A laptop keyboard takes an enormous amount of use — thousands of presses a day, crumbs and dust working their way between the keys, the occasional spill that everyone hopes no one noticed. Most keyboard issues are simpler than they first appear.
Worth trying first
- Restart the laptop properly. A surprising number of keyboard quirks are software hiccups that a clean restart clears up.
- Check your language and input settings. An accidentally changed keyboard layout can make perfectly good keys seem to “stop working”.
- Gently clean between the keys. Compressed air or a soft brush, used carefully, can dislodge crumbs and dust without causing harm.
- Try an external keyboard. If that works perfectly, it points squarely at the laptop's own keyboard rather than the system itself.
Signs it needs the bench
- Specific keys are consistently unresponsive, sticky, or double up on presses
- Liquid has been spilled on or near the keyboard, even if it seemed to dry out fine
- Keys feel physically loose, wobbly, or sit at a different height to the others
- The issue persists even with an external keyboard plugged in
If it's gone beyond a clean
Bring it in and we'll take a proper look — free of charge. Sometimes it's a straightforward clean or a single key replacement; other times the keyboard assembly itself needs swapping. Either way, we'll explain what's needed plainly before doing anything.