Keyboard Issue

[OnsFrenske]

Hi all,

I’m having a persistent issue with my HP Elite Dragonfly (running Windows 11 Pro). After a full shutdown and power-on, the built-in keyboard stops working completely.

Here's what happened:

This problem only started after I ran several driver updates via HP Support Assistant. Before updating, the system would take several minutes to boot up. After the updates, the boot time became much faster (within seconds), but that’s when the keyboard issues began.

Now, if I do a full shutdown and turn the laptop back on, the keyboard doesn't work.
However, if I use the Restart option in Windows, the keyboard works just fine.
It's the opposite of what I’d expect.

What I've tried so far:

• Uninstalled the keyboard driver → after a restart, it works again (but breaks again after shutdown).

• Disabled driver updates via Group Policy (Do not include drivers with Windows Updates).

• Changed the registry setting SearchOrderConfig to 0.

• Blocked the updated driver using wushowhide.diagcab.

• Disabled HP Support Assistant auto-updates.

• Tried rolling back the driver (rollback is greyed out).

I suspect this is a driver issue triggered by the HP Support Assistant update. I’m trying to revert to the previous version of the keyboard driver and prevent Windows from reinstalling the newer, problematic version.

Has anyone run into something similar with HP laptops, or found a way to truly lock in a working driver version?

Thanks in advance!

[y0ur5h4d0w]

1. backup ALL your important data

2. backup your windows 11 key

3. download rufus

4. download windows 11 directly from microsoft

5. use rufus to make a bootable win 11 usb

6. BURN DOWN THE PREINSTALLED WIN 11 
7. reinstall a clean windows 11

8. install every drivers NOT THE HP UTILITIES

9. enjoy

 

 

this will most likely help with your issue, if you have a spare nvme or ssd you can try to swap the disks and give a try to the clean boot. every laptop i buy the first procedure i do is to burn down the preinstalled version of windows which is full of crap. 99% of the time this will fix your issue.

 

if this doesn't work... try linux  (it's a joke don't hate me please)

[OnsFrenske]

1 minute ago, y0ur5h4d0w said:

1. backup ALL your important data

2. backup your windows 11 key

3. download rufus

4. download windows 11 directly from microsoft

5. use rufus to make a bootable win 11 usb

6. BURN DOWN THE PREINSTALLED WIN 11 
7. reinstall a clean windows 11

8. install every drivers NOT THE HP UTILITIES

9. enjoy

 

 

this will most likely help with your issue, if you have a spare nvme or ssd you can try to swap the disks and give a try to the clean boot. every laptop i buy the first procedure i do is to burn down the preinstalled version of windows which is full of crap. 99% of the time this will fix your issue.

 

if this doesn't work... try linux  (it's a joke don't hate me please)

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I actually tried a clean install twice already — downloaded the ISO directly from Microsoft, used Rufus to create a bootable USB, wiped everything, installed a clean version of Windows 11, and skipped all the HP utilities like you suggested.

Each time, I initially get the slow boot again (just like before the HP Support Assistant updates). But once I install drivers — either via Windows Update or manually from HP — the fast boot returns, and the keyboard issue comes back right after shutdown and power-on.

So it seems like something in the newer drivers is causing this — not necessarily the preinstalled Windows setup.

That said, I do have a spare NVMe SSD lying around. I’ll try swapping that in and doing a fresh install on the new drive to isolate everything and see what happens.

Appreciate your help — I’ll report back after testing!

[y0ur5h4d0w]

1 minute ago, OnsFrenske said:

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I actually tried a clean install twice already — downloaded the ISO directly from Microsoft, used Rufus to create a bootable USB, wiped everything, installed a clean version of Windows 11, and skipped all the HP utilities like you suggested.

Each time, I initially get the slow boot again (just like before the HP Support Assistant updates). But once I install drivers — either via Windows Update or manually from HP — the fast boot returns, and the keyboard issue comes back right after shutdown and power-on.

So it seems like something in the newer drivers is causing this — not necessarily the preinstalled Windows setup.

That said, I do have a spare NVMe SSD lying around. I’ll try swapping that in and doing a fresh install on the new drive to isolate everything and see what happens.

Appreciate your help — I’ll report back after testing!

 

hmmm ok so the question is: 

 

do you actually need the keyboard drivers? those are for the FN + F* buttons

 

did you try to turn off the fastboot from the bios? might be worth a try even though it's almost certenly not the cause of this issue

[OnsFrenske]

15 minutes ago, y0ur5h4d0w said:

 

hmmm ok so the question is: 

 

do you actually need the keyboard drivers? those are for the FN + F* buttons

 

did you try to turn off the fastboot from the bios? might be worth a try even though it's almost certenly not the cause of this issue

That’s a good point — I don’t really need the Fn + F* functionality, so skipping the HP keyboard driver might be a decent workaround if it avoids the issue altogether.

I haven’t tried disabling Fast Boot in the BIOS yet, but I’ll give that a shot too — even if it’s unlikely, it’s worth testing just to eliminate variables.

Right now I’m reinstalling everything on the spare NVMe drive to see what happens with a completely clean slate. I’ll avoid the HP keyboard driver this time and stick to just the basics from Windows Update.

Appreciate the suggestions — will keep you posted on what happens!

[OnsFrenske]

18 minutes ago, OnsFrenske said:

I haven’t tried disabling Fast Boot in the BIOS yet, but I’ll give that a shot too — even if it’s unlikely, it’s worth testing just to eliminate variables.

Quick update: I tried disabling Fast Boot in the BIOS, just in case — unfortunately, it didn’t make any difference.

[y0ur5h4d0w]

1 hour ago, OnsFrenske said:

That’s a good point — I don’t really need the Fn + F* functionality, so skipping the HP keyboard driver might be a decent workaround if it avoids the issue altogether.

I haven’t tried disabling Fast Boot in the BIOS yet, but I’ll give that a shot too — even if it’s unlikely, it’s worth testing just to eliminate variables.

Right now I’m reinstalling everything on the spare NVMe drive to see what happens with a completely clean slate. I’ll avoid the HP keyboard driver this time and stick to just the basics from Windows Update.

Appreciate the suggestions — will keep you posted on what happens!

it's most likely that not having the keyboard drivers will fix the issue, let me know it if fixes it

[OnsFrenske]

8 minutes ago, y0ur5h4d0w said:

it's most likely that not having the keyboard drivers will fix the issue, let me know it if fixes it

Quick final update: after installing a fresh NVMe SSD and doing a clean Windows 11 install, the problem is now fully resolved.

• Boot times are fast right from the start (no more slow pre-update boots).

• The built-in keyboard works perfectly, even after full shutdown and power-on.

• I’ve installed all Windows updates and skipped the HP-specific utilities — no issues so far.

So it seems the original SSD might have been the root of the problem — possibly too slow or just failing silently in a weird way.

 

Thank you!

[y0ur5h4d0w]

8 minutes ago, OnsFrenske said:

Quick final update: after installing a fresh NVMe SSD and doing a clean Windows 11 install, the problem is now fully resolved.

• Boot times are fast right from the start (no more slow pre-update boots).

• The built-in keyboard works perfectly, even after full shutdown and power-on.

• I’ve installed all Windows updates and skipped the HP-specific utilities — no issues so far.

So it seems the original SSD might have been the root of the problem — possibly too slow or just failing silently in a weird way.

 

Thank you!

glad you found the issue and found a fix