That definitely sounds like a deeper problem, but there may still be an easy fix. Sometimes crumbs, bits of dirt, or even bugs will get under the keys, preventing them from pressing all the way down and engaging the switch. You could try prying off the top of the U and seeing if there's any cleaning to be done. Beyond that, it gets more complicated than I would want to try walking someone through in comments. There are several YouTube videos out there (probably some on other platforms as well) on laptop repair. Keyboards are usually pretty and cheap and pretty easy to fix.