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Question from Elliot: A year and a half ago I bought a wireless keyboard/mouse combo to make it easier to use my laptop. I hate those trackpads and small keyboards!
I was typing an email this morning and all of a sudden the keyboard just stopped working. I figured the batteries needed to be replaced, but new ones didn’t fix the problem.
The mouse still works fine and a wired keyboard I plugged in works too. I rebooted the laptop but that didn’t help.
What do you think might be the problem? No real hurry for your answer because I’m able to use the wired keyboard while I’m waiting.
Rick’s answer: It sounds to me like your wireless keyboard has gone belly up, Elliot. The USB transmitter is apparently ok because your mouse is still working, which leaves the keyboard itself as the most likely problem. But there are a few things you can try before you replace it…
The first thing I would try (if you haven’t tried it already) is restarting the laptop. Restarting is always a good first troubleshooting step since it loads a fresh copy of Windows and all the hardware drivers into RAM, wiping out any transient glitches that might possibly be causing a temporary issue.
If a restart doesn’t help, is plugging the USB transmitter into a different USB port (on the opposite side of the laptop if possible) to see if there’s some kind of issue or conflict with the port the transmitter is currently plugged into. This is a real longshot since the transmitter is working with the mouse, but it’s always worth a try.
Next, I would check to see if the problem is with the keyboard driver:
1 – Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager from the menu.
2 – Click the little arrow to the left of the word “Keyboards” to expand the Keyboards section.
3 – Right-click on the entry for the keyboard, then click Update driver.
If Windows recognizes the keyboard and installs a fresh driver for it, check to see if the keyboard now works. If it doesn’t, you almost certainly have a bad keyboard. You can also safely assume that you have a bad keyboard if Windows fails to even recognize it in the Device Manager.
If your keyboard is indeed bad (and the odds are great that it is at this point), check to see if it’s still under warranty. Some wireless keyboards come with warranties that are good for up to 3 years. If so, you can request a replacement.
If the keyboard is out of warranty, you can simply purchase a new wireless keyboard. You should be able to find one at your local electronics retailer – or if you prefer to shop online, at Amazon. (#ad)
I hope this helps, Elliot. Good luck!
Update from Elliot: You were right. A new wireless keyboard fixed it. Thanks for the help.