Questions about driver software. (lemmy.fmhy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by Scrimby@lemmy.fmhy.ml to c/freemediaheckyeah@lemmy.fmhy.ml

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Hello, I was wondering about if there were any driver updating software that is

**-not adware

-for linux ** I am in a big predicament concerning this laptop i've had for awhile. one day the keyboard just stopped working, i've finally decided to check it again an here are some notes.

**-the ribbon is clean

-some keys do work, but they all press shift?

-the "j" key when pressed lights up the internet key??

-when said working keys are pressed, they constantly press the shift key and I have to restart the computer to get it to stop. **

I presume that it's the drivers being really corrupted? so TL:DR where can I find a driver troubleshooter/driver updating software. thank you for your time!

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[-] IntheMesh@lemmy.fmhy.ml 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Honestly OP, weird keyboard issues, especially on a laptop are very often hardware failures.

As for driver downloading software, Linux works far different from Windows in this sense. Linux drivers usually come packaged with the kernel and are otherwise downloaded through the repository of your relevant distribution, so you don't need any third party software.

You could boot into the bios and test the keys there. If they still don't work then its a hardware issue. Do you know how to get into the bios?

Edit: Also OP, if you do have issues in the future, please post them on https://lemmy.world/c/techsupport as this isn't really the right community.

[-] Scrimby@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I believe I've booted into the BIOS before and they didn't work? but to be sure how would I get into the BIOS?

[-] IntheMesh@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Make sure to power down your laptop.
press the power button, then mash F2 till you see the bios screen popup.

(Sometimes the bios key is F10 or F12, so if F2 doesn't work just redo the steps but try those keys instead.)

Once you're in the bios, you can use the arrow keys to navigate. Assuming the arrow keys work, you can navigate to a a section with the name "security" or something similair.

(If you press the arrow keys and nothing happens, your keyboard is broken.)

Once you are there you should see an option to "set an administrators password". click on that and press a key that you know doesn't work. if nothing is inputted into the password field then the keyboard is definently broken.
to exit the password input field simply press esc, and then you can navigate to exit, and select exit discarding changes.

If you got to step 5 and everything worked then it is definently an issue with the OS.

[-] Scrimby@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I've tried everything, but I can't seem to get into the bios? i've pressed f2 and the others, and even a few extras but It doesn't seem to work.

[-] IntheMesh@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Have you tried F3, Escape and Delete?

And, just curious, how do you log in to ubuntu if your keys don't work?

[-] Scrimby@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I haven't tried delete yet actually, give me a sec. during the installation of ubuntu I made it so it automatically signs into my account.

[-] Scrimby@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

yeah, I can't seem to do it.

[-] IntheMesh@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

In that case, your keyboard is most likely broken. Perhaps you could still have it fixed under warranty? You can enter the laptop serial number on https://support.hp.com to check if the warranty is still active.

[-] Scrimby@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

this was pre-2020 but I can check if it's still under warranty (if it somehow is, I hope it isin't too pricey), I can take it from here, thank you man, I appreciate it!