m15 R7, keyboard stopped working

Question

Alienware m15 R7 keyboard stopped working after waking laptop from sleep.

Keyboard doesn't work in Bios either, but will randomly start working for 5 sec and then disconnect.

When it does work all the keys function fine, which makes me think its unlikely to be hardware issue (unless its motherboard).

When its not working there is usually an error in one of the devices (in device manager) under HID or USB controllers.. uninstalling and scanning for new hardware sometimes temporarily resolves the problem, but only for a minute or 2.

I've Tried everything i could think of and available online with not luck. Including:

- Update Windows & all Dell Drivers & Apps including reinstalling latest bios.

- Uninstalling/Reinstalling drivers

- Stopping windows from putting keyboards to sleep

- Reverting to older bios

- Clean install of windows.

- Removal/Reinstall AWCC

- Physically disconnecting/Reconnecting cables

- some other stuff i cant recall right now

Possibly related things:

1. there was a new bios update released on the date i started having problems, but i hadn't yet installed this newer version of the bios - and updating / reverting to older ones didnt fix the problem.

2. i bought the laptop with 2 drives, and it kept crashing when playing games of 2ndry drive. some investigation online suggested it has issues running 2 drives together and so i uninstalled 2ndry drive and run games on main drive.. since then no crashes. not sure if this points to faulty motherboard?

Unfortunately im out of warranty and stumped. Anyone else having this issue with m15r7? if so when did you start having problems?

any ideas on solutions?

alienare69 · Answer

Alienare m15 R7 here, only 1 year old.  'W' key - right - the one used for moving forward in games - only works intermittently. I will be contacting support. It asn't working when I typed Alienare at the beginning of this post.  Dell- hope you have a solution for this, not happy

Farzad Farzaneh · Answer

EurekaFinally, I found a way to solve this problem. I've tried everything, but the problem is not related to any software or hardware issues.Stay in touch with me if you need to resolve the keyboard problems that occur intermittently.<Private data removed from public view. DELL-Admin>

cveoy · Answer

@Farzad Farzaneh How can I contact you? I've encountered the same problem, and customer service wants me to replace the motherboard.

Faz57 · Answer

@cveoy did you end up changing motherboard? My best guess is that is what the problem is. I was also having problem with 2ndry drive crashing, so i had to remove it and its been working fine with only 1 drive. I suspect that's also to do with faulty motherboard. Mine was out of warranty so i bought a Bluetooth keyboard and will live with it. Still keeps working randomly for a while and then disconnects despite several bios updates to newer versions.

Last time i will be buying dell/alienware, thats for sure. they've put their own motherboard in there which is clearly not very good. will go will a proper hardware manufacturer next time, asus/msi/gigabyte!

cveoy · Answer

@Faz57​  I took my computer to Dell's official after-sales service center for repair. They said the motherboard needed to be replaced, so I paid for the replacement. After the repair, I received my computer and discovered the motherboard hadn't been replaced. I contacted them, saying it was fraud, and they refunded my money.

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m15 R7, keyboard stopped working

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