Dell Latitude 14 Rugged 5414 Keyboard Is Unresponsive

A reason why your keyboard may be unresponsive is because debris is hindering the keys from triggering the laptop's sensor. A dirty keyboard can hinder your response by slowing down your typing speed, creating errors, and damaging the hardware. Debris like dust, food crumbs, and hair can get trapped under and between the keys, causing mechanical interference that directly affects laptop performance. The steps below are an easy and quick way to clean and fix your keyboard.

1. Disconnect your laptop from any cords or devices it may be plug into and shut down the laptop
2. Turn the keyboard upside down and gently shake it to dislodge any loose crumbs or debris.
3. Wipe down the keys with a clean, microfiber cloth that is slightly damp. Avoid getting moisture inside the keyboard.
4. Allow the keyboard to dry completely before reconnecting it.

If these four steps don't work, try using different techniques to clean your keyboard. Use a can of compressed air to blow out dust and debris from between the keys. For tough grime or stains, use a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol to carefully clean around the keys and in hard-to-reach areas.

A frozen system can cause a keyboard to stop working because of high system resource usage (like CPU or RAM), corrupt drivers, or a system-wide crash. When the system is frozen, it can't process the input from the keyboard, even if the hardware itself is fine. There are two ways you can try to fix this issue and get your keyboard working back to normal.

1. Press and hold the power button: on your laptop.
2. Keep holding it: for about 10-15 seconds until the screen goes blank and the laptop powers off completely.
3. Release the power button: and wait a few moments.
4. Press the power button again: to turn your laptop back on.

1. Unplug the power adapter: from your laptop.
2. Disconnect all external devices, such as USB drives, printers, and monitors.
3. Press and hold the power button: for 20 seconds.
4. Reconnect the power source .
5. Press the power button for two seconds: to turn the computer on.

If the keyboard doesn't work in Safe Mode or after trying software fixes, connect an external USB keyboard to test if it functions correctly. If the external keyboard works, the issue is likely with the internal laptop keyboard hardware. Follow the steps below to reinstall the keyboard driver.

1. Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.
2. Expand the "Keyboards" section.
3. Right-click each keyboard device and select Uninstall device.
4. Restart your computer; Windows will automatically reinstall the drivers.