Area-51m randomly starts typing 111111

This has been driving me crazy. Randomly my laptop would just start typing 1111111 . It wouldn't stop until I reboot. The laptop could work fine for an hour or so then it starts doing it again.

Anyone had this happen before?

@Mr. Fox @iunlock @Papusan

 

Yup. I have seen that a couple of times. I cannot remember the last time I saw it or what laptop it was happening on. I think it may have been one of the Thinkpads I used to use at work, since they were subjected to dirtier environments than my own systems.

Either the keyboard needs to be cleaned or replaced. That key is sticking. It could be an issue with the keyboard controller as well. While it is not something I have seen frequently and it's not a common problem in terms of frequency, I wouldn't call it unusual or mysterious. It could be something as simple as a small piece of debris under the "1" key scissor mechanism... Like a tiny little piece of styrofoam from packing material, for example.

 

but why does it do it randomly? like I'm using the computer just fine, typing, watching YouTube, then all of a sudden this would start.

I might upgrade to the crappy 1.7.3 BIOS for a while just to test things.

I have also disconnected my Xbox controller for now to see if it does it.

Edit: oh and by the way, when I format my laptop, I would be using it for hours tweaking and whatnot and this never happens. I wonder if it's some dodgy app or driver.

 

Can't answer that, but the reason might be simple and easy to understand once it is identified. It depends on whether it is a piece of debris or a hardware problem. If it is a piece of debris, it may be partially depressing the 1 key switch. If it is a defective keyboard, or if it is another hardware or software problem, any number of things could cause it to be random.

 

Could be heat issue, does the surrounding area get warm/hot to the touch?

 

I am still puzzled, why wouldn't this happen before I installed all my apps. I am sure there is something behind this because I just formatted today and I spent 2 hours tweaking and whatnot. I need to hunt down whatever fishy app I might have installed that's doing this.

PS: disconnecting the Xbox controller wasn't it.

 

Nope


but I just checked Event Viewer and noticed this:

 

Maybe it's a keylogger that doesn't know when to stop. If you think it is being caused by software, maybe eliminate things one-by-one, starting with the software you have been using the shortest amount of time.

Yup, it could definitely be a bug in AWCC. It has some "features" related to the keyboard, doesn't it? Remove it with Revo and see if the problem goes away.

Did you recently update it because of the "newer is better" mental illness most of us suffer from? If it was a recent update, installing it may have borked the firmware that it uses for various things. Using Revo won't roll back the firmware, but installing an older version might overwrite the firmware with an older (better) version.

 

This is one of the latest apps that I have installed in the past months, I just uninstalled it: IconViewer v3.02

I have been using the latest version of AWCC for a while. I am sure it's one of the apps bro because only after installing all my apps does this start to happen.

Like I am typing right now and everything is fine. I will continue to report my findings.

I have also reset the BIOS to defaults, still on 1.5.0

 

I've seen this before along with other keys on Varies laptops in the past. Here were the causes to the issues:

1. Corrupted driver / app etc...
2. Damaged (pinched) keyboard ribbon cable that's causing kinda' like a short.
3. Damaged key mechanism under the key cap.

Most of the time I was able to fix it via software, but there were times where I had to replace the keyboard ribbon cable and/or kb main board.

I'm thinking with your case it could be software / app related.

Try installing a spare ssd and do a clean windows install. It's a good way to rule out if it's software or hardware related.

Hope that helps... I'm curious now.

 

Does it happen in safe mode?

To mention the obvious, if you suspect a rougue piece of 3rd party software, you could use selective startup to disable all the autostarting pieces of software. If it helps, just binary search for the culprit.

 

@Mr. Fox

I 've played NFS Heat and been using the laptop for an hour now, the problem hasn't recurred sine I uninstalled this IconViewer app. I'll keep reporting back I'm sure it's software related.

 

@Mr. Fox @iunlock

Still hadn't done it again! Could a stupid icon viewer app cause this? Weird!

 

Seems not too likely, but I think anything is possible. I would give it a little more time. If the problem never comes back after a couple of days, install that software again and see if the problem returns. Then you'll know for certain and can warn others if it is cancerware.

 

still didn't recur bro

 

@Mr. Fox @iunlock It's been almost a day bro, not a single 111111

IconViewer was the culprit!

I didn't change the BIOS or VBIOS, only uninstalled that program.

The Virus Total results for it show all clean by the way.

 

Maybe it is conflicting with AWCC keyboard controls or something like that. I should install it and see if it causes any issues on my desktop or turdbook.

 

Glad you found the culprit!

 

My razer blade pro does this as well. I think all these new systems are i2c based keyboards and mice which requires a different type of controller than what older systems used (ps/2). Never had an issue with ps/2 based keyboards, two razers I’ve had to this. Lucky the controller recognizes the fault and resets itself

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rts-typing-111111.832415/page-2#post-11001274

 

It has been installed on my desktop and turdbook. Waiting to see if anything unusual happens. So far, nothing different noticed. Will advise if I find anything unusual.

 

To be honest, I sincerely think Alienware is by far one of the most over-rated brand I come across so far. Granted the specification and modification are great, but I still d o not convince of the ripped pricing,

 

Well, in my opinion the price really isn't out of line with the market. The problem is all of the performance gimping and proprietary control freak crap the dumb-dumbs at Dell are famous for. But, the bottom line is pretty much all laptops are trash now. They're all varying shades of garbage. But, Dell / Alienware and Razer would be my last choices at this point. The thought of buying almost any "gaming" notebook is kind of disgusting to me.

 

No issues encountered so far with the desktop or the laptop. IconViewer is installed on both and neither machine has experienced any odd behavior.

 

This is very puzzling.

 

Might be something else on your system, such as AWCC, had a conflict with it. Will give it another day or two and see if anything gets weird on either of my computers before we decide everything is OK.

 

Use Autoruns to disable software/services that smells Dell. Then test. If your wife still have the old Dellbook, test it there as well. Next level has to be try out other drivers.

 

My daughter spilled water on my wife's Vostro 5470 so the keyboard doesn't work only the touch screen but I wouldn't wanna touch it and until the Corona Virus crap is over I can't fix it.

For now, I will start by doing all my tweaks using Winaero then if all goes well, I will take a system image with Macrium Reflect and test again.

Since I uninstalled it, the keyboard hasn't done this once and I've been using my laptop all day long including playing NFS Heat for a couple of hours.

 

Do you know if your machine has I2c or PS2 inputs?

 

I am not sure. I installed it on the desktop and laptop (X299 Dark and MECH-15).

Looking now... The desktop has one PS2 port available, but I am using USB. Nothing is using I2C or PS2 on the desktop as best I can tell looking at devices by connection in Device Manager.

I will have to look in Device Manager on the laptop.

Edit:
Looks like the MECH-15 has a "PS2" keyboard and the touchpad is I2C.

 

Sorry guys, turns out it wasn't the Icon Viewer. Up till yesterday, the system was working fine for many days, I did all my Windows 10 tweaks manually, as in, via reg edit files. Then when I used Winaero Tweaker yesterday to apply some more tweaks like disabling telemetry, disabling some context menu entries that are not needed (ie. Scan with Windows Defender, Extract All, Cast to device, etc.) today the problem came back so it seems to be one of those Winaero Tweaks! Now God knows what tweak it was because there are many!

Re-Enabled the following Tweaks for now to see:

• Enable Numlock on login screen
• Add "Install" command to context menu of CAB files
• Reset Icon Cache Size from what I set it before (1024KB) to the default (512KB)

 

2 hours have passed, still no signs of 1111

 

Interesting. I use a TON of WinAero Tweaker tweaks and haven't encountered any adverse behavior with any of them. If you can pinpoint the one that causes it, let me know and I will see if applying that tweak (if I haven't already) causes an issue for either of my systems.

 

No 1111 till now.

Can you enable these tweaks for now so we're on the same page? I have a suspicion that the enable NUM LOCK tweak might be behind this. Do these:

• Enable Numlock on login screen
• Add "Install" command to context menu of CAB files
• Set Icon Cache Size to 1024KB

 

Hey bro. I just checked and I already have exactly those settings applied with WinAero Tweaker on the desktop and laptop. I have those options saved in my default configuration backup (ini file) as well.

 

Great minds think alike heh?! Now I haven't had a 111 since I've disabled those 3. I will enable one by one tomorrow and see how it goes.

PS: I've reinstalled Icon Viewer so I can right click on an EXE and quickly extract its icon. Poor thing got roasted from me yesterday

Edit: I enabled the context menu for installing CAB files first.

 

At least your KB problems is less troublesome than this Area-51m, keyboard randomly keeps stop working

 

Yeah now I will enable Num Lock ON on the lock screen, this has my biggest suspicion

 

ok so enabling the NUM lock tweak didn't cause this to happen. Now let me bump the icon cache size again from the default 512KB to 3072KB

 

I think the laptop just wants to communicate with you. He's trying to tell you something [X-Files.mp3]

 

LOL, well I dunno what the heck is goin' on, I increased the icon cache size and it still didn't happen! Maybe doing them one by one fixed it? who knows. Anyway, @Mr. Fox Good news for us, Winaero Tweaker will be updated next week with a newer version bringing more tweaks to n00k Windows 10

 

@Mr. Fox So after all, guess what it was? A BIOS issue!

I formatted today and the moment I was on the Windows desktop this happened so now I know it's not any tweak or software! I was initially scared it's the laptop. Then I tried unplugging the mouse from the left USB port and the 1111's stopped!

I then moved the mouse cable to the right port and plugged in my Xbox Controller to the left USB port, the problem happened again! Not always, but enough for it to be annoying as only a reboot would stop it temporarily.

Then I remember I recently upgraded from BIOS 1.3.2 to 1.5.0 (both don't have the throttling issue) and I don't recall me having this issue with 1.3.2 so I downgraded the BIOS and the issue hasn't happened since then!

What do you think now? Why only the left USB port triggers this and why the number 1? Very strange.

EDIT: I am going crazy! now it happened again, the mouse is connected to the right port! The moment I unplugged the Alienware Elite Gaming Mouse AW959 mouse the 1111 stopped!

This was a brand new replacement mouse that I just got from Dell a couple of weeks back!

I plugged in my Logitech Chaos spectrum G900 now. I'll contact Dell on Monday to see if they can take that mouse back.

 

Tested with other versions of Aw's software/drivers?
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/alienware-mouse-aw959/drivers

 

Happens with or without the drivers

 

Why buy everything from Dell? Didn't your Aw headset go bananas also? https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/fxwngo/alienware_610m_mouse_not_charging/

 

Glad you got it figured out.

 

It is difficult to trust a company that sells so many flawed products. Seems like there is no ends to it. All bling and no bang.

 

I really hope this never will happen.

Alienware Looking Into Entering the PC Components Market

"The company, however, seems to have plans to increase its hold in the PC gaming ecosystem by entering the PC components market, where gaming branding opportunities abound"

Source: PC Games N

 

Last thing I want to see that happen and destroy entire PC industry by turning Server parts into BGA and locked down firmware!
Spartan: Try installing developer netfx sdk 4.8
and see if it fixes the issue after compiling the netfx binaries optimized for your PC(both x86 and x86-64) using ngen update.

 

i have had usb power issue since the m18x days and realized it would apply to all laptops based off the design. my guess was how the power sharing among the usb ports on left/right but ultimately comes down to mobo design.

with m18xr1 and r2 i would have mouse/keyboard plugged in and then some device such as external hard drive would go in and would freeze my computer, or mouse/keyboard stops responding. this keyboard/mouse USB devices also present on clevo laptops too, probably just crappy mobo design.

i think in your case it trigger the 1 key somehow and its doing this but USB power issue with laptop is a common problem and it sucks.