Asus G73JH Keyboard Issues

I'm going to start this thread separately for those of use (and I know there are a few, at least) who have been having issues with the G73's keyboard. As noted in posts throughout some of the other threads, there seems to be a problem with the keyboard missing certain keystrokes...for me at least, it seems to happen when I begin typing a bit faster. The space bar, Y and T keys are the most prevalent keys being missed.

After playing around with a live Ubuntu CD today, it seems that my problems with the Y and T keys disappeared. I'm wondering now if maybe the keyboard driver for Windows 7 is causing some sort of issue. I don't have time at the moment to check closely again, but I did notice this morning when I uninstalled the Keyboard Filter driver in Windows, and just used the basic Windows PS/2 driver, I didn't seem to have as many missed keystrokes. This is the same result I got in Ubuntu. The only key that was really still missing was the space bar...and I think that's still just bad hardware design. Anyone want to do a little testing and help confirm this with me?

Thanks.

 

Make sure you have the keyboard filter driver installed in windows.

I am not sure if you did a reinstall or what not but that may help.

 

It seems to me like the keyboard filter driver actually made it worse...that's what I'm saying. I think tonight if I have some time I'm going to play with that a little more and possibly remove the keybaord and try the foil trick. I'll post pics I decide to do that.

 

Except I didn't have the issue.

Have you done a clean install yet?

 

Yup, that was the first thing I did. Installed Win 7 Pro to my new SSD. How much typing have you done on the G73? I mean if you're just sitting there typing on the T and Y keys...you won't experience the problem...they work fine in that situation and won't miss...ever really. However as soon as I start typing a long paragraph, they start missing...a lot. And it's not just them, they are just the most prevalent.

 

I didn't have any issues, but I'll keep an eye out and watch more closely

 

I'm tping on m G73 right now. I am no havin an issues with m "" and "" kes...

 

I have been doing the bulk of my "night posting" from the G73 here without the issue. I installed the filter driver already and my bios is the newest version, but otherwise it's stock. I didn't do a fresh install. I'll try and watch it a little more tonight.

HA! /alf

 

LOL...touché. Except I've been typing all of this on my iPhone. Hahaha

 

Imhavingaproblemwiththespacebar

 

Same here...I am having issues with the keys randomly though....sometimes its the space sometimes its other keys.
I have a clean windows 7 64-bit installation using all the stock drivers from the asus dvd.
-Scotty

 

Received my A2 on Tuesday.
My comments:
key board is easy to type, no issues with missing key strokes
nicely illuminated
screen color and def is very good
camera quality is somewhat grainy
I realy liked the rubberized surface, no prints show at all
it is not too heavy either
stays very cool when it is on your lap- my vaio was boiling
boots fast
battery lasts about 1.5 - 2 hours - not gaming though
came with 1333 memory spd- nice plus
I disabled the finger pad in CMOS- i use a mouse
Nap sack of descent quality
Had a good experience with Asus support.
Paid $1595 then received a $159.50 CashBack from Microsoft-net $1435

the only issue i had was playing movies. the windows media player has codec problems. sometimes it would play the movie other times getting error message, about analog protection error, need to upgrade video card - there is no upgrade fi even upgraded to or card. Asus recommended downloading VLC media player, that did work. win ultimate to see if that solve it , it did not.

All in all it is a great computer- played Crysis 1900 X 1080 with no lag at all with high settings

 

Do you have an X1 or an A2? Also do you know which version of the bios you're using?

 

Where did you buy it to get the 10% cashback?

 

Only issue I'm having is with the space bar. It doesn't register the actual key press a large amount of the time. I'd like to take it off and re-seat it, but I don't know how it is attached. I don't want to break it off

 

Interesting...I may attempt to figure out how to remove the space bar as well...if I can, I'll let you know. Maybe there is just some QC issues with the keyboards...maybe they're not seated perftectly flat or something.

 

My space bar appears to be curved instead of straight. The left end of it sits higher than the right end.

 

Any one find any solutions yet? Any others out there having the "Missed" key issue when typing on the G73h?
-Scotty

 

Last night I took the keyboard out of the laptop and kind of reseated the connectors. I also removed all the adhesive so that it's easier to work with from now on. I still can't really tell if this helped at all...I seem to be able to type a little better, but the problem still persists occasionally. I'm still considering the foil trick, but the way the connectors are arranged on the bottom of the keybaord, it might make it a litte hard to do...and possibly ineffective.

 

My keyboard is still giving me consistent trouble. Missing spacebar keystrokes the most. I'm thinking it may have to do with how many keys it can register at the same time maybe? While typing this it did not register a couple of keystrokes and I had to go back and edit them.

 

Yah, wondering that too. Anyone know where/how to get the 10% cashback from Microsoft?

 

If my thumb hits the bottom half of the space bar, it doesn't register the key press. If my thumb hits the top half, it does register it. Weird and uncomfortable.

 

This is accurate. If I lightly press the button part of the spacebar it will not register. When typing some sentences it is natural to hit the spacebar at the bottom, so this sucks.

Going to have to retrain my hands.

 

You guys do need to remember that this is a chicklet keyboard, different from an ordinary standard keyboard of the old days. With something new, the spacing is a bit different so there for that "sweet" spot were so accustomed to hitting all the time while typing has probably shifted a few MM left or right. This may be a small movement in relative terms, but it seems to possibly be making a huge difference.

 

X1 FINALLY showed up today. Keys are a little softer than my apple bluetooth keyboard, but all in all bery acceptable.

However, I do have one teensy problem. The keyboard backlighting comes on at POST, then shuts off. . never to be seen again. Hitting the lighting switch brings on the power/light/turbo/screen LEDs, as well as the bar under the monitor. . but no keyboard backlighting. Is there an extra step I need to perform to enable it? Anyone know which driver package installs the instructions for it? Since it works at POST, I can't imagine it's a hardware problem . . ?

 

function key + F4 will control keyboard backlight

 

. . . Thank you. I feel like a complete idiot now, but thank you

 

No you aren't. I had the same problem when I first got it. Posted the same question on this same forum. If you are an idiot then I am an idiot.

 

That's pretty normal bud, the computer tries to boot up everything you have plugged in at that time to see if it's working.

 

I came from a 17" Macbook Pro that I had for a year. I'm no stranger to these type of keyboards.

Do you not agree that pressing the spacebar anywhere on the key should register a key press?

 

Yeah, I use the Apple keyboard on my desktop and it's a chicklet keyboard and it definitely registers key presses anywhere on the space key. I'm starting to get a little more used to this keyboard on the G73, but it still bothers me that it seems to skip keys here and there. I just wish I could figure out a better way to determine what causes the keys to skip. If it's hardware, I'd like to get a new keyboard, but if it's just me not typing properly or the driver or something, then I wont be so worried.

 

The irony....you do realize both Asus and Apple share the same ODM(Original design manufacturer) = Pegatron. Pegatron is also the parent company of Asus. So most likely they are very similar keyboards.

Still very sad that you're having keyboard problems.

 

No problems here, I have to press a bit harder for some distant strokes where I am not pressing down directly on the key, like when I reach a finger far out for the 6 key above "y"

Space bar is fine, dont think I have ever had it not register. All in all only a few keys now and then dont register and I 100% blame my lazy typing and not the keyboard itself.

So nothing going on with software/drivers. Those having problems must just have issue physically with the keyboard like a warped space bar that somebody mentioned, maybe even some keyboard flex that is making you have to push harder.

 

I was going to (pre/back)order an A2 tomorrow, but these keyboard issues are giving me second thoughts. Between this and the main G73 thread, it seems like it's quite prevalent, and with the reports of curved keys, I'm wondering if I should wait a little while for QA to settle things, or if the price will be going up after there is more stock.

 

Same here, vicious.

I don't remember any issues with my keyboard as well.

 

Dont be disuaded by those nay sayers. Its only appearing to be the X1 models that is having the bulk of issues. I received my A2 from gentech today and have had no issues in the 12+hrs ive been on it sense I got it.

 

Dude, they are the same system. lol

Not sure the backpack and mouse have anything to do with the G73's issues

 

I have no problem with the keyboard. Some people are sensitive so they feel like keyboard is bad while normal users won't recognize this problem. For me I'm getting used to g73's keyboard and it works fine. Not the worst but not the best I've touched.

 

may very well be true, but it appears that the only people having issues is the X1 owners... so there is gotta be something different....

 

I installed THIS synaptics driver. So far so good. Can someone else test? Lots of speculation this has something to do with the synaptics driver.

I typed this message like I normally would and didn't get any missed characters.

 

I don't know if it's just people being sensitive. If yours is perfect, that is excellent, but some people are saying that they can only hit their space bar in certain places to get it to work, which sounds more like a real issue as opposed to someone being whiney.

Hopefully that driver will work out (were you having bad issues pre-driver?). I think I'm still sold on this machine at any rate.

 

Also can people who have this issue, can you post your bios revision? I know there is a newer version of the bios out but I never upgraded. My current version is 204.

Edit: On last question for those with the issue. Do you normally disable the touchpad when using a regular mouse?

 

Mandrake...how is that driver working out? Are you still experiancing missed keys? I'll check my bios version tonight.

 

You are right but he's right also. Seems to me the bulk of the problems are from X1 users. Maybe it has to do with NewEgg, don't know.

Anywhere I touch the spacebar with even feather touches registers a space, every single time.

You hit it on the head. Keyboards that use membrane, 99% of laptop keyboards and majority of the new keyboards cannot only register so many keys at once. One. Membrane keyboards have a latency inherent in the design to prevent ghosting and other issues, manufacturers did this to actually prevent wrong, mistaken keys from being pressed.

Also these keyboards have no feedback. This means that you THINK you pressed the key, reality, you did not. If you are typing really fast, you fingers just brush across the keys and you think you pressed all the way, reality, no you did not. I suspect this is the real problem for many, they THINK they pressed it, but really didn't. And you do HAVE TO press all the way down for membrane keys to register.

If you want no latency, with every key being registered, buy a mechanical. Mechanicals also have feedback, meaning you can feel when the key is registered. With mechanicals which are the older keyboards many of us grew up using, you don't have to press all the way, you can just feel when it registers.
Here is a great guide: http://www.overclock.net/computer-peripherals/491752-mechanical-keyboard-guide.html

Maybe Asus keyboards have more latency than normal, I'd be surprised if that was the case. But ALL laptop keyboards have this issue, it's across the board no matter what brand you buy. Unless you somehow find a laptop with a mechanical keyboard.

 

Late to the party so sorry if this has been covered but on other ASUS models removing the Chinese language set has helped various keyboard issues. It's one of the first things I do with every new machine, have had zero problems with any ASUS keyboard yet (see sig for list). Of course no guarantees and your mileage may vary.

 

So far so good. Definitely worth testing.

 

Ok, i'm about to install these new drivers. I'll be sure to let you knowwhat my results are. We'll use this post as the before the drivers post. As you can se i've already missed a few keystrokes while typing this out. We'll see what happens with these new drivers. Be back soon!

EDIT: Ok, I have the new drivers installed and I just went intoWord and started typing a bunch of random stuff and as you can se with just this post, the updated drivers don't seem to have made any difference. From the tiny paragraph I typed out in Word, it almost seems worse. I actually thoght this was a newer driver than the ones I had, but apparently not. I think i'm going to reinstall the other driver and posibly try the next suggestion which is just disabling the touchpad in BIOS. It seems that people have had good luck doing that. Kinda a terrible solution to the problem, but it's better than this BS.

 

Geez, I'm sorry man. Thankfully, I don't have that problem.

 

Alright, from now on, those of you that post saying that you DONT have a problem with the keyboard, PLEASE post your current touch pad driver version as well as your current BIOS version.

I just uninstalled the synaptics touch pad driver software all together and so far I haven't had a missed key yet. I still have the touch pad enabled, but it's just using the default Windows driver. The annoying part is, there is no palm check now, so I keep moving the mouse and deleting what i'm typing while i'm typing it. So, i'm not really sure what's more annoying...missed keys or deleting your entire post because you accidentally got up against the touch pad. I guess I could learn to type without resting my palms on the laptop like you're supposed to...but who wants to do that hahah. I think I may just disable the touch pad all together, since I really never use it anyway.

I'm impressed though, with just the default driver, I just typed that entire paragraph without a single missed keystroke.


EDIT: I disabled the touch pad in the BIOS and all still seems well. I just typed out a big long paragraph in word and did not miss a single character or space. It's weird, the keyboard actually seems more responsive now too. Before I think I could almost tell that there was a slight lag to the keys when I was typing. I had a friend type on it as well, and he mentioned the same thing. If these drivers really are the problem (and it seems highly likely considering I found multiple posts in this forum which referenced this exact same issue on other generations of Asus laptops), WHY HASN'T ANYTHING BEEN DONE ABOUT IT!? Apparently this has been an ongoing issue with Synaptics drivers for almost 3 years now and yet, there is still no other solution other than to disable the touch pad!? !!! Sorry guys (Asus, Synaptics...whomever is responsible)...but that's NOT a f*cking solution. Sorry for the language. I'm happy that my keyboard seems much more responsive now, but now i'm also even angrier because this is a software problem that should have been corrected AGES ago.

 

I noticed the N71 also uses the same keyboard and I know Tarlyn one of the owners gives his notebook a 10/10 and has no keyboard issues either.