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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Dr Xav on Mon, 29 February 2016, 02:53:04
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Hello,
I have a Kmac for a while now, working fine, never had a issue. but I have the following problem.
Sometimes the keyboard just stop responding and I need to unplug/replug to make it work again. I don't know if it the keyboard or windows.
Anybody experience this before? what could it be?
Thanks!
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It could be a bad hub, you may think you're not using one, but some motherboards use one internally. It could also be a bad cord. However, it's mostly likely one of two things, either a short, or a problem with the controller.
My Filco has an aftermarket controller and has this exact same problem, I thought it was a grounding issue since it's in an aluminum case, but I made sure it wasn't grounding out and I replaced the cord, which was having a problem, but neither fixed it. One thing I found helpful was I have a hub with a power switch, and could quickly power cycle it that way. It also experiences another issue where it will randomly trigger what amounts to an ALT key when using a key near the left ALT, however if I check keystroke logs, ALT has not been hit but it acts like it has and gets stuck that way. When I find it, I'll be trying the stock controller to see if it fixes it (once I locate it), but I've been using my Magicforce so it's not been a priority.
I'll be curious to see if anyone else has any ideas.
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It happens to me as well from time to time and I'm pretty sure it's related to USB controllers, specifically USB 3.0 ports.
If you have any 2,4 GHz radio adapter, namely WiFi, make sure you run the manufacturer latest drivers as Windows generic drivers (assuming you run on that OS) leads to any sort of conflict.
Furthermore, if you use a built-in USB port, see what chipset your motherboard has, as switching from one to another might solve the problem, or reduce it greatly.
My mobo has either Intel and Renesas' chipses and the latter tends to replicate the issue more often.
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At the moment I am connected through the usb3 switch from my screen (I had the same directly connected)
I though it could be the MB, so I connected a second KB on the switch. Today the Kmac was dead but the other KB was working fine.
This leads me to believe that the MB is fine.
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Indeed it could be a faulty keyboard, if you have a second computer to test it with, go for it.
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Other interesting thing is that since I have installed AVR usb, I can't prevent the keyboard to wake up the conputer. even with all hid deactivated on windows ....
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I don't have wifi attached and it's not on a USB 3.0 port, however, I do know that USB is a terrible protocol, with no built-in error correction (3.0 I believe may correct this). I see and hear about USB errors all the time with 3d printers.
Mine seemed to get worse over time, but it is a cheap Chinese hub (aren't they all), which could be degrading. Could be a driver issue as well, since they have been updated a few times. I can check that once I get switched over to Linux. The inconsistency is the tough part, it can work a week or more without problem, then 3 times in a single day.
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I hooked up a different KB this morning, and no repeat of the issue so far. I'll wait for a couple of days.