Got my FW 12 DIY edition about a week ago and installed a test version of Ubuntu. Everything worked fine. I had intended to wipe it and install Windows until I realized that I could get through school on a virtual Windows machine. I decided to do a new, clean install of Ubuntu, paying closer attention to the options and settings I wanted.
However, I got stuck on the wifi screen because a few keys suddenly became unresponsive and I couldn’t enter my wifi password. I then figured I’d abort the install, but when I rebooted, I couldn’t enter my LUKS password for the same reason.
Support brought up an article from 2021 for checking the touchpad cable on the FW 13. I’d rather get support for the actual machine that I’m dealing with before I open it up.
Has anyone else had this issue? Any suggestions from Framework?
I would imagine Framework support might ask you to try opening the laptop then re-closing it, since doing that would reseat the connector. If that doesn’t help, perhaps good pictures of the underside of the keyboard, there are connectors there that could potentially not be seated right.
An option to contact support is on this page, frame.work/support. Should you want to do that.
While Framework staff does post on the forum at times, it is primarily a user forum. And hardware-issue support from Framework staff is not something I recall seeing much, at all. They have said the forum is not an official channel for requesting support.
Strangely I had a similar issue yesterday! Suddenly my “n” and “b” key wouldn’t respond on the login screen any more. I was able to pull up the virtual keyboard via the touchscreen and once I was logged in the issue just went away.
Does your issue persist even when rebooting?
As @MJ1 suggested, you can try taking off your keyboard (aka input cover) and putting it back to make sure it’s making a good connection. It’s super easy to do with the included screwdriver. You can find the official guide here.
It was after 5pm on Friday by the time I sent a message to Framework support about it, so I don’t expect to hear back soon. I assumed it was a hardware issue, but I’ll try the virtual keyboard!
If that doesn’t work, I’ll try opening it up and reseating it.
In my case it was probably a software issue with Bluefin/Gnome. (At least I hope.) I only had my keys go unresponsive on me once when I was on the login screen. Once I was logged in to the desktop everything worked fine… I’ll keep an eye on it.
To me it sounds more like a hardware issue if reseating the input cover fixes it… Maybe contact support about that.
Also is it always the same keys that don’t work or does that vary? (I’m still worried I might have the same issue as you. Though it hasn’t shown up again for me yet.)
It’s interesting to me that it showed up at the exact same stage of the installation process each time suggesting a software issue, but was fixed by re-seating the input cover suggesting a hardware issue.
It seemed to be the same keys each time, although I didn’t test them all.
Okay, so it just happened again for me. When waking up from sleep on the login screen the n, b and Fn didn’t respond - so same keys as last time. Logging in via the on screen keyboard didn’t fix it this time around either, I had to restart the entire laptop. Then it works again. Super strange… I’m leaning toward it being a hardware issue and will contact support if it happens again.
UPDATE: Yup, it’s a hardware issue. It’s gotten worse over the course of the today, now thenand b keys practically don’t work at all. Reseating the input cover doesn’t work either. Interestingly loosening the screws works - when the screws are loose the keys work. Tighten them carefully - no dice.
@Aaron_Dunsay@benedolt Please reach out to support here. Once done, please send me a mod mail with the email address you used to contact. I’ll get the engineering teams to look at it. Please provide the FMWK 12 version you’re using. If using Linux, please also provide distro, version, kernel, bios.
Fingers crossed it’s an easy fix.
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