Laptop keyboard number keys malfunction randomly

The number keys on my laptop stop working randomly.

For example, when I’m typing a command with numbers into the terminal, the input just won’t register, and it randomly starts working again after some time.

I’ve tried all possible combinations of BIOS and keyboard settings related to numpads and it still won’t resolve.

Laptop model: Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 14IIL05

Output of inxi -Faz:

System:
  Kernel: 6.1.8-arch1-1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.1
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-linux
    root=UUID=e6bb6ea8-b3a1-44a5-9311-9eef2d9db0e3 rw loglevel=3 nowatchdog
    nvme_load=YES
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm
    v: 4.18.0 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: EndeavourOS base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: LENOVO product: 81X1 v: IdeaPad Flex 5 14IIL05
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 31 v: IdeaPad Flex 5 14IIL05
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0Q55724 WIN
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO v: ECCN23WW date: 04/27/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 34.9 Wh (78.4%) condition: 44.5/52.6 Wh (84.6%)
    volts: 12.2 min: 11.5 model: Sunwoda L19D3PD6 type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
    status: discharging cycles: 696
  Device-1: wacom_battery_0 model: Wacom HID 5218 serial: N/A charge: 0%
    rechargeable: yes status: N/A
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i3-1005G1 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Ice Lake
    gen: core 10 level: v4 note: check built: 2019-21 process: Intel 10nm
    family: 6 model-id: 0x7E (126) stepping: 5 microcode: 0xB6
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 160 KiB desc: d-2x48 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 2x512 KiB
    L3: 4 MiB desc: 1x4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1073 high: 1089 min/max: 400/3400 scaling:
    driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 1073 2: 1069 3: 1089
    4: 1064 bogomips: 9524
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: retbleed mitigation: Enhanced IBRS
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB
    filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G1 vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-11 process: Intel 10nm built: 2019-21 ports: active: eDP-1
    empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:8a56
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Syntek Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 3-2:2 chip-ID: 174f:243f class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.6 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: intel unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: i965
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
    s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 mapped: eDP1 model: ChiMei InnoLux 0x1406 built: 2019
    res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 157 gamma: 1.2 size: 310x170mm (12.2x6.69")
    diag: 354mm (13.9") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.3 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (ICL GT1)
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP Smart Sound Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-icl
    alternate: snd_hda_intel,snd_sof_pci_intel_icl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:34c8 class-ID: 0401
  Sound API: ALSA v: k6.1.8-arch1-1 running: yes
  Sound Interface: sndio v: N/A running: no
  Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
  Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ice Lake-LP PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:34f0 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: USB
    driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-10:3 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 53.43 GiB (22.4%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: SK Hynix
    model: HFM256GDHTNI-87A0B size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 11010C00 temp: 38.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 238.17 GiB size: 233.38 GiB (97.99%)
    used: 53.43 GiB (22.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 464 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 512 MiB used: 487.9 MiB (95.3%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 59.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 206 Uptime: 1h 1m wakeups: 19081 Memory: 3.5 GiB
  used: 2.53 GiB (72.2%) Init: systemd v: 252 default: graphical
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.1 clang: 15.0.7 Packages: pm: pacman
  pkgs: 1322 libs: 343 tools: yay Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: alacritty
  inxi: 3.3.24

Welcome back! :smile:

Some things that might help:

  • Update system: sudo pacman -Syu
  • Update BIOS/firmware if possible
  • Change NumLock state if not correct
  • Uninstall package xf86-video-intel if it is installed

and reboot.

Not completely fixed, but the frequency of the issue has considerably decreased somehow. Thanks

An interesting fix I found on a forum is pressing Ctrl + Fn + Alt for 10 seconds (Ctrl + Alt + Super also supposedly works according to said forum, but I have not tried it).

I don’t know what this does or how it works, but after doing this and enabling “Restore numlock state on startup” in the keyboard settings app, the issue has seemingly been fixed.

I will mark this as a Solution if I don’t encounter any issues in the next 2-3 days.

Edit: formatting and link to the forum post

Interesting indeed. Nice work! :+1:

An update: I’ve diagnosed this as an XFCE issue because my laptop keyboard’s numkeys work fine on XMonad.