Keyboard Partially Stops Working When Playing Games

[geøstigma]

Hey everyone,

I'm experiencing an unusual problem with my laptop's keyboard and hope that someone from the community may be able to help me.

The problem:
Certain keys on my keyboard stop responding after playing games for a while. It's always the same keys:

• Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
  
• The letter "P"
  
• The Backspace key

They don't simply stop working but rather alternate between being responsive and not.

I've noticed that:

• Pressing and holding another button makes the problematic keys register, even if they weren't responsive a moment ago
  
• Repetedly pressing the same unresponsive key seemingly makes it start responding again
  
• It only happens during gaming sessions. I could use my laptop to work for days, and it wouldn't happen. Of course, this could be a coincidence, but it happens whenever I play, within minutes, and without exception

So far I tried:

• Reinstalling keyboard drivers through device manager
  
• De/Reattaching the keyboard (remember, it's a laptop)
  
• Upgrading from W10 to W11
  
• Entirely wiping my system and installing it from scratch
  
• Using an external keyboard that doesn't seem to trigger the problem

Everything is pointing to faulty hardware, but, weirdly, the keys work if I'm not playing games. Any thoughts? 🤔


Thanks!

[Blitzkreig]

Do you have keybinds? For steam? In game?

[geøstigma]

Originally posted by Blitzkreig:

Do you have keybinds? For steam? In game?

Hey, thanks for getting back to me.

If you're asking if those keys are used by the game, then yes, most of them, for most of the games that I've recently played.

If you're asking if the Steam client is using them, then I don't think so as I never had problems before, but I can't be 100% sure. Is there a way to check it?

[Sv. Prolivije]

I have a friend who hounded me about how laptops were superior and I should ditch my awesome desktop PC. I should send this to him. Anyway, this is why you should never use a laptop for geyming. They are just not made to withstand the pressure of certified gamer fingering all day long.

[kamonfaze]

brooo i literally facing this problem rn with my asus tuf a15. my sxz keys will stop working properly in mid game . have u found any solutions?

[geøstigma]

Originally posted by kamonfaze:

brooo i literally facing this problem rn with my asus tuf a15. my sxz keys will stop working properly in mid game . have u found any solutions?

Hey,

I’m sorry to hear that, and even more to inform you that, unfortunately, I haven't 😕

Technicians dismantled it and took a look under the hub. Unfortunately, they could not open up the keyboard itself due to how the laptop is made. They say that it is probably vapor messing up with the circuits, which is a common issue in humid countries, and as I currently reside in one, it could be that I was just unlucky enough to hit the “jackpot.”

For now, I got myself an external keyboard, which does the trick.
I have a very good guy back home who can fix pretty much anything, and I’ll ask him to take a look once I go back to visit and post any potential finding/solution here in case anyone has a similar problem. However, that might not happen for another month or two, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.

[Sv. Prolivije]

Originally posted by geøstigma:

Originally posted by kamonfaze:

brooo i literally facing this problem rn with my asus tuf a15. my sxz keys will stop working properly in mid game . have u found any solutions?

Hey,

I’m sorry to hear that, and even more to inform you that, unfortunately, I haven't 😕

Technicians dismantled it and took a look under the hub. Unfortunately, they could not open up the keyboard itself due to how the laptop is made. They say that it is probably vapor messing up with the circuits, which is a common issue in humid countries, and as I currently reside in one, it could be that I was just unlucky enough to hit the “jackpot.”

For now, I got myself an external keyboard, which does the trick.
I have a very good guy back home who can fix pretty much anything, and I’ll ask him to take a look once I go back to visit and post any potential finding/solution here in case anyone has a similar problem. However, that might not happen for another month or two, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.

did you try blowing in it?

[Alessia ready to ♥♥♥♥ ur mouth]

Hey, I have EXACT THE SAME ROBLEM. LETTER P AND BACKSACE, AS WELL AS 123456789 numbers, DO NOT WORK. What is your laptop model? Mine is Asus Vivobook 15. I have to press those keys multiple times. Did you find any solution for this?

[Iceira]

Ask each Laptup BRAND name support, they are support here.

Laptop is sold as all-in-one product unit.

[FishyDuckz]

Still the same problem here, first it was my x and z key, cleaning them multiple times did nothing, until the problem suddenly went away. Now a few weeks later, the problem has reappeared on my d key, and obviously cleaning doesn't do anything. Same situation, only happens ingame so I'm not sure, but it could have something to do with temperatures rising as you start the game. But my temperatures have always been just as bad, so I'm unsure.

[musizlover2008]

This has been happening to me as well. It randomly happens when I play a game on Steam. Has anyone found a fix yet? Or at least reported it to Valve?

[pilot5517]

I'm having similar issues. Keyboard stutter or non working keys.

[Leprakahn]

I'm having the same issue. It started a few weeks ago. The keyboard works fine in the menu, but it doesn't work once in game. This has now happened to 2 games. Other games are fine. It's like once it gets corrupted, it stays that way.

[Yuki]

This thread was quite old before the recent posts, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.