Weird keyboard issue - Vaio laptop

My wife's SVP13215PXB Vaio laptop on Windows 10 has developed a very odd fault. The cursor keys and the delete keys have started working intermittently after a few months of working totally fine after the upgrade to Windows 10. So, on the Win 10 login screen all keys work fine. But when in Windows the cursor and delete keys only work when holding down the shift key. I thought it might be the scroll or num lock stuck on but I've toggled Fn+Del but that doesn't seem to do anything. I've uninstalled the keyboard driver a few times and have updated Windows and everything in the Vaio Care app.

Any ideas greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Simon

 

By intermittent, are you saying that sometimes the del and cursor keys work normally, and sometimes they need the shift key to be held down? If they are always behaving the same way, then that's not intermittent.

Could you try booting into a live linux distro - boot from CD or USB drive - and see if everything works there? Then we can be sure it is not a hardware issue.

Try adding another keyboard type (if you have US, then add International or UK) and see if that fixes the problem. Add another user and see if that works. Also scan your system for viruse and trojans - been there; done that.

 

Sorry, I shouldn't have said "intermittent". It's totally predictable in that the cursor and delete keys work when on the Windows 10 log in screen and they don't work when inside Windows. And then they work when you hold down the shift key. Also, a standalone USB keyboard works fine when plugged in to the laptop. I'm assuming that because the keys consistently work on the log in page and when shift is held down that it's not a hardware issue, so I'll skip the Linux boot.

I've started a deep virus scan but wife is working on the laptop now, so I'll add a user and add another keyboard type when she's off it.

Thanks for your help!!

Cheers,
Simon

 

So the full scan with Windows Defender didn't get any hits, and adding another keyboard language didn't do anything. However, adding a new user and logging in as that new user fixed the issue and the keyboard worked fine. So presumably it's a Windows user issue? Any ideas how I can fix that as I don't want to have to setup my wife as a new user since she has a load of settings and apps that are customised to her?
Thanks
Simon

 

Great. Now we know that in the worst case, reinstalling Windows (complete system restore) will fix it.

Try adding another keyboard, set that keyboard as your default, then delete the first keyboard. If that works, then try adding back the deleted keyboard.

Btw. have a look at the accessibility options too. Perhaps some keyboard related features were enabled by mistake. I've never messed around with sticky keys etc. but these features are there, and enabling them makes the keyboard behave differently from what we are accustomed to.

 

Thanks! I added the USB keyboard and uninstalled the laptop's integral keyboard from Device Manager. I couldn't see where to make the USB keyboard the default keyboard. I rebooted and Windows automatically re-installed the laptop's integral keyboard but the problem still persisted. I went through all of the accessibility options and made sure everything was off, but that didn't fix it even after another reboot. This is so frustrating - anything else to try?
Cheers
Simon

 

I've fixed it! Well, a guy at Sony told me what to do. I tried booting into safe mode but that didn't change anything, but I removed the expansion slot cover in the centre of the underside of the laptop and pressed the little button next to it for 5 secs to do a battery power cycle. Then when I tried to power it on it didn't do anything, so I plugged it into the power and it booted up right away and is now seemingly find with all the keys working properly. V odd, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Cheers
Simon