Question Something Capable of Showing What Software is Using Which Hardware

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E

Ellowas

Commendable
Aug 26, 2020
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I'm looking for a program that's capable of showing me what other programs are affecting parts of my PC such as my keyboard. I've been having this weird issue recently with my z and x keys behaving erratically—sometimes they'll function just fine, and they'll won't do anything at other times, but I can't figure out the cause.

How I noticed this right away is when those two keys stopped working in a game I play, and I could no longer hold a directional key and press either of them at the same time.

When I factory reset my PC and sent it in for a RMA, they didn't discover anything but did manage to fix my Bluetooth (was a faulty MediaTek piece that they replaced with Intel). Does anyone know of a program capable of doing this? The only two I came across was something called Spy++ (not sure how this one works) and a program for checking what Windows hotkeys are in use for stuff like OneDrive.

I've already tried the keyboard troubleshooter, testing an external and the on-screen keyboards, removing drivers, toggling the "Keys" settings in Accessibility -> Keyboard, booting in safe mode without networking, and factory resetting as mentioned (may have to do this again as a last resort—really wish I tested a game before I put everything back on my PC).


  • Device: ASUS TUF Gaming F17 FX706HM
  • Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz 2.30 GHz
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
  • Installed RAM: 32.0 GB (31.7 GB usable)
  • System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
  • Disk Drive: NVMe Samsung MZVLQ1T0HBLB-00BTW
    • Space: 120 GB of 930 GB
  • PSU: ADP-200JB D
    • Age: Came with the PC and is the same age as the PC. (One year old.)
    • Condition: New (only used by me). I barely touch it, and it's usually in a safe location until I have to move it for cleaning.
    • Input: 100-240V, 50-60Hz, 2.5A
    • Output: 20.0V, 10.0A, 200.0W
 
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Unless you have some keyboard specific application installed, the only thing that talks to your keyboard is Windows.

Your applications talk to Windows, Windows talks to the keyboard.
Thats sort of the point of the OS...to be a central meeting place for everything.
 
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Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

As I understand your post the keyboard appears to be the problem.

Make and model keyboard?

Try running the built-in Windows troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Have you tried manually downloading the keyboard's drivers via the manufacturer's website?

Manually download, reinstall, and reconfigure the drivers. No third party installers.
 
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USAFRet said:
Unless you have some keyboard specific application installed, the only thing that talks to your keyboard is Windows.

Your applications talk to Windows, Windows talks to the keyboard.
Thats sort of the point of the OS...to be a central meeting place for everything.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm trying to find out—if there's anything in between that's disrupting communication for the z and x keys.

Every other key is fine except those two.

Ralston18 said:
Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

As I understand your post the keyboard appears to be the problem.

Make and model keyboard?

Try running the built-in Windows troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Have you tried manually downloading the keyboard's drivers via the manufacturer's website?

Manually download, reinstall, and reconfigure the drivers. No third party installers.
Click to expand...
Updated.

That's what I also thought when I sent it in, because I did a lot of testing beforehand to make sure it wasn't something I installed, but they didn't see anything wrong with it—only the Bluetooth.

I didn't list this one, but I've already tried the troubleshooter for the keyboard among other methods. As usual, they don't find anything. It's usually the network troubleshooter that successfully finds issues when there is one.

There are none. The keyboard uses generic drivers.

I've also done that; I don't trust third-party software to correctly install anything of importance anyway.

Rokinamerica said:
I am not clear from the OP, is it only in the one game this happens? If so, I would look in game to see if the key bindings there have changed at all. Game settings or controls.
Click to expand...

It happens in general. What I meant is that I initially discovered the issue while playing a game.

I had certain abilities bound to Z, X, C, and V, but there were random times I couldn't activate the first two keys. When they would work, I couldn't hold a key like W (move forward) and press either of them at the same time—likewise with SHIFT.

After closing the game, it'd occur with everything else I do. Even now, I'm struggling to type Z and X here.
 
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Try another known working (no key problems) on your computer.

Try your problem keyboard on another known working (no key problems) computer.

Determine if the key problem stays with your computer or follows the keyboard.

Double check the keyboard layout. Could be that some other game likewise "bound" or "unbound" the keys in question.

How were those "abilities" bound to the keys? Closing the game may not revert the bindings.

= = = =

Try "scf /scannow" and "dism" - may be some file corruption problem.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image | Windows Central
 
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Ralston18 said:
Try another known working (no key problems) on your computer.

Try your problem keyboard on another known working (no key problems) computer.

Determine if the key problem stays with your computer or follows the keyboard.

Double check the keyboard layout. Could be that some other game likewise "bound" or "unbound" the keys in question.

How were those "abilities" bound to the keys? Closing the game may not revert the bindings.

= = = =

Try "scf /scannow" and "dism" - may be some file corruption problem.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image | Windows Central
Click to expand...

Is there a way to do this for a laptop on another PC? The problem keys and keyboard is an integrated one, but I'm sure there may be a way to do it—just never tried nor thought of it before. It's a good idea.

My PC's language only has English (United States) and US as its keyboard layout.

I'm not sure. The only games I regularly play that uses Z by default is Skyrim for Powers/Shouts, and Guild Wars 2 is the other game I mentioned where I rebound F1 to F4 to Z, X, C, and V. I highly doubt remapping keys in a game would affect the keyboard out of the game—not even sure how that would be possible.

I'll try the CMD commands until I can figure out how to use my laptop's keyboard on another PC.

Zerk2012 said:
It could just be the key switches. Intermittent problem
Click to expand...

That's what I also thought when I sent it in, and I'm still trying to figure out how they (ASUS) didn't notice it.

I may just have to send it in again if I can't figure out the issue myself and if the last resort (factory resetting without saving or restoring my data) doesn't work.
 
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Check with another keyboard to see if the problem continues. If you don't have another keyboard, I recommend getting a cheap one anyway because having a second keyboard is handy.

But as for answering the particular question in the OP, yes there is an application of showing which software is using which hardware by way of which driver is loaded via Process Explorer. However, this isn't really useful in your case because keyboards don't require specific drivers anymore to function, they all use the standard Windows one.
 
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hotaru.hino said:
Check with another keyboard to see if the problem continues. If you don't have another keyboard, I recommend getting a cheap one anyway because having a second keyboard is handy.

But as for answering the particular question in the OP, yes there is an application of showing which software is using which hardware by way of which driver is loaded via Process Explorer. However, this isn't really useful in your case because keyboards don't require specific drivers anymore to function, they all use the standard Windows one.
Click to expand...

That's one of the first things I tried—a cheap HP keyboard I had in a box. All of the keys, including the problem keys, function as intended like the on-screen keyboard did. What Ralston18 said is a great idea though, but I have no idea how to make my laptop's keyboard work on another device for testing.

I'm eager to get my hands on any tools that might help me figure out whatever little trickster is causing this before I rush towards a factory reset, so I'll give Process Explorer a peak when CMD is done and hope for the best.
 
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Ralston18 said:
Try "scf /scannow" and "dism" - may be some file corruption problem.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image | Windows Central
Click to expand...
Good news is that sfc did manage to find and fix some corrupt files—if they're related to my keyboard, I have no idea. I guess a restart might tell, but I'm not hopeful.

GWHr8x8.png


What I don't know is what I should do with the DISM command. The second link you told me gave me a "Hmmm... can't reach this page" error, and there's a wealth of arguments under it alone.
 
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Zerk2012 said:
It might of worked fine for them. Knowing Asus they probably hit the keys a couple times and called it good.
Click to expand...

That's most likely what happened. When I sent my PC off the first time to a facility in California back in December for issues with my Bluetooth (it would randomly disconnect all together when in use), they didn't find anything wrong with it because they didn't really thoroughly test it.

This time, I sent it in with a whole paragraph as an explanation about my keyboard while mentioning the Bluetooth at the very end to a facility in Indiana, they didn't seem to have done anything with my keyboard, but they replaced the MediaTek chip in my PC with an Intel one.

Seems like MediaTek commonly causes issues with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi completely disappearing until the PC is flushed of power.

Anyway, when I got my PC back, the keys were fine in its factory state, they were okay when I restored everything back on my PC via an image I saved of my entire drive, but the problem started happening again shortly afterwards then throughout today.
 
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Ralston18 said:
dism link:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image
Click to expand...
Thanks, I ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth and it almost immediately said it didn't find any problems.

I went ahead and did another factory reset—wiped everything and let it reinstall Windows 11 via the cloud, and the issue persisted even after that. I know this is most likely a fruitless effort, but I'm going to do another factory reset via an installation media with Windows 11 on it.

Everything still points to it being a hardware issue like I figured last time I ran a bunch of tests before sending it off to ASUS, so I probably will have to send it to them again at some point. This is the last time I'm buying a laptop—year one and I'm already having problems that I'm having to beg a company do double-checks to find and fix.
 
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Ralston18 said:
Another way to test the laptop's keyboard is to remote into another computer on your network.

If necessary:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-services/clients/remote-desktop-allow-access

Use the laptop's keys to work and game on the remote computer.

Determine if there are key press problems.
Click to expand...

At this point, I'm very assured that it's a hardware issue that ASUS unfortunately overlooked to give themselves less work to do, but I am curious about how this will work out.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in and helped thus far—super appreciated. ❦
 
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hotaru.hino said:
If there's a problem with RAM, it won't cause specific, repeatable issues. You'd have random issues if the system doesn't outright crash.
Click to expand...

PassMark said:
Seems ASUS sells replacement keyboards

Asus TUF Gaming Black backlit American keyboard

en.accessoires-asus.com en.accessoires-asus.com
Parts are pretty expensive however.

Video of keyboard replacement for this model of Laptop.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUrZOKrFyUI

Seems it isn't a trivial procedure, at all, to replace it. Hope for your sake they do it under warranty.
Click to expand...

Thanks, wanted to check every piece of hardware I can feasibly get my hands on before I send it off, but it seems like I'm going to have to do just that today.

If they still can't detect the issue or neglect to do so (again), I'll just have to avoid both keys and plan my next PC—a custom desktop this time—because that... definitely isn't trivial to do at home.

Lots of parts being carefully removed JUST to get to the keyboard.
 
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