Something is wrong
Laptop keyboard not working
A laptop keyboard that types nothing has one expensive cause and about six free ones, and the free ones are far more common. Two checks decide between them, and neither costs anything: what the board does in a browser, and what it does before the operating system loads. Everything else on this page hangs off those two answers.
The run, in order
Press every key once and watch which ones answer
The first split, and it decides which half of this page applies to you. A board where nothing at all responds is a connection, a driver or an accessibility setting — all of them free to fix. A board where most keys work and a few do not is a different fault entirely: contamination, a failed switch, or a matrix fault, and the dead keys will line up in a row or a column if it is the matrix. Note which pattern you have before going further.
Look for a key that is already held down
A single stuck key can make a whole keyboard appear dead, and it is the cause people never suspect. A key held down blocks the rest through the keyboard controller, and a held modifier is worse: with Ctrl stuck, every letter becomes a shortcut instead of a character, so the keyboard looks alive on the test page and types nothing anywhere else. The test marks keys that are down right now, so a cap stuck under a crumb shows itself immediately. Press each modifier once on both sides — a stuck right Shift is easy to miss when the left one works.
Turn off Filter Keys and Sticky Keys
Windows enables Filter Keys when Shift is held for eight seconds, which happens by accident more often than anyone believes, and once on it ignores brief keypresses — so the keyboard types nothing or drops most of what you type, with no fault anywhere. Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard: turn off both Filter Keys and Sticky Keys, and turn off the shortcuts that switch them on. On macOS the equivalent is Slow Keys, under Accessibility, Keyboard. This step costs thirty seconds and ends the problem outright often enough to sit this high.
Check whether letters are coming out as digits
Many laptops without a separate number pad hide one under the right-hand letters, and the latch that turns it on is shared with F11, Scroll Lock or Insert. With it on, U, I and O type 4, 5 and 6, and the keyboard looks broken while working perfectly. Press the key marked NumLk, or the padlock with a 1 on it, usually with Fn. The keyboard test shows exactly what the computer receives, so you can see the number pad codes arriving while the latch is on.
If a key repeats itself, measure it rather than guessing
One press, two letters. It reads as a typo you keep making, which is why people live with it for months, and it is the one keyboard fault that gets worse in a straight line rather than suddenly. Measuring matters here because the fix depends on the number: a switch bouncing a few milliseconds apart is contamination and often clears with compressed air, while a switch that has drifted well past that is worn and will not come back.
Plug in any USB keyboard
The second split, and the one people expect to be conclusive. If the USB keyboard types and the built-in one does not, the fault is specific to the internal keyboard — but that is not the same as proving the hardware is dead. Windows attaches the internal keyboard through its own controller and its own driver, separate from anything on USB, so a driver fault or an accessibility setting scoped to that device produces exactly this result. What this step really buys you is a working keyboard for the rest of the diagnosis. The next two steps are what tell settings from hardware.
Wired USB keyboards on AmazonPaid link: we earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Borrowing one costs nothing and answers the same question, so ask first — this is only for when there is none to borrow.
Shut down fully, then start again — not restart
On Windows, Shut down does not shut down. Fast Startup writes the kernel and the driver state to disk and reloads them, so a keyboard driver that failed comes back failed, however many times you power off. Restart does perform a full initialisation, which is why the machine often behaves differently after one. Either use Restart, or hold Shift while clicking Shut down. If the keyboard returns after this and only this, Fast Startup was holding a broken driver state, and turning it off in Power Options stops it recurring.
Remove the keyboard in Device Manager and reboot
Windows only: Device Manager, Keyboards, right-click the standard keyboard entry, Uninstall device, then reboot. The driver is rebuilt from scratch on the next start. Nothing is downloaded and nothing can be lost — the keyboard driver ships with the operating system — so this is safe in a way that most driver advice is not. Do it with the USB keyboard still attached, so the machine is usable if the reboot wants a keypress.
Press a key before Windows or macOS loads
The step that settles it, and the reason to keep it for last is that everything above is cheaper. Restart and hold the key that opens the firmware menu, the screen most people still call the BIOS — usually F2, F10, Delete or Esc on a PC laptop — and try the arrow keys inside it. The firmware talks to the keyboard directly, with no operating system, no driver and no accessibility settings in the way. Keys that work there and not in the system prove the hardware is fine and the fault is software, whatever the earlier steps suggested. Keys that are dead there too are hardware, and that answer is final.
Why the order matters
Nine steps, but only two of them decide anything. The rest are cheap checks placed in front of the expensive ones.
The first hinge is the test at the top. A board where nothing answers and a board where four keys are dead are different faults with different causes, and almost everything written about laptop keyboards ignores the distinction. Sort yourself into one of those two before reading further.
The second hinge is the last step, in the firmware menu. It is last because it costs a reboot and everything above it does not, but it is the only check on this page that is conclusive. The firmware talks to the keyboard with no driver and no settings in between, so what happens there is the hardware, full stop.
Between the two hinges sit the free causes, ordered by how often they turn out to be the answer rather than by how technical they sound. Filter Keys sits third because it costs thirty seconds and explains an unreasonable share of keyboards that type nothing at all.
Reading the outcome
An accessibility setting. Nothing types, or short presses are dropped, and Filter Keys or Slow Keys was on. This is the single most common cause of a laptop keyboard that appears completely dead with no history of damage. Turn off the shortcut that enables it, or it will come back.
A stuck key. The test marks a key as held that you are not pressing. Everything else follows from it — a stuck modifier makes every other key behave like a shortcut. Clean under that cap first.
The number pad latch. Letters type digits. Nothing is broken; the hidden pad is on. One key press with Fn, and it is over.
A driver. Keys work in the firmware menu but not in the system. Remove the keyboard in Device Manager, reboot, and shut down with Shift held so Fast Startup does not restore the broken state.
Hardware. No keys in the firmware menu either, or whole rows silent after a spill. On a laptop this is the ribbon cable or the membrane, and the price depends on whether your model has a keyboard that lifts out or one built into the upper case. Ask that question before agreeing to a repair.
The one that is not a fault at all
Filter Keys turning itself on because Shift was held for eight seconds. It is an accessibility feature working exactly as designed, it produces a keyboard that types nothing or drops half of what you type, and there is nothing to repair. It is the reason this page puts a settings screen ahead of a screwdriver, and it is worth checking before you believe any other diagnosis, including your own.
Common questions
Only a few keys do not work. Is that the same problem?
No, and the fix is different. A whole keyboard going silent points at the connection, the driver or an accessibility setting. A handful of dead keys points at what is under them: crumbs and dust first, a failed switch second. There is one exception worth knowing — if the dead keys line up in a row or a column on the board rather than scattering, that is the keyboard matrix, and the cause is usually a spill that bridged the traces underneath.
The external keyboard works. Does that mean I need a new keyboard?
Not on its own. Windows drives the built-in keyboard through a different controller and a different driver than anything on USB, so a driver problem or a setting scoped to that device gives the same symptom as a dead ribbon cable. The firmware check is what separates them: if the built-in keys work in the BIOS or UEFI screen before the system loads, the hardware is fine and you are looking for software.
It worked yesterday and stopped after an update.
Then start with the driver step and the full shutdown, in that order, and skip the hardware ones. A keyboard that has stopped on a specific day, with nothing spilled and nothing dropped, is almost never a switch. Removing the keyboard in Device Manager and rebooting rebuilds the driver from the copy that ships with the system, which is the fastest undo available.
I spilled something on it. What actually matters now?
Time, more than anything you can test. Power off, unplug, turn the laptop face down so liquid runs out rather than further in, and leave it long enough to dry completely — a day, not an hour. Water alone often causes no permanent damage; anything with sugar leaves a residue that keeps conducting after it dries, which is why coffee and soft drinks kill keyboards that water would not have. Once it is dry, this page from the first step tells you what survived.
Some keys stop working while I hold others down in a game.
That is rollover, and it is a property of how the keyboard is wired rather than a fault. Cheap keyboards, and most laptop keyboards, can only report a few simultaneous keys, and which combinations fail is fixed by the wiring. Nothing is broken and nothing can be repaired, but it is worth knowing where the limit is before blaming a game.
Is a laptop keyboard replacement worth it?
It depends almost entirely on the model, and the number to ask for is the labour, not the part. On many laptops the keyboard is part of the upper case, so the repair means replacing that whole assembly and dismantling most of the machine. On others it lifts out from the top and takes twenty minutes. Ask the shop which of the two your model is before agreeing to anything, and weigh it against an external keyboard, which is a complete fix for a machine that lives on a desk.
The keyboard backlight works, so the keyboard has power. Does that help?
Less than it looks. The backlight is a separate circuit on its own connector on many laptops, and it often runs from the same ribbon but a different set of contacts. A lit keyboard that types nothing is a normal picture for a partly seated or damaged ribbon, so treat the light as telling you the machine has power and nothing more.