# Intermittent Laptop Keyboard Problem (oddly specific keys not working)



## EliSalazar (Feb 10, 2012)

I have an Acer Aspire 5830TG-6659 running 64bitWindows 7, and my keyboard is being very finnicky.

Essentially what happens is that the the 'b','spacebar','apostrophe','z','v' keys all will not work at the sametime if any one of the keys does not work. Rebooting/Hibernet/Sleep doesn't fix it, it is random when it works and random when it doesn't. When any one of the keys *does* work, they *all* work.

I popped off the keys in question and could not find any dirt, hair, dust or crumbs under any of the keys except space bar which I cleaned best I could but the problem persists.

I tried booting into Ubuntu but it was extremely slow and may be a separate problem, windows boots just fine; will try again at home with a different disk/usb ubuntu boot.

Heeeeeeeelp I don't want to have to buy a dedicated keyboard


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi and welcome to TSF try reinstalling the driver from the laptop makers support site for your model


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## EliSalazar (Feb 10, 2012)

Which driver controls the keyboard? Idon't see anything marked "keyboard" on the acer site.

Acer Support: Downloads & Support Documents

Is.the.acer.drier.site.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Try the touchpad it usually has any keyboard included just check in device manager for which is yours synaptic or elantech


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## EliSalazar (Feb 10, 2012)

Just.did.it.no.fix.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

You will need to try a external keyboard to see if it does it with that


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## EliSalazar (Feb 10, 2012)

external.works.fine.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Other than something obstructing the keys which you have checked I think you may need a replacement keyboard


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## oscer1 (Jan 27, 2010)

did you ever get the ubuntu to work to test if it happens in their? is the laptop under warranty.


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## EliSalazar (Feb 10, 2012)

Keys so not work in either Ubuntu or safe mode.

For a while there it randomly decided to start working again and everything was fine for a week or so but now the exact same problem, with the exact same keys has reappeared and I still don't have the funds to back up the hard drive onto an equivilently sized hard drive.

As far as I can tell the problem is mechanical in nature, but I find it impossible to figure out what causes it to work, or not work.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

You can pick up a usb for under $10 to tide you over Filemate Keyboard and Mouse, B2010 - Walmart.com


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## EliSalazar (Feb 10, 2012)

That does not at all look portable for a lot of moving around, do you know of a numpadless keyboard that is fairly compact?

And keyboard fixed again for a while, I pressed on the keyboard a bit randomly hitting a bunch of keys at a time and that seems to have fixed it again. Definitely mechanical.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi these are from the UK site you would need to check the USA site if you live there Amazon.co.uk: keyboard mini usb


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