Hello, I'm posting about my recent experiences with the Alienware m15 R4, which I purchased 5 months ago in November. Has anyone else with a Windows 11 Alienware laptop had issues with the keyboard ceasing to function? Sorry for the long post, but I do have some questions at the end.

After installing a Windows update in late March, I shut my laptop down after installing the update. The next morning, when I went to log back into the computer, the internal keyboard did not work. I didn't realize it at the time, though I've since worked it out with a technician's help, when the computer boots up into windows, the keyboard stops working, and it will continue to not work when restarting. However, on a cold boot after turning the computer off, the keyboard responds fully outside of Windows. I can go into BIOS etc outside of Windows and use the keyboard perfectly fine. However, the moment it reaches Windows, the keyboard ceases to function. This apparently means that the problem is a driver/software issue, is my understanding.

The first tech who came out to my house to deal with the problem disassembled the entire laptop and replaced the keyboard, which did not fix the problem. He insisted that I mail the laptop in for service, and it was mailed to the Texas facility where the motherboard and palm rest were both replaced. I suspect that the first tech, who was very young and inexperienced, may have broken said palm rest and panicked, considering the number of times he went outside to call his fiancee. However, that doesn't matter so much since the part was replaced free of cost.

The laptop's Windows was fully reinstalled etc, and when it arrived at my home, it booted up and worked fine, including the keyboard. However, while testing the laptop, I discovered that the speakers were now broken. Again, I suspect the original tech who was sent to my home, but again it doesn't matter how it happened. A second tech was sent out to my house to deal with the speaker problem, and he discovered a broken prong in a connector. When he returned later to replace the board and fix the speaker problem, he learned it was a daughter board problem and not motherboard, so that part has been ordered and will be fixed later. However, after the motherboard was replaced, the original issue of the keyboard non-functioning returned exactly as it originally was. We have come full circle here.

Additionally, now my 1TB second drive doesn't work anymore. It shows up as "You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it.", and any attempt to format the drive gets stuck/hung up at 51% and refuses to proceed beyond that.

Everyone involved in the repairs has been phenomenal, and though I do suspect that the hardware damage/issues were caused by the first tech who came to my place, he was very nice and it was clearly unintentional if he is really at fault as I suspect. At this point, once the speaker's daughter board is fixed and the non-functioning hard drive is made to work again, the only problem to remain will be the keyboard issue.

The second tech has been incredible to work with, and if I ever need service again I will request him by name. Dell has offered to replace my computer with a refurbished computer, though that makes me uncomfortable as I avoid refurbished computers due to a poor experience in the past. I would love to make the laptop I currently have work again, but if the keyboard is going to die every time windows updates, that's discouraging.

Do drivers for this sort of thing get updated? Is this a compatibility issue that will eventually be resolved with updates? Since the core problem that sent me to tech support is clearly software/driver, if that gets updated my problem should cease and my computer function properly, right?

One way to work around it I've considered is requesting for Dell to give me a downgrade to Windows 10 (with the option retained to upgrade back to Windows 11 when the software issue with the keyboard is confirmed fixed), since windows 10 will be supported until 2025, that gives a few years for a software issue to be sorted out, doesn't it? I understand a downgrade would require a full wipe etc, and I'm perfectly fine with that - it's still wiped from the last time I tried reinstalling Windows 11 to fix the keyboard problem.

Has anyone else had a similar keyboard problem with their Windows 11 Alienware m15 R4? Have you managed to fix it? How did you fix it? Is this something that will be addressed/fixed in an update to the driver(s) in the future? I understand that the motherboard is from Alienware itself?