My keyboard for my Acer aspire switch 10 has completely stopped working

I have been using my Acer 10 for about six months and had upgraded to Win 10 a while ago with no problems. This morning the keyboard stopped working. I checked the contacts to the tablet, cleaned them with a soft brush and cleaner and rebooted, no luck. The keyboard when it boots allows me to key in the PIN number and I have a USB mouse attached to the keyboard that works, but none of the keys work once I'm logged on to Windows. If the screen times out and I try to enter the PIN again, nothing. I can navigate around using the mouse, but have no ability to enter keyboard information. I'm stumped and would apprecaite any suggestions, all welcome. The Acer was just fine until now?

Accepted answers

fxp

I fixed the problem! It turned out it was WINDOWS 10 that caused the problem. The Filter Keys were somehow switched on and they disable the keyboard for handicapped users. I discovered this on another machine when it happened too, but this time an unrecognized icon appeared in my system tray. The icon was for these filter keys and when I turned them off the keyboard came back. How this stupid thing got toggled on I don't have a clue. The orginal pc with the problem didn't show the Filter Key icon in the system tray so I was stumped, didn't know they existed. Something for others to check, if this should happen to them. Thanks for all your help.

All comments

billsey

Try looking in Device Manager to see if any of the HID items are showing a problem. If one or more are, delete them and reboot so they get reinstalled. That will typically clear up corruption in their settings.

fxp

Thanks for the fast reply, I checked the Device manager under HID keyboards and both were working no error messages. I also did a safe boot and have the same problem. It lets me use the keyboard to log in and then the keyboard stops working when it goes into Windows 10. I'm thinking this is not a hardware problem now, but a Windows one as you suspected? I checked ntlog and everything is loading. I tried updating the drivers and Windows says i have the latest and greates versions already. Do you have any more things I can look into since I'm running out of ideas.

Best,

Frank

billsey

I believe that Windows sees the keyboard as a USB hub with a keyboard connected. That allows for USB port and the like on the keyboard. It sounds like Windows either thinks the hub is disconnected or corrupted. You might try opening Device Manager to the USB Controllers section and see if something appears and disappears when you plug in and remove the keyboard. If you can pin it down, remove that device and do a reoot, which should force a reinstall.

fxp

Thanks for the suggestion. When I disconect the keyboard TWO identical driver versions are showing in Devices and don't change. If I boot without the keyboard dock I get ONE HID Keyboard Device loaded and a second appears when I put the tablet onto the keyboard dock. The keyboard still doesn't work. I tried uninstalling one device drive and rebooted, no luck. When I reinstalled the Keyboard dock it showed again. Is there a place I can see the settings for the Hub problem or is it something in the Registry? I'm sure now its a Windows problem, didn't change anything before this all happened. There is some kind of conflict with the keyboard which I can't isolate. Once again, your help is welcome.

Best,

Frank

billsey

There should be both a HID device showing up and a USB hub. Try removing the USB hub that shows up when you plug the keyboard in. I think it's more liekly to be the hub than the keyboard that's corrupted.

fxp

I looked for a hub in my device manager and found in the following:

Universal Serial Bus controllers

where five Hub devices are listed. They all show they are working properly and have the latest versions. How would I determine if any are damaged since the manger is not indicating a problem?

best,

Frank

billsey

Check and see if one disappears when you undock the keyboard.That would be the one to try...

fxp

I fixed the problem! It turned out it was WINDOWS 10 that caused the problem. The Filter Keys were somehow switched on and they disable the keyboard for handicapped users. I discovered this on another machine when it happened too, but this time an unrecognized icon appeared in my system tray. The icon was for these filter keys and when I turned them off the keyboard came back. How this stupid thing got toggled on I don't have a clue. The orginal pc with the problem didn't show the Filter Key icon in the system tray so I was stumped, didn't know they existed. Something for others to check, if this should happen to them. Thanks for all your help.

billsey

One of the Filter Keys toggles is either a long press or several presses of the left shift key (I can't remember which, but I have done it accidentally before).

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