Thinkpad R61 Keyboard Light not turning on

[Menominee]

Recently I gave my friend my Thinkpad R61 laptop for cleaning up. He cleared up all the dust and other stuff. Now I noticed that my keyboard is not working. The lights on the keyboards are not turning on at all. I pressed lots of button and rebooted my system but nothing worked here. Even I am not able to type anything on notepad. That issue looks like related to drivers.

[Odalis]

It is possible that your friend has not connected the keyboard cable properly. This happens due to improper connection of the internal hardware cables. There is a very thin cable white color which is connected to the motherboard. If the cable is broken then you cannot connect back the keyboard. You will need to show the same to the service center repair.

[Florence_USA]

Use a usb keyboard there. To install a USB keyboard, you must have at least the drivers in your system which by default is available. Just connect the keyboard and Windows will detect the same as plug and play device. Windows it automatically detects the presence of new hardware. A window called Add New Hardware Wizard appears. Click Next and follow the instructions of the wizard.

[Cruzz]

Try pressing Function key with PageUP instantly and check back. Does you have added any application which is causing your keyboard not to work. You can try to re-install the same from Device Manager. Just run it and then first check weather you keyboard is detected there or not. If yes then right click on that and click on update drivers. Once done reboot and check back.

[Crespin]

Just in case, according to your information it seems that the keyboard is not installed properly. This can be a hardware as well as a software fault. First you must have a keyboard driver and manual. For me after installing the keyboard I press the capslock button and the light flashed on the board. If that does not work then your keyboard needs a replacement for the same.

[Ceesar]

For convenience I connected a USB keyboard on my laptop. It was same Thinkpad R61 laptop. Since part of my original keyboard generates invalide characters the USB keyboard works great even for the extended keys. If I disconnect the USB keyboard the problem remains the same. When the install XP I remember him asking about the type of keyboard, but cannot find the place.

[Antonio1]

First check that the settings you made for your usb keyboard is fine or not. If you disconnect your USB keyboard then check that weather your old keyboard lies in the old state or there is any changes. Replug your USB keyboard and that will re-activates your keypad. If still the issue occurs then I think it is better to re-install Windows back again. You can also try some third party keyboard configuration utility.