Laptop keyboard question.

[just Warren]

So it seems the 'L' and 'N' keys are failing on my keyboard. Not catastrophically as yet but to make sure they key I have to be sure to hit them dead on with a bit more force than the other keys.

I'm not a gamer and so all I do is use the thing to type words like these you are reading right now.

Why would it be those two keys and not the 'E' key as it is the most commonly used letter?

And can this be fixed?

[Ben]

So it seems the 'L' and 'N' keys are failing on my keyboard. Not catastrophically as yet but to make sure they key I have to be sure to hit them dead on with a bit more force than the other keys.

I'm not a gamer and so all I do is use the thing to type words like these you are reading right now.

Why would it be those two keys and not the 'E' key as it is the most commonly used letter?

And can this be fixed?

Have you tried blowing the keyboard out with canned air already? Otherwise, generally, laptop keyboards these days are not terribly difficult to replace, nor terribly expensive if you have a common model.

[lee n. field]

So it seems the 'L' and 'N' keys are failing on my keyboard. Not catastrophically as yet but to make sure they key I have to be sure to hit them dead on with a bit more force than the other keys.

I'm not a gamer and so all I do is use the thing to type words like these you are reading right now.

Why would it be those two keys and not the 'E' key as it is the most commonly used letter?

And can this be fixed?

Get a replacement off ebay.  $20 or less.  As Ben says, usually not too difficult to replace.

[just Warren]

Cool, thanks guys.

[230RN]

Start with a vacuum brush, and then compressed air to avoid blowing loose crap in deeper.

I use my laptop as a desktop with USB "fanouts" going to external keyboard and mouse*.  The machine's own keyboard is almost always covered with a light cloth to keep most of the grunge out.

I go through those external keyboards about once every year or so, but usually because the cables fail at the strain reliefs from the constant moving.  Easy to repair, but easier to get a new keyboard and plug it in.

I am told, but I do not understand it, that the keyboard I/O coding software "groups" the letters in 3 by 3 groups, and they used to sometimes quit in that kind of pattern, tyu, ghj, bnm, for example.  I haven't had one quit in that kind of pattern for decades, though.

Terry

*This, because my laptop sits on the coffee table and I operate it from about four feet away while I recline on the couch.

[Devonai]

Other than the already offered suggestions, perhaps a wireless USB keyboard to sit atop the old one?

Back in 2012, during a particularly rollicking session of Tetris on my PS3, I spilled a glass of sake on my laptop's keyboard.  After the computer gasped in protest at the bottom shelf pairing, I cracked it open like a silicon mussel and did my best with Q-Tips and isopropyl alcohol to clean it.  While the laptop survived (indeed, I'm using it now), the keyboard was a goner.  So I bought a Logitech wireless USB keyboard and it has been sitting atop ever since.

[zxcvbob]

The keyboard on my reasonably-new Acer A515-51 laptop has started acting up.  Several keys intermittently stop working; usually it's the 'T' but sometimes others.  If I hold the key down long enough it will work again, then usually it works just fine for a while.  Sometimes a long while.  It might be my imagination, but when the key starts working again I think I hear disk drive activity.  I haven't spilled anything in it, and it doesn't really seem like bad switches.  Maybe a bad cable?  or a bad decoder circuit?  Really it seems more like a bad driver.

I've searched the Interweb and lots of people report the same problem.  I'm using the Acer right now and the keyboard is working fine.  When it gets worse I will probably just get a wireless keyboard and use that rather than replace it (because I'm not convinced the keyboard is the problem)

ETA: and now the touchpad has totally quit working.  It was fine last night.  I have to believe that's related.  When I get back home from Texas a need to find the receipt and see if it's still under warranty (I don't think it is)

ETA2: D'oh!  I had accidentally hit Fn-F7 when trying to Fn-F8 to mute, and disabled the touchpad.  Touchpad is working again, keyboard is still flaky.