Solved! Sony Vaio VGN FZ140E Keyboard Not Working after Drive Swap

[JimInLA]

I had an old Vaio sitting in a closet that I decided to put back to work after another computer died. I swapped out the old drive in it with a new one. Everything works fine except the built in keyboard. A USB keyboard will work just fine. Also, I know that the built in keyboard works because I've been able to get into the bios and it works there. Just not in Windows 10.

When I look in the device manager, the keyboard doesn't show up. I've been looking for a generic driver for it, but haven't had any luck. It could be that the bios is out of date but Sony has discontinued support for this model so I'm not sure what to do.

Does anyone have a generic keyboard driver that will work with a Vaio? Or can anyone point me someplace the might allow me to find either a driver or a bios update? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[webworkings]

It doesn't sound like it would be the BIOS that is the problem. You said yourself it works in there.

Try this...

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

Should that not work, then try starting it up in "Safe Mode" and see if you can use it while in there. If you can, then it is something in your system. Software not hardware.

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.

 

[JimInLA]

It doesn't sound like it would be the BIOS that is the problem. You said yourself it works in there.

Try this...

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

Should that not work, then try starting it up in "Safe Mode" and see if you can use it while in there. If you can, then it is something in your system. Software not hardware.

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.

Unfortunately I can't delete the keyboard driver because it never shows up in the device manager. Oddly enough, the built in touchpad and buttons work just fine, but the keyboard just doesn't show. It doesn't work in safemode either but when I boot using the original hard driver and windows 7 system, it works just fine. Looks to me like windows 10 doesn't see the keyboard or it can't find a driver for it, but I have no idea why that would be.

 

[webworkings]

I am going to assume you booted into "Safe Mode" for 10, since you say it didn't work, but works in 7.

Did you try doing updates for Windows 10 to see if it will see it then? Or, to be honest, if it recently did any updates you may want to try using a "System Restore" point to change the system back to a point prior to the change. See if this resolves it.

If it will work fine in 7, but not 10, then there is something going on in 10. You could try installing the drivers for it for 7, in 10, and see if it works.

 

[JimInLA]

I am going to assume you booted into "Safe Mode" for 10, since you say it didn't work, but works in 7.

Did you try doing updates for Windows 10 to see if it will see it then? Or, to be honest, if it recently did any updates you may want to try using a "System Restore" point to change the system back to a point prior to the change. See if this resolves it.

If it will work fine in 7, but not 10, then there is something going on in 10. You could try installing the drivers for it for 7, in 10, and see if it works.

Yes, I did boot into safe mode but that didn't do anything. The thing I don't understand is why doesn't the keyboard show up at all in the device manager. Keyboard Filter does show up, but not the keyboard. I've tried turning the filter off and on, and that doesn't appear to do anything either.

 

[webworkings]

No, when you booted into "Safe Mode" I am assuming you did it in Windows 10, so it wouldn't make a difference in the information if it worked fine when in Windows 7. That says the problem is within your Windows 10.

 

[JimInLA]

No, when you booted into "Safe Mode" I am assuming you did it in Windows 10, so it wouldn't make a difference in the information if it worked fine when in Windows 7. That says the problem is within your Windows 10.

Ok, this is really strange now. As an experiment, I took the original hard drive, slapped it back in the machine, put a new partition on it, and set the system up for dual booting - win7 and 10. Windows 10 runs just fine and the keboard works. It shows up in the device manager as a standard PS/2 Keyboard but it looks like it is taking the device drivers from Win7. The new drive is G: but driver details show that it is pulling them from C:\Windows\System32\Drivers. I would think it would be pulling them from the Windows directory on the new G drive.

I'm going to try to boot from my Windows 10 disk and do a repair. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try and copy the device drivers from the old disk to the new. And if that doesn't work, I'm open to any suggestions you may have.

BTW, thank you for your help on this. I really appreciate it.

 

[webworkings]

Let us know if it works or not.