keyboard intermittently working when booting up, after upgrade to win11

[SparkyDoodles]

After updating to win11, my keyboard intermittently works, as soon as the power button is pressed and I press esc button repeatedly to enter bios it ignores the request and goes to windows, other times it goes to the bios settings, same as if I let it load from start button, when it loads windows, the keyboard works at times at others I have to reboot until it works again!

This never happens in win10.  I have taken win11 out twice now just to check and make certain but it is win11 that is doing it.

I have tried lots of the usual ways to get keyboard working but they don't do anything as its not in windows that is stopping it, its in the boot-up process that it works or not?

Any ideas Please.

[Kuroi_Kenshi]

Hi @SparkyDoodles,

Welcome to the HP Support Community! 

Thanks for reaching out about your query regarding intermittent keyboard issues on an HP notebook with Windows 11!

We're thrilled to have the opportunity to assist you and provide a solution.

Try these steps:

BIOS Update:

• Ensure your BIOS is up to date. Outdated firmware can sometimes lead to compatibility issues with newer operating systems like Windows 11.
• You can download the latest BIOS version from the HP Support website using your model number.

Check Keyboard Drivers:

• Go to Device Manager (you can search for it in the Windows start menu).
• Expand the Keyboards section.
• Right-click on your keyboard device and select Update driver.
• Select Search automatically for drivers and let Windows find any updates.
• If an update is not available, consider reinstalling the driver by choosing Uninstall Device and then restarting your computer. Windows should reinstall the driver upon reboot.

Windows Update:

• Make sure your Windows 11 system is fully updated. Microsoft frequently releases patches that address compatibility and performance issues.
• Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click Check for updates.

Hardware Diagnostic Test:

• Use HP's built-in diagnostics to see if there is a hardware issue with the keyboard.
• Restart your laptop and repeatedly press the F2 key to enter HP PC Hardware Diagnostics.
• Choose the Component Tests option, then select Keyboard to run a test.

Examine the Keyboard for Physical Issues:

• Ensure there isn’t any debris or dirt beneath the keys that could affect functionality.
• Gently clean the keyboard with compressed air.

Reinstall Chipset Drivers:

• Visit the HP Support website, download the latest chipset drivers for your model, and reinstall them. Chipset drivers can sometimes affect keyboard operation if they are outdated or corrupted.

Roll Back to Previous Version:

• If the issue persists and is only apparent in Windows 11, consider rolling back to Windows 10, especially if the keyboard consistently worked under Windows 10 without any issues.

Temporary External Keyboard:

• As a temporary workaround, and to verify if the issue is software or hardware related, try using an external USB keyboard.

I hope this helps.

I'm glad I could help! 😊 If this resolved your issue, please mark it as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" on "Was this reply helpful?" Your feedback not only keeps us going but also helps others find the solution faster! 👍✨

Take care and have an amazing day ahead! 🚀

Best regards,

[SparkyDoodles]

Hi Kuroi, Apologies for late reply, I work most weekends but didn't see any replies in my e-mail and found it in the e-mail BIN last night.

I have earlier tried all of the solutions you suggested, and found none to work, the keyboard driver in device manager is a general one I think as the driver is from June 2006, and windows says its the best driver, other Intel drivers I have put in did upgrade in win10 but upgrading to win11 they changed back to an earlier version and again windows says best drivers installed.

The issue is before the laptop gets into the windows environment, as soon as I press the power button I continually press esc or any F keys to enter Bios, if the esc key works I get into Bios and can check whatever in there, the keyboard check says all is ok, but if the esc or F keys don't register working as I boot up it will not enter Bios.  So is the same as push power button and wait to load into windows, then the keyboard either works or does not, then its restart or shutdown and start again, then the odds are the same 50/50 if the keyboard works, usually after 1 or 2 attempts it does, but I never had this issue since I had the laptop and never in win10, only on upgrade to win11 does it do it, I have my drive cloned before putting win11 in, as security updates etc for win10 finish in October, so have to put it in now, I copied everything back over to my main drive, so back to win10, and all works perfectly, ran upgrade again, and back to keyboard not loading at times, uninstalled win11 this time rather than wipe over, just to see, and runs properly with keyboard, straight from boot into bios and out into win10.

Seems the main problem is in the boot area, as keyboard loads or not! but only after upgrading to win11, only thing to try I am thinking is to do a clean install of win11 on the drive, with nothing else on it and see if that works properly, if so then it could be remnants of whatever is on drive in win10, that is affecting it, if so I will have to then install all my other progs apps etc on and try to find updates that I put onto those progs which may not be on the makers site anymore, I do have a few older progs that I like and know, this is why I would rather upgrade the OS, A lot easier and less time consuming.

The only other way I see is have a USB keyboard standing by if restart, shutdown or power up again, fails at some time to start the keyboard.

Thanks again for reading and trying things to help

Regards Ray

[Kuroi_Kenshi]

Hi @SparkyDoodles,

Thanks for the detailed follow-up, it’s incredibly helpful for pinpointing the issue. Based on everything you've tried and the fact that your keyboard works flawlessly on Windows 10 but intermittently on Windows 11 before the OS even loads, it sounds like this is a low-level firmware or compatibility conflict introduced by Windows 11 during boot initialization.

Here are a few refined suggestions based on your updated findings:

Try a Clean Boot with Windows 11 (Clean Install Test)

You're on the right track. A clean install removes residual drivers or system configurations left from Win10 that might interfere with keyboard initialization.

Try installing Windows 11 from scratch (not via upgrade) on a clean, formatted drive or partition.

Test only basic hardware connected (internal keyboard, touchpad, built-in display) to isolate conflicts.

If the keyboard consistently works after a clean install, you’ve narrowed it to something retained from Win10, a driver, a boot setting, or even a low-level registry flag.

Disable Fast Boot in BIOS

Fast Boot (or Fast Startup in Win11) can skip full hardware initialization, which may cause your keyboard to not initialize early in the boot process.

Enter BIOS (when it does register ESC or F10).

Disable "Fast Boot" or any related setting like "UEFI Fast ""Boot"/"Secure Boot Optimization."

Save and exit.

Also, inside Windows 11:

Go to Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > Change settings that are currently unavailable

Uncheck "Turn on fast startup (recommended)."

Reflash or Update BIOS

Even if you already have the latest BIOS, re-flashing the BIOS (with the same or newer version) can clear hidden corruption or mismatched firmware flags introduced during upgrades.

Download the BIOS for your specific HP model from HP’s website.

Run the BIOS update tool from within Windows 10 or use a USB method from BIOS recovery.

I hope this helps.

I'm glad I could help! 😊 If this resolved your issue, please mark it as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" on "Was this reply helpful?" Your feedback not only keeps us going but also helps others find the solution faster! 👍✨

Take care and have an amazing day ahead! 🚀

Best regards,

[SparkyDoodles]

Hi, Kuroi.

It's good you confirmed the same idea I had, but in your added ideas I saw one I had forgot about.  The turn Fast Boot off in win11 control panel.  So thought I would try that first, so did it and went to shutdown, start again, and the keyboard worked, as it does sometimes, so tried quite a few times at shutdown, start and restart, and worked every time, so turned fast boot back on and it was back to working not working, so Fast Boot off is the way to go.

My computer is a laptop, and doesn't have a fast boot in the Bios.

I also had to know if a clean boot Win11 only would work the keyboard properly,  I had a new SSD arrive so put that in and installed Win11 onto it, went through all the sign up etc, (that you can't get out of, or ignore!) Ran win11 and got the same not working results!  I found  that on start or shut down and start, the keyboard did not load, but if you click re-start the keyboard loads every time, think because it holds info from the cold start.  They say Win11 is faster than Win10,  maybe this is the issue here, that it loads too fast and misses things, keyboard not loading is obvious, but maybe missing other things that you don't notice until it doesn't work right?

But fixed now and running fine, thanks for your help on the matter, and the clue for what to try, that was the answer,

Well done and thanks again Kuroi.

Regards Ray