Touchpad and keyboard unresponsive

[jmt356]

The battery on my laptop suddenly died and caused my laptop to shut down. I plugged in the laptop and turned it back on and came to a screen that stated that the computer was not shut down properly and giving me the option to start the laptop normally or in safe mode. However, the keyboard keys were working, so I was unable to press enter to start the laptop normally. However, when the timer complete, the laptop automatically started up normally.

Upon reaching the log on screen, both the keyboard and touchpad were disabled. I was only able to use the laptop by using an onscreen keyboard and an external mouse.

I tried updating the drivers for the keyboard and touchpad, but Windows stated “The best driver software for your device is already installed Standard PS/2 Keyboard.”

I went into System Restore and found that a 15 Mar. 2019 restore point had been created. I ran System Restore but the keyboard and touchpad were still unresponsive.

Does the fact that a system restore to 15 Mar., when the keyboard and touchpad were working, did not fix the problem mean that this is a hardware issue? The only problem with this theory is that when the computer is asleep, both pressing the touchpad buttons and touching the touchpad wake the computer from sleep, so the laptop appears to recognize the touchpad while it is sleeping. However, once it is awake, the laptop is unresponsive to the touchpad.

[John Gray]

My suggestion would be to power everything off, remove the mains plug, press and hold down the laptop's Power [Off] button for 10 seconds.
Now remove the battery.
Plug the mains cable/connector in again, and try to power up and run Windows.

I've had a situation some time ago when the laptop would work only when the battery was removed from the laptop! Removing the battery might very possibly solve your problem...

[jmt356]

John, I tried a variation of your suggestion that miraculously worked!

I shut down the laptop, removed the battery, unplugged the laptop, reinserted the battery, and pressed the power button down for 10 seconds.
This caused the laptop to restart, with the keyboard and touchpad working as normal.
I therefore suspect that this was a power issue, not an issue relating to software.

[John Gray]