German Keyboard Issues on HP Pavilion Gaming 16 Notebook

Ask Fedora
1

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all doing well. I’m encountering some issues with my German keyboard on an HP Pavilion Gaming 16 notebook running Fedora Linux. Prior to the installation, everything was working fine, but now I’m facing some peculiar problems:

  • The right Alt key doesn’t function at all.
  • The Return, Backspace, Up and Down Arrow keys, as well as the Print key, work intermittently. They sometimes respond, but then cease to function again.
    I’ve never encountered these issues before and I’m uncertain about how to troubleshoot them effectively.

Has anyone experienced similar issues? Any guidance or suggestions on how to address these problems would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

PS:

Because the issue is so persistent I collected some observations, which may help:

Observation Nr. 5
There may be something wrong with the default processor configuration . After I changed the CPU frequency settings in TLP, my system started experiencing significant keyboard input lag. This indicates that the keyboard issue reacts to changes in CPU configuration. I believe the default processor configuration is also affected because I encountered the same problem after installing Linux Fedora (without TLP) twice, to ensure the previous setup was not corrupted.

Suspecting a CPU-related issue, I disconnected the notebook from the adapter to run it on battery, which is when the issue was most pronounced. By disconnecting the power supply, the keyboard issue improved temporarily. Although the problem did not disappear entirely, there was a noticeable improvement.

One thing that seems to help significantly in the long term is disconnecting the power supply . By doing this, I was able to experience sessions without any input lag on my notebook. This improvement gave me hope, as the notebook performed at its best during this time, at least until I started adjusting the TLP settings again, which reintroduced the input lag.

Observation Nr. 6
Despite focusing on the CPU frequency, the affected keys began to ignore my workaround of unplugging the power supply completely, and the key issue suddenly became severe. Under normal circumstances, I experienced an input lag of 2 to 5 seconds every 30 seconds or so. However, at one point, my primary return key stopped responding altogether. Neither waiting for the key to respond nor unplugging the power supply helped. I had to log in using a secondary return key that was unaffected by the input lag.

Recalling my previous observations led me to conclude that the user and global caches might be corrupted. Clearing these caches always reduced the issue, preventing the progression from input delay to complete non-response. Therefore, I cleared the caches again as the situation demanded. After doing so, my primary return key started working again. My input lag returned to 1 to 2 seconds every 30 seconds or so. It seems I will need to periodically perform cache cleanup to prevent the issue from worsening.

Observation Nr. 7
I have identified the issue with the malfunctioning right ALT key. Linux registers the right ALT key as the MENU KEY . When I pressed the right ALT key along with the corresponding key to create the at-sign (@), it responded. However, this key is much less reliable compared to other unresponsive keys and often fails to respond quickly. It might be contributing to the cache issues, or the CPU could be responsible. I am unsure which lead is the correct one.

2

Changing system settings can introduce errors when the hardware becomes unstable. This is a known issue and is why users with overclocked systems experience more problems.

Try restoring the system to stock/default settings and see if the problems disappear or remain.

Many laptops will lower processor speed when on battery and will allow higher speeds when on AC. This could explain the better performance when you were running on battery only.

If the issue is with the built-in keyboard, have you tried an external keyboard to see if this may be hardware related?

3

I understand that changing the TLP settings may cause instability, but it specifically affected only certain keys: the up and down arrows, #, return, and backspace keys. The rest of the keys remain completely unaffected. After saving changes in TLP, the input lag reappeared immediately. Disabling TLP made the input lag significantly better.

The problem persists even with the default settings, as there is still input lag. As I mentioned earlier, I try to combat the progressively worsening lag by clearing the cache or briefly unplugging my notebook’s power source. The default system settings alone are not sufficient to eliminate the issue, because I installed fedora 2 times with the same result.

I haven’t checked with an external keyboard, but if it were a hardware failure, why would the issue have so many variables that can be almost completely disabled by few workarounds, only for it to get significantly worse over time until I clear the cache? With the tricks I learned I can keep the input lag in check. Its not like the notebook will soon “die”. I play games on it (like Baldurs Gate 3) and everything productivity-wise works perfectly fine (like Obsidian, LibreOffice etc.).

4

I have trouble understanding this statement in relation to the keyboard issues. Either the keyboard interferes or it does not and the statement indicates the keyboard errors are not an issue.

My suggestion for trying a different (external) keyboard was to isolate this to either software (which should affect all keyboards) or hardware (which would be isolated to the one keyboard).

An internal keyboard on a laptop is connected by a thin ribbon cable and occasionally the contacts may become corroded in a way that sometimes interferes and sometimes does not. It also is affected by heat and humidity which would make it more sporadic. The test would tell you if it is hardware and could easily be nothing more than needing to clean the contacts on that ribbon cable.

5

With my last statement, I wanted to emphasize that aside from the keyboard input lag, my notebook works perfectly fine. I play demanding games that generate a lot of heat, and the input lag does not occur during gameplay.

I will try using an external keyboard as soon as I can. I don’t want to buy one just for testing, so I will need to borrow one, which might take some time.

The last paragraph is interesting. Is there a way to clean the cable to restore keyboard functionality if corrosion is the problem? Would this process affect the RGB lighting? My RGB lighting works without any issues.

6

Cleaning the contacts on the end of the ribbon is similar to cleaning the contacts on a RAM DIMM.

Rubbing the contacts with an eraser then reconnecting the ribbon is usually all that is needed. Dusting out the contact connector with air is often done at the same time.

7

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for the tip about the cable. After several cleanings, the keyboard now works without any issues. However, the right ALT key is still problematic and barely works, although there has been some improvement. I’ll need to clean it further in hopes of restoring its full functionality.

Thanks again!

8

A single key giving problems may be an issue with that key contact individually. Cleaning it is usually the same but does require digging into the keyboard itself and not just the connecting ribbon.

9

When I cleaned the contacts of the keyboard cable, there were many small black pieces that came off the eraser. I’m unsure if this is dirt or some kind of coating. The contact wires are black, and during the cleaning, some areas started to shine through. Again, I’m uncertain if I’m just removing dirt or if it’s something that shouldn’t be coming off. What’s your take on it?

10

The contacts should be shiny. The black coating probably indicates corrosion that builds up over time. Note that there are 2 ends to that cable and both may show the same issues. One end connects to the mobo and the other to the keyboard.

Cleaning until all contacts are fully shiny at both ends should normally be considered adequate.