Windows 10 Intermittent Keyboard Malfunction: Troubleshooting Steps Needed

J

John9210

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Dec 19, 2016
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Three or four times a day the keyboard stops working for about 5 minutes. I can't enter text or use any of the keys. I can't open Task Manager with ctrl-alt-delete to investigate. The mouse still works. I can use it to close or open programs, shutdown etc.
Does anyone have a suggestion on what may cause this or can recommend how I can track down the culprit?
 
Solution
When the issue occurs I would start by looking in 'Device Manager', you can access it with the mouse by right clicking the start button and select 'Device Manager'. I would expand out "Human Interface Devices', "Keyboard' and 'Universal Serial Bus controllers'. From these look for devices with yellow '!', red 'X' or devices with a small circle with a downward facing black arrow. The first two indicated a problem and the arrow indicates a disabled device.

Another place to look, also accessible from right click the start button is 'Event Viewer' the system log may contains logs about the keyboard.

Some potential problems
  • Keyboard hardware failing (common)
  • Problem with the usb port (uncommon)
  • Problem with the root hub...
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If the mouse works you can open task mgr by right click on task bar then click on task mgr maybe that will help you determine the problem.
 
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When the issue occurs I would start by looking in 'Device Manager', you can access it with the mouse by right clicking the start button and select 'Device Manager'. I would expand out "Human Interface Devices', "Keyboard' and 'Universal Serial Bus controllers'. From these look for devices with yellow '!', red 'X' or devices with a small circle with a downward facing black arrow. The first two indicated a problem and the arrow indicates a disabled device.

Another place to look, also accessible from right click the start button is 'Event Viewer' the system log may contains logs about the keyboard.

Some potential problems
  • Keyboard hardware failing (common)
  • Problem with the usb port (uncommon)
  • Problem with the root hub device (uncommon) if the keyboard and mouse are sharing the same hub you can rule this out. You can use USBView in Windows - Windows drivers to easily determine if both devices are on the same hub
  • Corruption in Windows resulting in a problem with the keyboard driver (uncommon)
  • Joke malware disabling your device at random (rare)
 
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Solution
Thanks for your response. I checked the device manager as you suggested and checked the Event Viewer. No issues found. The "potential Problems" are difficult to check. I will download the USBView program and run it. However, I'm not hopeful.
 
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I ran USBView. It shows the keyboard and mouse on the same hub. However I don't see how this is a problem. The wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse have been working fine for a long time. The current issue is a recent one and has been going on for the last month or so. Attached is the USBView tree. The right pane is extremely long and I don't know how to interpert it.
 

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