Dell Venue 11 Pro Travel Keyboard - touchpad isn't responding

Terry,

Unfortunately I may have a system for your examination.

Travel Keyboard K12A001. Has gone unresponsive (neither keys nor trackpad) after charging on its own. (Tablet was on Docking Station K10A001.) I have subsequently charged (partially) and discharged and recharged the keyboard with/through the tablet (Venue 11pro i5) with no change in inoperability. I have not tried more 'esoteric' solutions, e.g., firmware forced updates, etc. Though all drivers, etc., are up to date as far as can be determined.

The unit is in the Cayman Islands, but there is direct mail (USPS) or courier (FedEx, UPS) between here and USA so sending units back and forth should not be problematic.

I wish someone didn't classify this thread as "answered" since there's obviously so much up in the air, and from my experience charging the keyboard directly is not the source of the problem. 

I just lost the touchpad capabilities on my mobile/battery keyboard yesterday after a series of problems with charging. I did the firmware fix according to chazthespaz's guidelines and this made no difference. In fact, after I did that this morning the track pad on my slim keyboard - which was working fine yesterday - now also doesn't work. This suggests to me the problem has more to do with the tablet.

When I first got my system I initially didn't realize the keyboard and tablet could charge together so I was charging the mobile keyboard separately for about a week without any problems. For a few months after the two would charge fine together overnight. However, within the past couple weeks charging the system together or the tablet on its own has been hit or miss. It sometimes will actually lose charge while plugged in - even if shut down or in sleep mode. And if I'm using the tablet when plugged in it's certain that I will drain more charge than is going in. I've never known of any kind of rechargable media that can't be used when plugged in to charge. Is this normal for the DVP? I'm using the original adapter and charging light is on. Over the course of this charging debacle I've been occasionally back to charging the mobile keyboard separately, but only yesterday did the track pad stop working. 

I don't know if this helps shed some light on what the source of the trackpad problem is but I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else has had similarly corresponding charging problems with the unit as a whole and if there are any solutions that might get to the heart of both. Thanks. 

Hi

I had the same issue with my keyboard which would allow me to put in my password but become unresponsive when Windows loads.

I discover that the problem was that Sticky Keys was turned on, look out for the icon in the tray area or turn it off in Control Panel\Ease of Access Center\Make the keyboard easier to use.

Was delighted to find this as it was driving me mad.

Regards

John

Regards

Apologies think it was Filter Keys that was turned on

We still see issues with the Dell docking keyboard.  Some Venue 11 Pro (i5) tablets don't properly charge the keyboard when on AC power.  The tablet will show 100% but the docking keyboard will drain and show (in this case) 9%.

Also Dell has repeatedly shipped us refurbished tablets to swap out bad units however the refurbished units lack PXE boot capability.  How in the world did PXE get left out of the refurbished tablet BIOS? 

This is why our company (global HQ) is evaluating other corporate-class tablets in spite of being an all Dell shop. 

Karoyal thanks for posting this. Confirmed here, I tried charging the keyboard directly and trackpad stopped working on my  Dell Venue 11 Pro.

I tried draining the battery, but symptom persisted. 

I removed battery from keyboard and connected to tablet, trackpad worked. I undocked the keyboard and then docked, causing trackpad to stop working.  

Finally for me, here is what I had to do to make trackpad work without issue (the following was performed with a fully charged main battery and keyboard battery, your milage may vary)

1. Undock keyboard from tablet
2. remove battery connector from circuit board on the keyboard
3. dock tablet to keyboard (trackpad works)
4. connect battery on keyboard while still docked (I even kept my finger moving on the trackpad, but I'm not sure if this influenced the result.
5. joy

I won't be using the charge function on the keyboard.  This is an unfortunate defect :(

I may have spoke too soon.  I had to repeat the above process again within 10 minutes of use... I'll update in a couple days.

So are you saying to charge the tablet while the keyboard is attached? My tablet is a school tablet and i dont want to pay them.

Yes. But in reverse. Only charge the keyboard via the tablet. Only charge the keyboard when it is attached to the tablet. - I have not had a problem charging the tablet separately and then reattaching to the keyboard. YMMV -  Do NOT charge the keyboard directly. I don't know why but that appears to sometimes cause a problem resulting in the keyboard not working.  

So are you saying to charge the tablet while the keyboard is attached? My tablet is a school tablet and i dont want to pay them.

I also have  not working touch pad on my DV11Pro mobile kboard after directly charinng kbrd by Dell power supply adapter (other keys work good).
It is necessary to open the case of the keyboard and disconnect the battery connector for the restoration of the touch pad... GOD !
Is there a COMBINATION of kbrd KEYS to make a reset the keyboard to factory settings without opening the case keyboard?
I think the gentlemen from Dell service center, who occasionally look here, could tell everyone THIS WAY of RESET for mobile keyboard !?

Sorry, meant travel keyboard with battery.

Hi

Unfortunately you have two choices, either get used to using an external mouse until the battery in the keyboard runs out, or take the case apart and disconnect the battery!

Can't believe Dell are still selling this product with this problem, and not even putting an advisory notice in the box or something....

Thank You for answer, karoyal ! 
After 15 hours of discharging, when the total (2 battery) level was below 20% of the touchpad working 100% again.
Question: how many such travel keyboards is still sold in the "like a new" condition with this defect and price at 50%  off ???

This works for me. Thanks.

Unfortunately I found another way to 'break' the travel keyboard: run both the keyboard and Venue (attached) down to 0% (when the computer shuts down for lack of power). Then the keyboard wouldn't work again. It took a couple of charge/discharge cycles over the course of months. (The problem happened at about Thanksgiving so I didn't mess with it much over the holidays; why ruin the mood?) Now, happily, its working again. (Though not multi-touch / gesture on the touchpad but as its working as a basic touchpad I'll take what I can get and keep hoping for the best.)

Of course now Win8.1 has had mail/etc. apps stop working after a software update that shouldn't have affected them so I need to refresh/reinstall. Again. Shudder.

Keep Hoping For The Best