Studio 15 Keyboard and Touchpad Suddenly Not Working

Question

I powered on my two-year-old Studio 1555 laptop today and found I was unable to login as the keyboard and touchpad are unresponsive.

There are several strange additional elements:

1) The keyboard is not COMPLETELY unresponsive. Several of the function buttons at the top work, including the ability to increase or decrease screen brightness, and the ability to turn on or off the backlighting on the keys. However, I cannot input any characters (and therefore cannot input my password).

2) I can still use an external USB mouse. However, I CANNOT use an external keyboard (either one that directly plugs in or a wireless keyboard).

3) I am not able to select the 'use on-screen keyboard' from the menu that is available from the log-in screen.

NB. The net result of the above three things is that, as things stand, I am unable to log-in and access my files as I cannot get past the log-in screen. Unfortunately, I never did have a 'Guest' user option.

There are a couple of additional items in terms of additional context: i) I have a CD jammed in my drive. This happened about six weeks ago and the computer has worked fine, though I had to disable the CD drive to deal with this ii) Perhaps partly because of this, I am not able to access the start-up screen or boot-up options menu at start-up (using the F2 and F12 keys) iii) I last used the computer approximately 36 hours ago. Everything was normal at that stage and nothing unusual occurred. This problem came about very suddenly and for no apparent reason.

I have already seen the 'Studio 15 keyboard not working properly' thread, which suggests unplugging the computer, removing the battery, pressing the power button for 30 seconds, before trying again. I have done this and the problem presists.

Please help! I did not backup at all over the last fortnight and, typically, it was a very productive period, so I'm not particularly comfortable with the idea of formatting the system. I would lose a lot of work. Does anyone have any ideas or possible explanations?

grambers · Accepted Answer

FIXED! In my last post, I mentioned starting up the Safe Mode menu (pressing F8) and selecting the top option (from memory, 'System Repair Tools'). This took me to a blue, Windows-like log-in screen where I could log-in with my name and password. From here, there was an option to 'Restore Windows To Earlier Settings'. My system had backed itself up three days ago. I selected this option and after five minutes of whirring, or so, it announced the process had been successful. I rebooted my system and, lo, the keyboard and mouse worked again. I'm now back in, hurriedly backing up my files before it happens again!

Very strange one. I guess the end result was that you are right, something happened to the Windows OS controlled drivers between Saturday and Monday morning. I can't explain it, but, frankly, feel jubilant that I've managed to arrive at a solution without having to wipe my computer and lose all my files.

Thanks for your help!

DELL-Royan S · Answer

Hi,

Welcome to the Community. I suggest you try reseating the Keyboard Cable and the Touchpad connector. Use the below link for help.

support.dell.com/.../keyboard.htm

support.dell.com/.../palmrest.htm

Thank you.

grambers · Answer

Thanks. I've spent the last couple of hours playing around and I think I have firmly established there is nothing inherently wrong with the keyboard or mouse.

The reason I say this is that I have been able to access the BIOS and safe mode menu using the function keys. I couldn't see any way of fixing the issue with BIOS (just to make clear, I'm not a computer expert by any means, but I have a basic knowledge of the menus etc.etc.). However, when I went to the Safe Mode menu and selected 'System Repair' (the top most option), I am taken to a blue Windows style screen where I am able to use the mouse and keyboard. From here, I select what kind of keyboard I was to use (eg. US keyboard) and then have been able to log-in under my own name and password. I am currently trying to figure out how I can try and fix the issue from the various options I now have, but no luck so far.

In short, I have established beyond any doubt that there is no fundamental hardware issue with either the keyboard or the mouse. However, the Windows 7 log-in screen, for no reason that I can understand, is preventing me using the keyboard or mouse (though, interestingly, is allowing me to plug in an external mouse, but NOT a keyboard, which is, frankly, bizarre).

Thanks for your help. If you have any suggestions on the basis of the information above, please do let me know!

DELL-Royan S · Answer

Hi,

It looks like an issue with the drivers. Try the below link to see if that helps.

answers.microsoft.com/.../4d759699-f514-4c1d-9adf-a5724a3ad1e6

If this does not work, then you may have to restore back to factory settings. You will lose all data if you restore your computer.

Thank you.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Studio 15 Keyboard and Touchpad Suddenly Not Working

Was this post helpful?