The laptop layout in the picture
The keyboard above follows a typical Windows laptop without a number pad: Esc, F1 to F12, Print Screen and Delete across the top; the usual letter block; and a bottom row of Ctrl, Fn, Windows, Alt, the space bar, Alt and Ctrl, with the arrow keys squeezed into an inverted T. Laptops differ in the details, so adjust it to yours:
- A key in the picture that your laptop doesn’t have: click it, and it no longer counts toward the score.
- A key your laptop has that the picture doesn’t (Insert, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down or a number pad): press it anyway. It appears under Other keys detected, and the list under this text names the ones this layout leaves out. For a 15- or 17-inch laptop with a number pad, set Size to Full.
- UK and European laptops have an L-shaped Enter key and an extra key by left Shift: pick ISO under Shape.
Fn, Fn Lock and the top row
The top row usually carries a second set of functions: volume, brightness, keyboard backlight. Which set you get without holding Fn depends on Fn Lock. Many of those functions are handled by the laptop itself, so the key may do its job and still never reach the tester. If F1 to F12 stay white, hold Fn and press them again, or flip Fn Lock: Dell laptops toggle it with Fn+Esc and also have a BIOS option for it, Lenovo ThinkPads use Fn+Esc, and HP laptops use the Action Keys Mode setting in the BIOS (F10 at power-on, then System Configuration).
Hardware fault or setting?
Rule out the software causes first:
- Filter Keys. When it’s on, Windows ignores brief or repeated key presses, so keys seem slow or dead. Turn it off in Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard. Holding right Shift for eight seconds also switches it on or off.
- Test outside Windows. HP, Dell and Lenovo each offer a check that runs before Windows starts. HP: press Esc repeatedly as the laptop starts, then F2 for HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI, and run Component Tests, Keyboard (it takes about 3 minutes). Dell: press F12 at the Dell logo, choose Diagnostics, press Esc to pause the full scan and pick the keyboard for a custom test. Lenovo ThinkPad: press F1 at the logo to open the BIOS and check that the keys respond there, for example that Caps Lock switches its light.
- Compare with a USB keyboard. If an external keyboard works in the tester and the built-in one doesn’t, the laptop’s keyboard is the problem.
A key that fails both here and in the maker’s diagnostics is a hardware fault, not a setting. HP advises replacing a keyboard damaged by a liquid spill straight away. For ThinkPads whose keyboard is a customer-replaceable part, Lenovo’s troubleshooting steps include reseating the keyboard connector.
What this layout leaves out
The keyboard above has 79 keys, and the score counts 78 of them (the dashed keys don’t reach the browser). The tester’s full-size layout has 104. These are the ones this layout doesn’t draw; if you press one through an Fn combination, it appears under “Other keys detected” instead of lighting up the picture.
- System keys: Scroll Lock, Pause
- Navigation keys: Insert, Home, Page Up, End, Page Down
- Number pad: all 17 keys
- Other keys: Right Win, Menu