I have a Framework 13 11th gen. For the past year and half or so, it’s been serving me well. I recently (around 5-6 days back) noticed a strange glitch. The T, R and 5 keys fail to type characters. It is an intermittent issue: Every 5-6 minutes they stop working and come back on after mashing them a few times. I think this behavior is due to the thermals of the laptop: These keys are right above the “hotspot” on the mainboard, and running Fedora 37, my laptop has gotten quite warm, but never overly so.
Could this issue be related to thermal damage to the keyboard? I have noticed that the keys fail more often when the laptop is running hotter: particularly when gaming or running simulations. I try to keep the laptop on a cooling pad in those situations though.
If you believe that to be the case, you can try repasting your laptop. While doing that, you should check the mainboard connector for any bent pins and dust. Also check the cables on the input cover to ensure they’re all fully seated and clean.
I think it’s possible this could be thermal related issue now. I’ve been testing my keyboard and my theory is an oxide layer may have formed on the key contacts. I’m pretty sure it’s not software or firmware since I’m currently able to get the keys working when I want and for some time. I just gently applied pressure to the contact and some rubbing down of the contact. No disassembly was required for my situation.
With the key pressed, I moved it around a bit. I also applied pressure to the chassis in the area just to be sure I was tamping and rubbing down the oxide layer.