Strange Keyboard Behavior - repeating keys, not working in BIOS

[funeefunee]

tl;dr My expensive keyboard registers multiple keypresses after a single hit for no reason. (Can't get a refund.) My cheap keyboard won't work in the BIOS unless the expensive keyboard is plugged in at the same time. What is happening?


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I'm throwing together a 2nd system dedicated to Linux. So I was using an old keyboard, an ASUS STRIX but found that certain keys are typing twice or up to four times when I just hit them once. This is happening on every system and every OS. Does anyone know why this might be? It's a mechanical keyboard. I'm hoping it's a small issue like it just needs cleaning.

Anyway I bought a 2nd, cheap USB keyboard and started using that for the Linux system. I found out though that for some reason it doesn't switch on until the OS starts up. So I can't access my BIOS and I can't choose my OS from the boot menu. So I plugged the STRIX back in (that works fine in BIOS) and just use it for the Del key. What's strange is that now that the STRIX is plugged in the cheap keyboard works too. When the STRIX is unplugged the cheap keyboard, again, refuses to work until the OS has booted.

Does anyone know what the hell this is? I really don't want to spend $60 on a new keyboard when I have this one here. I've updated all the STRIX firmware and stuff like that. So is there any way I can fix the multi-input issue? And does anyone know what the strange behavior is with the 2nd keyboard?

Thanks.

 

[Colif]

Asus keyboard - strange it works in bios but in no other OS? I assume by every OS you mean windows and linux? it might be bios doesn't support multi key presses at once so isn't seeing the behavior of keyboard. I had a broken W key on my last keyboard and it would repeat. Have you tried cleaning the keyvcaps? make sure its just not dust or grime causing a multi contact from 1 press.

What motherboard is the PC using? Have you tried resetting the bios without the Asus keyboard attached? Does it happen regardless of what USB slots you attach each keyboard to?

 

[funeefunee]

Asus keyboard - strange it works in bios but in no other OS? I assume by every OS you mean windows and linux? it might be bios doesn't support multi key presses at once so isn't seeing the behavior of keyboard. I had a broken W key on my last keyboard and it would repeat. Have you tried cleaning the keyvcaps? make sure its just not dust or grime causing a multi contact from 1 press.

What motherboard is the PC using? Have you tried resetting the bios without the Asus keyboard attached? Does it happen regardless of what USB slots you attach each keyboard to?

Woops, I didn't get a notification for your response. What I mean is that the ASUS works everywhere, in all OSs and in the BIOS. It's just that the other keyboard won't let me get into the BIOS. The caps lock light won't work until the OS (Kali Linux) reaches the login screen. It just doesn't seem to know a keyboard is there until the OS loads.

However when both keyboards are connected at once they both work in the BIOS AND in the OS and I don't know why. Yeah I've tried all USB ports and it's the same.

I'd prefer to use the ASUS for everything because it's a pretty high quality keyboard but the repeating key thing makes things impossible in Linux when logging in in a terminal since you can't see how many keys you've pressed for the password. When you say keycaps do you just mean the removable keys?

This happens even without the keys attached, it's like an internal thing. I've never spilled any liquids on it or anything like that so I can't imagine what it is. Do you know if mechanical keyboards are easy to open and clean? I'm worried in case I open it to clean it and wreck the thing.

edit: I'm just testing the ASUS now and it seems that keys that repeat (I don't know if it's a coincidence but with 2 keyboards plugged in the ASUS doesn't seem to be repeating as often) seem to be grouped. W, E and T seem to be repeating. O was repeating last time but I can't get it to repeat at all now. Is it possible that this could be a USB issue and somehow the 2nd keyboard is changing things?

The motherboard is a Gigabyte Z77-D3H. It's pretty old, maybe 2009 or maybe even earlier but everything else works fine, I just don't get this weird BIOS / OS thing and would love to just ditch the cheap keyboard for the ASUS.

edit2: The repeating key issue has definitely become less frequent with the 2nd keyboard attached. Very strange. I couldn't login to Linux at all because it was repeating keys so often. Now it's happening maybe once every 20-30 keypresses.

 

[Colif]

I think the most you can remove on a mechanical keyboard is the keys (caps) though, I can see screws on base of my keyboard now that I look. From what I can tell, the screws just hold on the frame anyway so the keys are in their own unit and not sure how you would know what damage looks like. I found someone wanting to mod the keyboard but not enough screenshots to see much.

If the repeat thing only happened on that PC, I could say the bios on motherboard is older than the keyboard and it could just be a conflict or misunderstood instructions.

3 revisions of that motherboard
rev 1 newest bios is F23b dated 17th Jan 2014
rev 1.1 shares same bios number (I double checked i wasn't clicking same link)
rev 1.2 latest bios is f8b dats th Jan 2014

Now if keyboard is newer than those dates, I doubt updating it will help. That and you say it repeats on other systems and windows/linux. Do Asus Strix keyboard have their own software? or just use default drivers?

 

[funeefunee]

I think the most you can remove on a mechanical keyboard is the keys (caps) though, I can see screws on base of my keyboard now that I look. From what I can tell, the screws just hold on the frame anyway so the keys are in their own unit and not sure how you would know what damage looks like. I found someone wanting to mod the keyboard but not enough screenshots to see much.

If the repeat thing only happened on that PC, I could say the bios on motherboard is older than the keyboard and it could just be a conflict or misunderstood instructions.

3 revisions of that motherboard
rev 1 newest bios is F23b dated 17th Jan 2014
rev 1.1 shares same bios number (I double checked i wasn't clicking same link)
rev 1.2 latest bios is f8b dats th Jan 2014

Now if keyboard is newer than those dates, I doubt updating it will help. That and you say it repeats on other systems and windows/linux. Do Asus Strix keyboard have their own software? or just use default drivers?

Yeah the keys repeat on other systems too. I'm thinking maybe someone spilled something on it and tried to clean it up maybe without telling me because the repeating issue is in a very specific area near the qwerty keys (and the "o" key) only. Surely they'd all be repeating randomly if it was a software issue?

Yeah the keyboard has a pretty crappy, basic piece of software with it for setting up macro keys and a program for updating the firmware. I did update not long ago. I might try opening it to see if there's anything at all in there that can be fixed or cleaned. Other than that it looks like it'll have to continue life as a stuttering emergency backup keyboard. Pity because it's really nice.

 

[Colif]

which model Strix keyboard as there appear to be a few? I would see if any videos or articles about taking them apart, I looked but since strix is also used for Asus laptops its mostly what I found

if problem happens with and without that macro software running, i guess we can't blame it.

 

[funeefunee]

which model Strix keyboard as there appear to be a few? I would see if any videos or articles about taking them apart, I looked but since strix is also used for Asus laptops its mostly what I found

if problem happens with and without that macro software running, i guess we can't blame it.

All I can find regarding the model is "Strix Tactic Pro". Yeah the keys repeat no matter what. I put the keyboard into storage a while ago because I tried everything I could think of at the time and eventually gave up. I was hoping someone else may have had a similar problem. I can't see any screw holes on the bottom but there are a lot of rubber feet which is where they probably are.

I've ordered a new nicer keyboard (nicer than the cheap one I'm using for Linux) anyway so when it arrives I'll see if I can open the Strix.

 

[Colif]

this is what it looks like out of shell

https://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/what-mods-can-i-do-to-an-asus-strix-keyboard-with-cmx-blue-switches-t17416.html

Could be the switches are broken, the link above is a story of 1 guy replacing some