HP Laptop typing extra characters - windows-10

So yesterday I was fine, however, starting this morning, I'm trying to log into my laptop and hit a very strange error.
Windows 10
HP Elitebook laptop.
Fresh startup from power off state.
Windows starts up just fine, but once I try to type anything (ie notepad, login prompt, etc, )
I get what I type, then about .5s later, I also get thirteen "3"s:
ie: 3333333333333
Doesn't matter what I type ... space, enter, shift, a, l ... any key .. results in thirteen "3"s following it.
If I use the on screen keyboard via Ease of Access, it "works fine" .. so I can type via that and not get the extra characters.
I've tapped and fiddled with the 3 key, it doesn't appear stuck.
Anyone got any crazy ideas? :)
[edit]
just to clarify what I meant by the .5s delay ...
if I quickly type: "test" ...
the result is:
test3333333333333
so funny enough, not repeated x4 (ie only 13, not 52, 3's)
[/edit]
[edit2]
can't get into safe mode .. tried a few different things, unable to get to it.
I did manage to get into the base cmos menu ...
and the 3's showing up there as well .. so that kind of confirms it's hardware, and not windows, doesn't it?
[/edit2]

Based on my past experience, this is almost always a problem with the keyboard hardware. Most likely the switch in the key itself, which can stick even if the keycap itself doesn't.
While it is possible this is a software or a motherboard problem, I'd try booting to SAFE mode and see if the problem persists. If it does, your next step is to try to replace the keyboard or have it replaced.

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