. It doesn't seem to want to let me be any more specific than what I specified in the first post. It's the top row numbers and their symbols. Fix the spam .

ScienceofSpock · Answer

Your stupid spam system keeps flagging my posts as spam.

Alienware

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