Alienware Keyboard Setup
Martta Borromeo
Hello, I'm posting about my recent experiences with the Alienware m15 R4, which I purchased 5 months ago in November. Has anyone else with a Windows 11 Alienware laptop had issues with the keyboard ceasing to function? Sorry for the long post, but I do have some questions at the end.
After installing a Windows update in late March, I shut my laptop down after installing the update. The next morning, when I went to log back into the computer, the internal keyboard did not work. I didn't realize it at the time, though I've since worked it out with a technician's help, when the computer boots up into windows, the keyboard stops working, and it will continue to not work when restarting. However, on a cold boot after turning the computer off, the keyboard responds fully outside of Windows. I can go into BIOS etc outside of Windows and use the keyboard perfectly fine. However, the moment it reaches Windows, the keyboard ceases to function. This apparently means that the problem is a driver/software issue, is my understanding.
The first tech who came out to my house to deal with the problem disassembled the entire laptop and replaced the keyboard, which did not fix the problem. He insisted that I mail the laptop in for service, and it was mailed to the Texas facility where the motherboard and palm rest were both replaced. I suspect that the first tech, who was very young and inexperienced, may have broken said palm rest and panicked, considering the number of times he went outside to call his fiancee. However, that doesn't matter so much since the part was replaced free of cost.
The laptop's Windows was fully reinstalled etc, and when it arrived at my home, it booted up and worked fine, including the keyboard. However, while testing the laptop, I discovered that the speakers were now broken. Again, I suspect the original tech who was sent to my home, but again it doesn't matter how it happened. A second tech was sent out to my house to deal with the speaker problem, and he discovered a broken prong in a connector. When he returned later to replace the board and fix the speaker problem, he learned it was a daughter board problem and not motherboard, so that part has been ordered and will be fixed later. However, after the motherboard was replaced, the original issue of the keyboard non-functioning returned exactly as it originally was. We have come full circle here.
Additionally, now my 1TB second drive doesn't work anymore. It shows up as "You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it.", and any attempt to format the drive gets stuck/hung up at 51% and refuses to proceed beyond that.
Everyone involved in the repairs has been phenomenal, and though I do suspect that the hardware damage/issues were caused by the first tech who came to my place, he was very nice and it was clearly unintentional if he is really at fault as I suspect. At this point, once the speaker's daughter board is fixed and the non-functioning hard drive is made to work again, the only problem to remain will be the keyboard issue.
The second tech has been incredible to work with, and if I ever need service again I will request him by name. Dell has offered to replace my computer with a refurbished computer, though that makes me uncomfortable as I avoid refurbished computers due to a poor experience in the past. I would love to make the laptop I currently have work again, but if the keyboard is going to die every time windows updates, that's discouraging.
Do drivers for this sort of thing get updated? Is this a compatibility issue that will eventually be resolved with updates? Since the core problem that sent me to tech support is clearly software/driver, if that gets updated my problem should cease and my computer function properly, right?
One way to work around it I've considered is requesting for Dell to give me a downgrade to Windows 10 (with the option retained to upgrade back to Windows 11 when the software issue with the keyboard is confirmed fixed), since windows 10 will be supported until 2025, that gives a few years for a software issue to be sorted out, doesn't it? I understand a downgrade would require a full wipe etc, and I'm perfectly fine with that - it's still wiped from the last time I tried reinstalling Windows 11 to fix the keyboard problem.
Has anyone else had a similar keyboard problem with their Windows 11 Alienware m15 R4? Have you managed to fix it? How did you fix it? Is this something that will be addressed/fixed in an update to the driver(s) in the future? I understand that the motherboard is from Alienware itself?
Shutdown Laptop
Turn On Laptop
Keyboard will not work
Press power button to enter sleep mode
Resume Laptop from sleep mode
Login/Unlock laptop (I use the On Screen Keyboard by clicking on Accessibility in bottom Right) to enter my Password
Open Device Manager
Go to Universal Serial Bus Controllers
Uninstall the Unknown USB Device
Then Right Click Scan for hardware changes
Keyboard works again till next shutdown/restart.
wow finally i have found someone who no longer makes me think im crazy and can confirm when i have to tell every customer service person it is not a hardware issue. long story short did a windows 11 update on 4/13/22 then had to do a restart like with any update and that was the last time i have spoken to my keyboard lol. when i originally tried resolving it and basically till i found ur post every person made me feel like its a hardware issue and they have never heard of anything of this nature happening. i have been waiting till i had more free time to fully deal with this as i am currently using my latop with a wireless keybaord ontop of my internal keyboard lol. i need my laptop for my job and it is very important to me so im waiting till things slow down with my job where i can do whatever has to be done with this. anyway please tell me what i need to do and is there a cure out there lol bc ive tried everything in the book even a factory reset to windows ten and it still wont work . this has been an absolute nightmare for me to deal with and its insane how dell and even microsoft made it seem like my laptops issue is something the world has never seen or dealt with before. its also crazy how i only have found u where this has happened to. like are we the worlds unluckiest human beings or something. my name is cj btw.
It's definitely a driver issue, I have gotten my keyboard working on windows 11 only for it to periodically stop working. I have had some luck uninstalling all the devices under Keyboard category on device manager and under Universal Serial Bus Controllers, but the problem will randomly return, and sometimes uninstalling all the devices doesn't fix it. I have gotten it working again through repeatedly doing this but it's extremely frustrating and time consuming.
Keyboard works again, not sure why but it keeps doing this for me, likely some sort of driver issue. I have tried reinstalling Alienware Command Center, chipset drivers, etc. This is as narrowed down as I could get it.
Did you try putting it in sleep mode and then waking it up again and trying the steps, after restart my keyboard stopped working as well. That seems to consistently work for me. Obviously this isn't really an acceptable experience though I suspect it's something with Windows 11 and the drivers.
The daughterboard has been replaced. While the tech was present, I uninstalled the unknown USB device driver under device management, then scanned for hardware changes. When it did not reinstall an unknown USB drive the keyboard worked. I then restarted the computer. The keyboard did not work on restart.
Next, I will be installing Windows 10 to see if the keyboard works in Windows 10. If the keyboard works in Windows 10, and does not fail, I will consider it fixed enough unless the problem resurfaces. If the keyboard does not work even in Windows 10,or the problem comes back even in Windows 10, I am all out of ideas for how to fix it and will contact Dell support directly for next steps on exchanging the faulty product.
So far it seems to be working when I do the trick I hope they fix the driver issues though, clearly it's not hardware, keyboard always works fine in BIOS. Windows 10 should be fine as I think this only happened after a March-April Windows 11 update. Haven't tested Windows 10 to be sure.
Update 2: Windows 10 downgrade did NOT fix this keyboard problem as I had hoped. I have officially exhausted every fix put forward and will be calling Dell technical support about next steps for this faulty product.
I suggest officially opening a ticket with tech support ASAP and doing everything they recommend, especially if it's still under a support warranty. They have been unable to help me find a fix for mine, both hardware and software, and are now replacing my laptop. Their tech support and customer service are top notch if you reach out to them.
Hi, in the past 2 weeks I faced many problems with my x17 R2 keyboard. The last Friday I thought I got the problem fixed after doing a clean install of Windows 11 and a fresh install of every needed driver / firmware / BIOS (1.9.1). But today the problem reoccurred and I wasted my whole working day trying to find again a definitive solution. I need my working computer functional as soon as I can.
They replaced keyboard and motherboard on my X17 R1 to resolve the same issue and it re-occured after a couple days. I'm going to install Windows 10 and then install the Keyboard Firmware patch that was released specifically for this issue. Sadly, there is no patch for Windows 11 because Dell seems to have trouble seeing that it is still an issue. That happens when your head is in a certain orrifice.
Let's be real, we are paying big money for a top end laptop, in my case it's just 6 month old, of course you should expect a top end service and a replacement if you would call ANY hardware failure, I'm not paying this much money for a refurbished computer that this one is going to become after being "fixed".