Laptop keyboard turns off randomly

[blue_jay]

I got the Lenovo Y700 about half a year ago, worked very well. Two months ago the keyboard turned off for the first time, while playing League of Legends. Next two times it turned off it was also in League, so I thought it might be a specific case, but then it started turning off randomly, even when browsing or working in Photoshop.
When I try to restart/turn off the laptop it takes a very long time to do so, and even if it does, it just opens the reboot options menu and the keyboard still doesn't work. I have to turn it off by holding down the power button.
Also, even when the keyboard doesn't work, the LED still does.
No viruses detected with the Windows Defender and no malware with Malwarebytes. I have Windows 10 OS.
Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[webworkings]

Try this and see if it helps.

1. Uninstall the keyboard driver.
2. Reboot the computer (yes, without reinstalling the driver).
3. When the device reloads, it should reinstall the driver all on its own.

 

[blue_jay]

Sorry, I forgot to mention! I did that before, too, three times. Weirdly enough, my PC keeps on installing different drivers for my keyboard - and it's always two, not one.

 

[webworkings]

It is odd for it to keep installing them. Do try what I suggested, since the driver(s) were not deleted before the repeating install(s) this might stop that. If not, there is something else going on.

 

[blue_jay]

I did what you said and it still stopped working twice yesterday. I think it's happening more and more often

 

[webworkings]

Very very odd. You could try starting the computer in "Safe Mode" and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't happen then, it may well be a software problem or some from something else that is on the system that shouldn't be.

How to enter "Safe Mode" when booting the computer.

In Windows 8 and 10...

As your computer restarts, press F8 (possibly a few times) to enter "Safe Mode"

a. Press the "F4" key to Enable "Safe Mode".
(The computer will then start in "Safe Mode" with a minimal set of drivers and services.)

b. Press the "F5" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Networking.
( Once "Safe Mode" with Networking starts, Windows is in Safe Mode, with additional network and services for accessing the Internet and other computers on your network.)

c. Press the "F6" key to Enable "Safe Mode" with Command Prompt.
(In "Safe Mode" with "Command Prompt" starts Windows in Safe Mode, with a Command Prompt window instead of the Windows interface. This option is mostly only used by IT professionals.)

Now sign in to the computer with your account name and password. (If you have one set.) When you are finished troubleshooting, you can exit "Safe Mode" restarting your computer.


In Windows 7/Vista/XP...

1. Immediately after turning on the computer, or restarting it (usually after you hear your computer beep), tap the F8 key, repeatedly, in 1 second intervals.

2. The computer will then display hardware information and run a memory test.

3. Next the "Advanced Boot Options" menu will appear.

4. In the "Advanced Boot Options" menu use the arrow keys to select "Safe Mode" or "Safe Mode with Networking" and press ENTER.

 

[blue_jay]

I did as you said, the problem occured, however this time the PC just popped a blue screen with a message DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE and after it rebooted, the keyboard stopped working at the Novo Button Menu, so I had to restart it by pressing the power button again.
I also used the Lenovo System Update app and installed a bunch of driver updates. It didn't help, however.

 

[webworkings]

Option 1...

Did this start after any kind of updates or software installations? I ask because that can cause that error. Try rolling back to prior to the install/update.

Option 2...

Also if you have anything attached to the laptop (mouse, keyboard, printer, thumb drive, etc.) you should disconnect them and reboot to see if the problem resolves.

Option 3...

Try the following...

1. Press "Win+R" (Windows key and R key at the same time).
2. Type "cmd" (without the quotes) in the run box and click "OK" button.
3. Type "sfc /scannow" (again without the quotes) and press "Enter."

After verification is completed, a scan will be done and you will get message letting you know if the computer has problem files.It will also let you know if they can be fixed.

Option 4...

Last option would be to reinstall Windows and see if this resolves it.

 

[blue_jay]

You're asking me to "reboot and see if the problem resolves" but it's pretty hard to do, since the keyboard turning off is completely random. I am using two USB devices at all times (external harddrive, wireless mouse), I'll try to not use them today and see if the problem persists. Interestingly enough, when the keyboard turned off today I tried to remove my external harddrive safely and it couldn't - it just froze. The same happened when I went to Device Manager and tried to scan for hardware changes both the USB ports and the keyboard drivers - it just froze and did nothing. Do you think it might be an overall problem with USB ports?
I also recall having some problems with them at first when I installed Windows 7 - I had to run Ubuntu from a flash drive because Win7 didn't recognise the USB ports (I don't remember what happened exactly). I couldn't install the drivers for WiFi or LAN to download all the necessary drivers - had to do that on a different PC and install them through Ubuntu. I think I'll try do update all the drivers and see is that helps. I'm also doing the scan now.
I think the problem might have started with hooking up a Razer mouse - the drivers installed then, including a keyboard driver. But I changed my mouse to a different one and uninstalled all the drivers, but it didn't help.

Update: finished the scan, Windows didn't find anything. Also I found a remnant of my old Razer mouse, Razer Synapse (I think it was called?) and uninstalled it as well.

 

[webworkings]

If it is continuing to do this, after all that, I am at a loss.

Anyone else out there have any suggestions?

 

[blue_jay]

Did everything you mentioned, except reinstalling Windows (it's a last resort from me, because installation must be performed from a flash drive - no CD drive in the laptop). The problem still persists.

Just remembered that before this whole thing happened, I installed one device - a wireless adapter from TP-Link, to hopefully improve horrendous internet that we had in the university. I had problems with it from the start, i.e. I couldn't take it out of the USB port while the PC was running, it would just pop a bluescreen. But I just ignored it because the internet did get better. The adapter that I used was model tl-wn722n - I don't think it was compatible with Windows 10, do you think that might have caused all the problems?
By the way, I haven't used the adapter for a long time, maybe a month.

 

[webworkings]

It very well could be your problem.

 

[blue_jay]

But I removed all the traces of it on my PC. What else do you think I'd have to do?

 

[webworkings]

As I said before, I have exhausted my ideas for a resolution.

If anyone else is reading this thread, suggestions would be welcome.

 

[blue_jay]

Thank you for your help. I think I'll try to reinstall Windows today, along with formatting the hard drive.

 

[swagner72]

Oh thank god I'm not alone, I had this problem on my y700 for at least half a year now and thought it was just a terrible mix of Lenovo and Windows 10. But Lately it has become more apparent to me due me buying Rimworld, my keyboard dosnt last an hour before shutting off playing that game. The game itself is very cpu intensive (with world generating) which leads me to believe the keyboard issues are more hardware-cpu related not specifically keyboard related. I've seen somewhere online that if you change power settings from balanced to high performance it fixes the keyboard issues, but I'm yet to have any luck with that.

 

[swagner72]

OK! i think i got mine working! By changing the power settings from balanced to high, i haven't got any issues with the keyboard. And a little concern i've had since i got my y700 is now gone! (it used to say in the task manager my disk usage was always 100% even when i had nothing open, but now, its down to normal levels). It seems like all of my y700 is now better than ever. Hope you have as much luck as i did...

 

[blue_jay]

You're my saviour! It really worked! Thanks a loooot!

 

[webworkings]

Terrific. I will have to remember that one.