E6420 keyboard faulty?

[rankinrupert]

I bought a secondhand dell latitude e6420 laptop, got home and it was fine. Next day on first use the keyboard stopped responding. (onscreen kb is fine). Restart fixed it but problem returned and keeps returning. It doesn't seem to be associated with any one thing, keys operated or the lid angle changed, etc. With all the talk online about this problem I can see it's a generic one and yet it's hard to boil it down to the real cause. Is the Bios too advanced for the keyboard? And then, if so, why is the fault intermittent and not regular as clockwork like the Bios's hardware checks would be? Smelling a rat there. And is there a solution for it in the end, short of buying a new machine bit by bit or going back to an old Bios and disabling updates..ugh, can't do that. [ Anyway, I doubt I really should be considering fixing it at this stage, as I feel that surely the vendor has some responsibility. They are a small laptop repair shop, can be expected to know if the model is troubled by a generic fault that makes it questionably-saleable. I called them about it the day after purchase but they weren't exactly helpful and terminated the conversation by putting the phone down on me.] Is there a simple solution to this that has emerged more recently than these 5 yr old exchanges? Thanks

 

[popatim]

Check your state laws, you might be able to force them to return your money. Here we have 3 days.