Hello. I have a Dell Vostro 2520 Laptop. One day the keyboad and touchpad suddenly stopped working. Then suddenly it starts working again. I reformatted the drive and reinstalled Windows 8.1 However, even in the BIOS it was not working correctly so I knew that this was NOT a software error. I still installed Win 8.1 and all the drivers. It didn't work. Now thinking that the hardware must be damaged, I used an external keyboard and mouse from my desktop PC (which had previously worked with this same laptop) but to my surprise even that was NOT working and giving the same problems! Like sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If I press certain keys, like Win key or click then it stops working, when I click all the function (F1, F2, etc) keys then sometimes it starts working again, but only for a few seconds. Thinking that this is NOT a software problem NOR a hardware problem, I updated the BIOS, but the problem still persists! Its NOT the OS, Driver, BIOS, Hardware problem since I changed ALL OF THAT! So what is this?! Thanks in advance for your help!
Hello. Thanks for all your replies. In order to check if the PCH Board was dying, I checked all the other components of the laptop like USB, Card Reader, WiFi, Ethernet and ALL of them seemed to work flawlessly! I haven't checked by removing the INTERNAL pin (connector) for the keyboard so will check it later. BTW, is there just one pin/connector for BOTH the keyboard AND the touchpad?! Also, very strangely the touchpad driver I installed shows using animation on it's taskbar icon whenever I touch the touchpad or click using the left and right touchpad buttons. Strangely, the animation is activated when I touch the touchpad OR it's buttons, (that the touch and clicks are being registered) BUT strangely the system doesn't register that click (no effect in Windows). The workaround I've found to make the keyboard and touchpad work again is by pressing the Ctrl+Alt+Del button and then press the back button (beside the lock screen option) seems to make it work again, TEMPORARILY. What should I do next?! Thanks again for all your replies, I sincerely appreciate it.
Sounds like a driver update could be needed or a rebuild of Windows as it seems the hardware is working but it's not being seen as an input device. Does it work in a live Linux box?
I'd agree with saspro, sounds very like a driver issue. When you reformatted the drive, did you do a full format to wipe everything, or a quick format? A quick format won't do much if you just reinstall straight away. With it being a Dell, does it have the OS on the HDD, or was Windows installed from other media?
It was working before and suddendly started having problems. Also, the correct drivers (downloaded from Dell's site) were installed. Also, even in BIOS and WHILE installing Windows, I was having this erratic problem or the keys NOT working or the keys 'pressing' themselves without me touching the keyboard. I did a full format. I even deleted the partitions and then recreated the partitions and installed from there. The Windows was installed from a USB drive (like I always do) and that copy of Windows is known to work and has worked on EVERY other device I installed it to.
Hello. Thanks for all your replies. There was NO hardware failure. It had been raining continuously for the last few days NON-STOP, hence the moisture had made it behave that way. The way to fix it (if you too have the same problem) is to open the laptop, clean the RAM sticks with a pencil eraser and dry the entire inside of the laptop using a hair dryer! The hot air blow will remove all the moisture out of it! Just make sure you first search YouTube for a way to open your laptop so that you don't break anything! Thanks again all for your help. I sincerely appreciate it!
