Lenovo Thinkpad T480 keys are being activated without me pressing them.

Question

Apologies if this is in the wrong space as this is my first time asking for computer help online.

I bought a refurbished Thinkpad T480, running Windows 11, a few months ago, and within the past week, there have been random periods (every 30-ish seconds, lasting up to 2 minutes-ish that come in waves and have long breaks between them, but are most common after the computer initially starts up) where the Windows, shift, capslock, tab, Y, [, ], and possibly other keys, are acting as if they are being held down, where the buttons and stuff are being switched through rapidly as if spamming tab, the capslock light is being kept on, the screenshot/record menu keeps coming up, and other keyboard shortcuts are activated when i try to type. I cannot be sure if it is a hardware or software problem, but here are some things i tried to fix it that have not worked; restart the computer, clean under the keycaps, plug in an external keyboard (the issue still persists, even though external keyboard should take priority i think?), run sfc scannow in command prompt (told me everything was fine), checked for viruses (none). I am very concerned, as this computer was recently purchased and it took me quite a while to save up for it. What I would like to know is: What is the issue, and how to fix it. Thank you very much and apologies again if this is the wrong place or if I did not provide enough information.

Answer 1

Hi, I'm Jan, I'm sorry you're experiencing this problem.

Try inspecting or testing each key on the keyboard, as there may be other keys that are problematic or stuck, preventing the other key from working or registering properly.

Or try to uninstall the keyboard drivers in the Device Manager and restart the computer.

However if that didnt work. Most likely the built-in keyboard is not working properly. You can try using an external keyboard as a temporary solution, but as long as the built-in keyboard remains connected, it may still interfere with the external keyboard and cause the same problem.

I suggest contacting your laptop manufacturer's support or a professional computer repair service to request a keyboard repair or replacement.

Answer 2

Thanks for the update. I'm glad the issue was resolved. In most cases, pressing the affected key on the internal keyboard triggers the issue.