L520 keyboard prints bollocks

[L520dude]

Hello! I got the L520 as my second Thinkpad, but one thing has been bugging me since I got it. Once in a while (around twice per week) the keyboard goes into what I like to call "crazy bollocks mode". During this mode the keyboard goes completely haywire. Let me illustrate why it deserves the name:

- Pressing "a" always produces two enters, but most other keys do not have a fixed effect. The effect of these keys changes over time and each time crazy bollocks mode is initiated.

- It seems to favor two letters instead of one. For example, pressing "w" might give something like "uu" and the left shift might produce two dots.

- Crazy combinations are possible, e.g. once backspace opened the calculator and F9 the task manager.

Surprisingly rebooting fixes the problem until it comes back, which leads me to think its a software problem. However, reinstalling Windows does nothing, and using an external keyboard actually works (except that ctrl usually stays down during crazy bollocks mode). I called up Lenovo once and they replaced the keyboard with no noticeable effect.

I stress that it is not a typical numpad problem, nor does it appear to have anything to do with the language settings for the keyboard layout (my layout is finnish).

Please tell if you have seen this problem before or know of any hints on how I should deal with it. Thank you.

[Ak_what]

My girlfriend uses the l520 for work and suddenly had the same problem tonight. She rebooted once which seemed to fix it, but about 10min later the same thing happened. Keep us posted if you have any fixes.

[L520dude]

Thank you for the reply, Ak_what - how reassuring to know that I'm not the only one with this problem. It's been three months since the original post, and the keyboard is still going into crazy bollocks mode regularly. Rebooting always fixes it for a while, and as I mentioned, using an external keyboard works too. However, I'm starting to think that finding the cause of this is beyond my ability.

If you still want to go for it, I'd be interested to know if the problem persists if one switches to a different OS. My guess is that changing the OS would solve the problem, but if the default OS really is at fault then I would say it's Lenovo's responsibility. Next week I will call them again and see what can be done. If you're out of options as well, I suggest to do the same. I'll keep you updated.

[Ck_asdf]

I've got a Lenovo L420, and while it's not as frequent as described here, I've had the same problem. I'll be typing, and the exact behavior described starts happening. Restarting (or perhaps making the computer go to sleep and come back from it) seems to be the only recourse. Additionally, an external USB keyboard does indeed temporarily "solve" the problem (until a restart is feasible).

One related thing - the touchpad & ThinkPoint at random times will stop working, or sometimes will go into their own "Crazy Bollocks" mode, in which merely touching the pad or point sends the mouse pointer careening wildly around the screen, clicking all the while. After only a couple seconds, you might see a dialog pop up asking "are you sure you want to close without saving?" as the mouse has found the document's close button.

As to different Operating Systems, I've used Ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10 (not liking Unity) on the L420, and I'm currently using Linux Mint 12 (I love it!), and I've not seen either of these issues yet, though due to lack of time and lots of difficulties, I haven't had time to use it as my primary OS yet. Let me know if any solutions surface, so I can apply those to Windows for when I use it.

[L520dude]

Thank you for replying. I've had the exact same problem with the touchpad that you mentioned, although it happens so infrequently for me that I did not identify it as an instance of crazy bollocks mode until recently. After my last call with Lenovo they sent me Windows 7 installation CD:s which I just received today. I will try to reinstall the OS with these and see if it has any effect. Determining whether something solves this problem always takes long though since it happens at random.

[ColonelONeill]

It still sounds like a hardware failure to me...

[darthvegan]

I currently have the same problem with an L420.  The tab key displays an a and the backspace key displays a \ character.  However, unlike some of the other posters above, a simple reboot does not resolve the issue.  Using a USB keyboard the characters display as they should.

Thinking this was a hardware failure, I had the keyboard replaced on the unit.  However, this too failed to resolve the issue.  Any ideas?

I am using Windows XP (required by the job).  And I have other L420's that do not have this issue, so I don't think it is a particular incompatibility between the PC and XP.

[ColonelONeill]

@darthvegan,
Check your regional settings. Maybe Windows thinks the keyboard is an international keyboard?

[surivirus]

I encountered the same problem. There are some driver updates I will try later.

ultra nav

hotkey

maybe...well if this will help, I'm gonna tell ya.

gz

[Lapcat]

 I've recently taken delivery of an L420. Had I read about these problems before placing my order, I may have chosen another laptop. Fingers crossed that mine isn't a lemon.