Arch Linux

meowxiik

Member

Registered: 2018-12-05

Posts: 17

[Solved] Broken keyboard on laptop?

Hi,

# My Setup

I am using laptop "Asus f556uq dm310t".
I am using the newest Arch Linux.
I am using these packages: https://pastebin.com/g4EcPELx
I am using an AUR kernel: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/linux-aufs/

uname -a
Linux laptop 5.16.2-1-aufs #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:34:56 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Dmesg output: https://pastebin.com/wAymv6KB

All external devices work as expected. Including an external keyboard.

# Problem

My built-in keyboard is regularly dropping keys '2' (above w), 'w', 's', 'x'. They are all in a skewed column. All other keys work well. The keys are dropped in a "warm up" fashion, where if the key is not working, usually it takes a few presses to make it work. Then it works while I am pressing it but after a while of not pressing it  stops working again.

# More info

I found the keyboard /dev/ entry in /dev/input/event3 or /dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-0-event-kbd

I opened a terminal window catting /dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-0-event-kbd and a text editor.

When I am pressing any keys unaffected, cat shows some output.
When I am pressing any of the affected keys, and it happens to work, I also see output on cat.
When I am pressing any of the affected keys, and it happens to be unresponsive, there is no output on /dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-0-event-kbd

# Attempted Remedies

- I visited a hardware store, and their argument was "That seems like a software issue, keyboard usually either works or it doesn't."
   - I will go back ( or to a different store ) and insist that it is a bad keyboard if I will not find a software issue.
- Tried to reinstall linux-firmware

# So ?

I have tested /dev/input/event3, which seemed to reflect the same issue as described above. Is there even more low-level way how to analyze the output signals of the keyboard?

As it seems hardware related, is there any analysis tool of hardware I can use?

[SOLVED]
When running Windows from flash drive, the problem persists. Therefore it is certainly HW

Last edited by meowxiik (2022-01-28 23:25:53)