How to fix buttons on my Acer Swift 3 SF314-54-552V keyboard that are not responding?

FatBingBing · December 2020

Hi Acer Community,

So I bought my Acer Swift 3 back in September 2018 and everything was running smoothly for 2 years I've had this laptop. However, this past month some of the buttons on the keyboard are not working. More specifically, the A, X, Z, C, N, Alt, Ctrl, and period button are not working whenever I type. Unfortunately, my warranty have expired already and I can't get it fixed. I am currently using an external keyboard to do my school stuff but I don't want to bring an external keyboard to my classes next year when everything resumes back to normal. I'm currently deciding to buy a new laptop and replace it.

Things I've tried to do to fix the problem:

I have tried to do a system update for Windows 10, but it didn't work.
I have tried to uninstall/ reinstall the "standard PS/ 2 Keyboard", but that didn't work as well.
I tried opening up the laptop but I don't even know what I'm looking at -- Haha.

Here are my Acer Swift 3 (2018) Information:

Model Name: SF314-54-552V
Product Name: Swift SF314-54
Part Number (SN): NXH1SAA002XXXXXX

I hope someone in the community can help me fix this problem!!! THANKS!!!

Thread was edited to add model name to the title and to hide sensitive information

billsey · December 2020

So Id say it's likely something got in between the keyboard layers and is causing them to not touch cleanly when you depress a key. Laptop keyboards (and lots of desktop keyboards as well) don't use little switches under the keys, instead there are several membrane layers with conductive lines traced on their surface. When you press a key a rubber bit presses down on the membranes which causes contact between some of them. The keyboard recognizes the layers that touch and from that decides which key is being pressed, then sends that out to the computer. When two membranes are stuck together you get a constant key press, when there's something stopping them from touching you get a key that doesn't work. With some of the older membrane style keyboards you could take them apart and clean them to get rid of any spill that might have screwed them up, but with the newest, thin keyboards that is not longer possible. So, the fix is likely to replace the keyboard. The really thin machines like your has the keyboard integrated into the top cover, and I believe yours is silver with the Canadian English/French layout. Does yours have a back light? If so the Acer part number for a replacement is: 6B.GXJN1.034. The version without the back light is: 6B.GXJN1.031. I believe that if you try to install a back light keyboard onto a non-back light motherboard it will either work or you'll have an extra ribbon cable with no connection for it.