Why are my 2 W S X keys only working intermittently on my HP Pavilion DV7 running windows 7?

[AdTidal]

Hello,

I'm experiencing a bit of trouble with my 2 W S X keys. They only seem to work when they want to and when one stops working, the other stop working too.

The laptop in question is a HP Pavilion dv7 running windows 7 64bit. I can't think of any changes that have occured before the change but was working fine this time last week. Not dropped it or anything.

A note i saw elsewhere said to check if the keys work works in the BIOS. I opened the BIOS and tried the keys in there upon startup. Didn't work. Logged in left it for a bit and then as if by magic it was then working again (enough so to enable me to write this).

Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks in advance of any help,

Adam

[banhien]

Hi,

They are on the same path, I would remove the keyboard and check underneath physically. or even a compressed air can may help.

Regards.

[AdTidal]

Thank for your response. 

Since the last post, the keys mentioned have stopped working altogether. That not something my cleaning techniques caused as they stopped before i had a chance to try cleaning.

I tried the proposed solution to no avail. I even bought a replacement keyboard which han't solved the issue neither.

Is there some way i could try cleaning the contacts? 

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks

Adam

[AxshunJaxun]

Hey AdTidal,

You could definitely try cleaning the contacts. If you could provide me with your product number, I could get you a link to the manual for your particular notebook. Here are the steps to find your product number. The manual would show how the components fit together and could give specific steps on how to remove/replace the keyboard.

You could use any connector cleaning solution from a local electronics store. Here is a link for the steps to clean electrical connectors. 

If cleaning the connectors doesn't work, the next step would be to replace the keyboard (would need your product number to be able to provide you with a part number). I could provide you with the parts store's contact information too. Be sure to let me know what country you're in, if you're outside the U.S. 

If a keyboard replacement doesn't work, it could be the keyboard controller on the motherboard. That would mean that the motherboard needs replacing, unfortunately.

So let me know your product number and I'll get you the manual along with a keyboard part number just in case you need it (and country, if outside the U.S.)

Please let me know if you have any questions! I would be interested to know what the result of cleaning the keyboard connector is (this could help other uses with the same problem too). I'll keep an eye out for your reply.

[Slammy]

This is definitely from malware - it happened to me last night and I checked online and found 2 many guesses. I managed to resolve it moments ago - and I'm typing with the same computer / keyboard.  It is hard to resolve but here is the link to the virus description (which does not mention the specific symptom of losing the 2 W S X keys). I lost the function immediately, and suspected malware right away: http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/threat/encyclopedia/entry.aspx?name=TrojanDownloader%3aJava...

So this is how I solved it: I had Microsoft Security Essentials and it was up-to-date. However, it does not find it by itself. Spybot finds something but is unable to fix it - even upon a reboot. I installed Trend free atHome(?) virus scan - it does not find it. I installed AVG full Internet Protection - it does not find it. However, while AVG was running (a few hours) Security Essential found it - just like that! So, it appears that when the malware was adjusting itself to avoid being detected, that it was discovered by MS Security Essentials. I fixed it while AVG was running, and tested my keyboard right away. At first the x worked, then the other keys.

This is malware - not hardware, so please stop telling people to clean or replace their keyboards.

[chasisin]

Hi,

 same problem is ther is in my laptop running windows 8.

 I re-installed the windows but still the problem is there.

If it is a malware it should not come after formatting my system with new windows.

can you tell why ????

[athompsong]

thanks for this post, i am trying this myself and it's occuring on my dell latitude e4310.  I did just a quick scan on windows defender and it resolved it!  now I am also doing full scan just to get this really clean.  thanks so much!

[athompsong]

make sure you do all windows updates and complete security essentials scan.