I Can Never Leave Well Enough Alone

I thought I'd tried everything in my power to restore the keyboard, without opening it up and checking the internal connections. I fully intended to do just that, but I wanted a new computer first, so I didn't lose anything. I've been burned way too many times to just open up my computer at the drop of a hat, especially since I've never opened a laptop before.

What can I say. I was wrong. I hadn't done everything.

Rather than give up on this laptop after ordering the new one, I continued to search on a variety of search terms for a solution. If nothing else, I wanted to find a guide to opening the computer. I've never dug into the innards of a laptop before.

I didn't find anything about Inspiron 7500 keyboard problems, but after a couple of hours of browsing, I found information about fixing the exact same problem on an earlier Inspiron version. It involved turning the computer off, removing the power cord and battery, and then using the reset button.

In all the years I've used computers, if a problem could be fixed without cracking open the machine, it would be fixed on a full reboot. I'd never even heard of a reset button on a PC. I figured "resetting" and "rebooting" were the same things. Apparently not. Hey, this is my first laptop, and this keyboard problem was the first major problem I had with it. When I first read the instructions to use the reset button, I assumed it was the same as the power button. But luckily, I did some checking first and discovered that, whoa, there's a different button that is used for resetting.

So I followed the instructions meant for the earlier version of Inspiron. I'd never pulled the battery from my computer before, so that was a new experience. I couldn't tell for sure if I was pressing the reset, but the instructions even mentioned that it would be difficult to tell. Then I restarted the computer not expecting much. I'd tried EVERYTHING since the keyboard went out yesterday.

It worked. It WORKED. The keyboard worked. The reset button, that I'd never even heard of before, restored my keyboard.

So, if your laptop keyboard suddenly stops working in the middle of a sentence, remember to try the reset button. Hopefully, some poor sap in the future who is having the same problem will run across this note and be saved a lot of time and/or money.