Question My keyboard isn't working as it should.

[naujanomrac]

I'm having problems with my keyboard. I'm going to summarize and go back to the beginning.

A few days ago I turned on the computer and my keyboard started to malfunction. When I wrote, the sentences would be incomplete because most of the letters I pressed on the keyboard didn't work, or the same character would be repeated several times and so on. So I was so deluded, I thought it was the keyboard, and I took advantage of the fact that I had been wanting to change it for a long time and bought another one.

Today it arrived and I connected it and to my surprise the exact same thing continues to happen, only this time it is WORSE. I have tried all the USBs, both 3.0 and 2.0, and both those on the box and those on the board and nothing.

I have also tried starting Windows in safe mode to see if it was caused by some program and nothing.

Since I wasn't sure if something could sneak into safe mode, I tried starting Hirens Boot on a USB and the same thing happens with the keyboard, so I think it's something hardware. My question now is, why does it only affect the keyboard and not the other peripherals (USB hub, USB headphones with DAC, mouse...) and what can I do?

 

[Nine Layer Nige]

Is it a wifi keyboard with a dongle ? or a USB cabled keyboard ?

 

[naujanomrac]

Is it a wifi keyboard with a dongle ? or a USB cabled keyboard ?

Oh, my mistake for not specifying it, USB cable keyboard, both keyboards.

 

[naujanomrac]

What's strange is that everything else works fine except the keyboard, which I don't understand, even if I plug the keyboard into the same USB port that the mouse was in before (which works perfectly).

 

[LinuxDevice]

You can create a Linux "live" DVD or thumb drive which only runs in RAM and does not install to the system. I'll suggest you do so, and see if the issue persists while in a different o/s. If it does, then you know it is hardware related; if not, then you know it is related to Windows.

Lots of bootable DVDs/thumb drive images are available. I tend to use KDE-based Ubuntu. You might check here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JammyJellyfish/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu

You could also check different applications within your Windows install to see if that changes anything.

Here is a more unusual test: If you have any games installed, and if those games have keyboard shortcut binding customization, then you could go to a binding setting and try setting one of the "badly behaving" keys to a binding. These typically use "scan codes" to perform the binding rather than using what the scan code points at (scan codes for example are how a game knows the difference between the left or right shift keys; when just looking at what the scan code points at you cannot tell if it was a left or right shift key). If that game is able to set bindings without trouble, then it implies the hardware itself is functioning, and that the software making the comparison to what the key is pointing to might be at fault.

An example of how the scan code might work, but actual interpretation of the binding might fail, is that there are different character sets for different regions of the world. For example, a french alphabet has some accents over characters, and if your setup somehow thinks you have some different character set than what you want, then typing things out might not do what you expect (especially if the language you are viewing does not know how to display that character; the keyboard settings and applications might disagree as to the character set, although the scan code will always be exactly the same thing).

 

[naujanomrac]

You can create a Linux "live" DVD or thumb drive which only runs in RAM and does not install to the system. I'll suggest you do so, and see if the issue persists while in a different o/s. If it does, then you know it is hardware related; if not, then you know it is related to Windows.

Lots of bootable DVDs/thumb drive images are available. I tend to use KDE-based Ubuntu. You might check here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JammyJellyfish/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu

You could also check different applications within your Windows install to see if that changes anything.

Here is a more unusual test: If you have any games installed, and if those games have keyboard shortcut binding customization, then you could go to a binding setting and try setting one of the "badly behaving" keys to a binding. These typically use "scan codes" to perform the binding rather than using what the scan code points at (scan codes for example are how a game knows the difference between the left or right shift keys; when just looking at what the scan code points at you cannot tell if it was a left or right shift key). If that game is able to set bindings without trouble, then it implies the hardware itself is functioning, and that the software making the comparison to what the key is pointing to might be at fault.

An example of how the scan code might work, but actual interpretation of the binding might fail, is that there are different character sets for different regions of the world. For example, a french alphabet has some accents over characters, and if your setup somehow thinks you have some different character set than what you want, then typing things out might not do what you expect (especially if the language you are viewing does not know how to display that character; the keyboard settings and applications might disagree as to the character set, although the scan code will always be exactly the same thing).

I tried booting from a Hirens Boot USB to see if it was a Windows thing and it was still the same... 🥺

I will try what you say with a game.

 

[naujanomrac]

Unfortunately the games thing hasn't worked (I've tried 3 games). I'm starting to suspect I don't know why that it has something to do with my PSU.

 

[naujanomrac]

I'm going to try Kubuntu on a USB. Would you recommend using "toram" @LinuxDevice ?

 

[stonecarver]

Being as you have tried with Linux as well to rule out the OS being the issue at the very least I myself would pop the side panel and just unplug than re-plug in the USB wires to motherboard and take a flash light and get a good look at all your USB inputs to see if there is damage or lint and dust.

Oh and make sure you unplug the PC and hold down the power switch for 20 seconds to drain left over power in system before messing around in the inside of PC.

 

[naujanomrac]

Being as you have tried with Linux as well to rule out the OS being the issue at the very least I myself would pop the side panel and just unplug than re-plug in the USB wires to motherboard and take a flash light and get a good look at all your USB inputs to see if there is damage or lint and dust.

Oh and make sure you unplug the PC and hold down the power switch for 20 seconds to drain left over power in system before messing around in the inside of PC.

I just opened the PC and disconnected and reconnected everything and took a look at everything and saw that it was fine and I don't see anything out of place. The USBs are perfect and spotless, they shine. The PC is not even a year old since I built it.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Well, which exact keyboard is it? Make and model. Any answers without knowing that makes this very hard.

 

[naujanomrac]

Hey there,

Well, which exact keyboard is it? Make and model. Any answers without knowing that makes this very hard.

I don't think the keyboard models matter much after saying that neither keyboard worked well, but they do work well on other PCs. Anyway, I'm putting them here in case it's of any use, thank you all very much.

Keyboard 1: Newskill Ivory TKL
Keyboard 2: "Dierya T68SE"

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Which mobo, and what are the rest of your specs? Have you tried clearing CMOS, to see if resetting the mobo, fixes the issue? You can use CPU-z and check to see what bios revision you are running, and if an update may also help.

Have you tried SFC scannow or DISM to see if ther are any missing or corrupt windows files? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

Are all system drivers up to date, including chipset?

 

[naujanomrac]

Which mobo, and what are the rest of your specs? Have you tried clearing CMOS, to see if resetting the mobo, fixes the issue? You can use CPU-z and check to see what bios revision you are running, and if an update may also help.

Have you tried SFC scannow or DISM to see if ther are any missing or corrupt windows files? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

Are all system drivers up to date, including chipset?

I have not done an SFC scan, what I did directly was boot a USB with Linux to see if the problem persisted there and it did... I already said it.

MOBO: B450M DS3H
Ryzen 5500
RTX 4060
8x2GB 3200MHz RAM
NVME 512GB

All updated.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

There is a USB bug with Ryzen which was corrected with a bios update. If you are happy to look in the bios, try upping the SOC voltage a notch or two, and see if that helps. Or, try the bios update.

Just to be clear you tried resetting the CMOS, yes?

 

[naujanomrac]

There is a USB bug with Ryzen which was corrected with a bios update. If you are happy to look in the bios, try upping the SOC voltage a notch or two, and see if that helps. Or, try the bios update.

Just to be clear you tried resetting the CMOS, yes?

I'll update the BIOS right now. And yes, I have already reset the CMOS.

 

[LinuxDevice]

I'm going to try Kubuntu on a USB. Would you recommend using "toram" @LinuxDevice ?

It sounds like you already tried Linux, which rules out a lot of software issues. It wouldn't matter in the case of trying out games which game as long as it captures keystrokes during key binding setup to test that keystroke.

Power supply is an interesting possibility. That reminds me though that USB2 should be delivering 5V to each device, and if there is a power failure (e.g., due to pulling too much total power on a USB bus), that this could cause a failure. However, if that were the case, then it is unlikely to be just a few keys which fail; it would be all keys. It sounds like not all keys fail.

The USB bus would be running in the USB 1.0 or 1.1 mode for a keyboard, and signal timings are rather easy at those speeds, but it is possible that a signal timing in the controller itself is at fault for some keys to fail, but not others, and perhaps not always on the few keys which fail. If that is the case though, then you'd have to replace the motherboard.

You can get inexpensive USB voltage/current monitors. Go to Amazon and search for "USB test". Sort by price low to high. Lots of small cheap devices can plug in and check the 5V of USB2, and the current draw. If the 5V is valid, then it is likely not a power supply issue.

There is no inexpensive way to check the signal quality, you'd need a hardware analyzer for that. However, I am leaning towards saying something is going on in the motherboard itself.

The idea of resetting BIOS, or a BIOS upgrade if there is new firmware, is a good idea. If something as simple as a low battery on the motherboard exists (it has a small button battery for BIOS settings), and if the voltage is a bit low, then it will likely show up as a hardware failure despite the hardware itself being good. How old is the button battery on the mobo?