Asus G73JH Keyboard Issues

Thanks for being so helpful Ziddy . Look, we know you don't have any problems and your G73 is the best thing since sliced bread...but seriously, if you want to be helpful, why don't you give us some information regarding the settings on your G73? BIOS version, driver versions...anything that might actually help us figure out WHY your notebook seems to reign superior over everyone else's

 

Asus G73JH 205
Synaptics v14.0.10 090ct09

 

As mentioned before, my A2 has the screwed up space bar. Makes for uncomfortable typing when you have to hold you thumb further up the keyboard than you are use to.

 

Hoosier....try disabling your touch pad in the BIOS and see if your problem persists. I know it seems like its a hardware problem with the spacebar, but I thought that as well, and since I disabled the touch pad, the problem has vanished.

 

I realize that you're trying to help, but I paid $1600 for this thing. I don't want to disable anything - and I shouldn't have to.

 

Oh, I realize that...and I completely agree...however it will at least be a step towards determining if it's actually a hardware problem with your space bar (in which case you may want to RMA it) or if it's just a driver/software problem. I notice that my spacebar is a bit non-responsive on the very lower edge as well, but I don't normally press it there. I thought for a while I was because it wasn't registering spaces, but now that I have the touch pad disabled, it seems that i'm actually hitting it just fine and that it was the driver issue causing the missed spaces all along.

 

Fully agree. But at least it would determine if you had a hardware or software problem. A software issue could be fixed, whereas a hardware issue your probably stuck..

 

I had this issue on an Acer once. So annoying.

 

No dealers commenting on this issue? No official word on how widespread this is, and if it is widespread, is there a fix in the works etc? Not only with this keyboard thingy, but is Asus not commenting on anything, or am I just missing any press statements regarding any problems that may be occuring?

 

I am very curious of people who have received more recent machines are experiencing the same thing?

 

Don't have any issues on my X1. I'll try and see what driver versions I have when I get home. I did try the Scrybe driver, uninstall it (as I didn't like it) and then reinstall the Synaptics, so I'm pretty sure it's the newest one that Mandrake references in his post.

 

I'm glad to see this thread dying out, perhaps the issue isnt as widespread as I feared. Or maybe there is another thread on this topic that I am not seeing. Is the keyboard issue a non problem, or is there a link to another location where the topic is still being discussed?

 

Ditto. Did everything that was mentioned in the thread, disabled in bios, uninstaled touchpad drivers, tried new ones.

Guess its time to send it back

 

The more that I use my A1, the more that I notice the missing keys. I am well used to using this style of keyboard (had a macbook before this one) so I know it is not me. When I am typing through a document I find that I am having to stop every sentence or two to go and correct missed letters. This most definitely never happened on the macbook or on either of my desktop computers. This is on a clean install, originally with the synaptic drivers from the CD and then with a new set which enables two-fingered and three-fingered gestures. Disabling the touchpad using the function keys doesn't help (I usually do that when I hook up an external mouse) though I haven't disabled the touchpad in the bios to check. Perhaps removing the synaptic driver altogether and using the generic ms driver is the key (though the palm sensing of the synaptic driver sure is handy).

I suspect that this is a driver issue but I would love to know if anyone has managed to retain use of the touchpad while also solving the missing keystroke issue. Thanks!

 

I've had my A1 for a few weeks now and have definitely noticed the missing keystroke issue. It definitely seems to happen more often when I'm resting my palms on the laptop (even if I have the trackpad disabled) and it definitely seems to happen more often when I'm typing fast (even if I'm intentionally hitting all the keys hard because I'm trying to avoid getting the missing keystroke problem).

Thanks for all of the time and effort you've put into this Hockey. I'm going to try uninstalling the Synaptics driver (version 7.2 from the properties, 14.0.10.0 from the uninstall dialog) and hopefully that will fix my problems.

One interesting point is that I take this laptop to work every day and hook it up to my work KVM, so half of the time I'm typing on here with an external keyboard. I never have any missed keystrokes (or some of the slight typing lag that I've noticed occasionally) that I'll get with the built in keyboard.

 

Well I haven't been had it disabled for very long, but it already seems to be better on the text input lag and I haven't had a single missed keystroke.

Unfortunately...I wasn't aware that the hot key disabling of the trackpad was done through the synaptic driver! D'oh! I almost always leave the trackpad disabled, so the loss of the palm detection support was not an issue for me. But I do occasionally want to be able to turn it back on (without reverting to the BIOS for the toggling).

D'oh!

Is there any other way to disable/enable the trackpad without resorting to the BIOS outside of the synaptic driver?

This will likely get very annoying (although not as annoying as losing keystrokes).

I can definitely confirm that this has solved a problem that I had. I was definitely losing keystrokes...and I'm definitely *not* losing them now.

But man...now I keep clicking in the middle of this message with the trackpad enabled!

 

If you don't mind me asking, just how do you "remove a language" as you described? I have a newegg X1 with very laggy keyboard. Am looking for ANY fix to not have to send this back. Yes, disabling the touchpad helps, but one shouldn't have to do this to make a $1600.00 laptop work properly. Especially not something as critical as a KEYBOARD. BTW, I had to correct at least a dozen missed strokes in this paragraph alone. Frustrating.

 

Not all installs include additional languages, mine didn't. I suppose the other person is suggesting this:

1. Go to "Control Panel".
2. Click "Region and Language".
3. Click the "Keyboards and Languages" tab.
4. Click "Change Keyboards..." button.

 

My X1 had this and kept dropping into Chinese when I would play games. Was irritating. Removing the extras took care of it.

 

Thanks for the info on checking the language. Mine only had English installed, so that wasn't the problem. Honestly, deactivating the touchpad speed things up greatly, but one shouldn't have to do such a workaround to make the keyboard work on a $1600 laptop. I think I'll contact Asus for warranty issues. Although I don't want to RMA the entire unit either. I am also having heat issues (have since day one with the unit). It idles hotter than what others report and during gaming almost always gets above 100 C (above 110 C on the GPU). I've had the laptop just shut off a couple times during gaming, otherwise no issues from the heat yet.

 

You are quite welcome.

I haven't noticed the problem, but as I have said before I am not a fast typist.

Sorry to hear that. Yeah, that seems quite hot. What's the ambient temperature?

ATM, I'm sitting in a room that's about 63 °F (17.2 °C) and I'm running F@H on both the CPU and GPU, so there about as hot as they are going to get.

According to HWMonitor the CPU cores are between 72 °C (161 °F) and 75 °C (167 °F). While according to AMD GPU Clock Took the GPU is between 71 °C (159.8 °F) and 77 °C (170.6 °F).

I don't have a solution, but one thing I did to drop the temps a few degrees was to raise the back off the table. I used a rod of Stainless Steel about 1 inch in diameter and 3 inches long, and I placed it in the center. This has the added benefit of being able to swivel the laptop when I face a different direction. It also prevents the rubber feet from getting pulled off.

If you do RMA it, good luck.

 

Well I'd love it if the keyboard issue was just in my head. Trust me, it's not. IT's the number one thing I dislike about the laptop. The heat issue bothers me, but again I'm letting it ride for now as it dosn't seem to be causing an issue. But FEAR2 for over 10 minutes cranks up the GPU to well over 100 C. As it sits here idling right now AMD GPU tool reads between 64 ad 72 on the GPU. Seems pretty warm to idle. I live at 6100 feet above sea level, and when I visited family in NE a few weeks back the laptop did seem to run cooler at about 1000 feet above sea level. I wonder if the heavier air moved heat away more effectively? Either way, I'm not down with being out a laptop for a month while it's RMA'd. If the turnaround was a week I would have done it already.

 

Please don't get the wrong idea, I wasn't suggesting that it was in your head. I merely said that I don't see it because I'm not a fast typist. I know others have reported the same issue and I have also mentioned in the guide that if you experience keyboard lag to remove Synaptics. So, I know it's real.

I don't know if sea level has that much of an impact on cooling over higher altitude. I mean, suppose you're sitting on a rock in the Himalayas or sitting on a rock by the shoreline in Antarctica, what then? I think the ambient temperature has the most impact.

BTW, I'm sitting on a rock at over 5000 feet, if that matters.

 

My GPU idles at about 62C.

I have no keyboard issues at all, besides getting used to the keyboard (especially the number pad).

 

I am the same in both aspects.

 

Has anyone noticed that the keyboard-- under the properties for Keyboard Device Filter Properties in the device manger-- has a resource conflict with the I/O values that are set for it (I/O Range 0060 and 0064)? I just got this laptop a few days ago, and I've been plagued with the missing keystrokes problem.. Have yet to try disabling/uninstalling the synaptics touchpad, but I thought I'd throw that observation in to see if it'd help out any. Going to give the disabling the touchpad method a shot. Hopefully it'll resolve this issue for me.

 

I was missing a few keystrokes as well randomly and just thought I was getting used to the new type of keyboard. I uninstalled synaptics software and haven't missed a key yet.

 

Hey guys, I wanted to contribute to this thread and get some feedback as well. I have the A1 and I'm having the same problem with "missed keystrokes" but it seems to be more of a hardware problem than software or driver-related. Granted, I haven't tried any software solutions besides disabling the Chinese keyboard option and disabling the touchpad yet, but I can actually feel and see what's happening...

I think it's a combination of two things, at least for me: keyboard flex and sloppy single-key tactile response. I haven't really had a problem with the Spacebar though.

However, it's visibly noticeable that the keyboard is flexing down, especially towards the middle area. Also, even though this is my first time using a "chiclet"-style keyboard, I'm a writer by trade so I'm a pretty decent typist. After one month, I should have adapted to this style.

But I don't think it's the style...I notice myself missing keys because of the poor tactile response, along with "sloppy" or "loose"-feeling keys. Sometimes I'll even notice that I'll have to push a key a tiny bit harder than usual to get it to register.

I'll probably try some of the software/driver solutions proposed in this thread before I try to RMA the keyboard, but here's the thing; wouldn't the replacement keyboard react the same way, or at least have the same "flex"? Has anyone figured out a way to defeat the keyboard flexing on their own?

Lastly, is the G73 build so new and proprietary that no other laptop keyboards would fit/be compatible, like an earlier Asus model keyboard or something? I'm having a damn hard time getting all my work done...I've already corrected my typing about 20 times in this post, and I can hear that cheap-sounding "rattle" (not the best description--it's almost like a "whispery squeak") every fifth keystroke or so.

It's kinda funny; for such a great gaming laptop, you'd think Asus wouldn't have skimped on user input. Any feedback would be great.

Thanks guys,

Josh

 

I hadn't noticed this before and yep, I have the same conflict.

 

I was having the same problem, and I swapped my G51 keyboard with the G73's, and it works great. Never had any issues with on the G51, and it works just as well once installed on the G73. So, first answer, the keyboard on the G51 is a direct fit for the G73's. Only difference in the color: G73's is a greyish color, G51's is black.

So, that to me says it's a hardware issue with some of the G73's keyboards. I just called to RMA the G73's keyboard, and luckily I have an extra, but otherwise would be a pain!

As a side note, just ran across a difference in the Asus Best Buy warranty versus standard warranty: For machines bought at Best Buy, there is no advance part replacement, meaning that instead of sending me a new keyboard and then I send them the defective unit, I must first send them the old one, then they'll send me a replacement. She said this only applies to Best Buy purchases, all other resellers have the normal warranty agreement.

But, atleast in the mean while I have a well working keyboard to use.

 

Yep, same thing here... not sure what that means though?

 

I called Ken at Gentech, and he asked me to send a screenshot in with the issue. He said it very well may be causing the issue on a software level. Might be why disabling the touchpad corrects the issue in some cases. I've actually noticed that since disabling it (via the BIOS), the keys aren't missing any longer. Said he'll get in touch with ASUS about seeing if this is a possible cause to the issue with the keyboard itself. I'll try to keep things updated as much as possible. Might have to be addressed with another BIOS update?

 

Thanks for the reply; I'll have to look into the G51 keyboards on eBay. Not to hijack this thread, but can anyone answer a related question?

This is the first Asus I've owned, so I'm not familiar with their warranty procedures. I've dealt with Dell for the past five years, and I actually was pretty content with Dell's warranty service because most hardware components were able to be replaced with cross-shipping. For example, they would send me a new keyboard, HDD or RAM stick first, then I'd send the faulty part back in a pre-paid envelope.

Does it work the same way with Asus, as long as you're not dealing with a retailer's warranty? I actually bought my G73 from Nebraska Furniture Mart, but I didn't buy THEIR warranty package because once I opened the box when I got home, I saw that my A1 still apparently includes the 2 year parts/1 year accidental even though I purchased it from a brick-and-mortar store (the warranty card is in there and everything, listing 2 years parts, and 1 year accidental if I send in the registration card within 60 days).

I imagine that with really serious issues like LCD replacement, or CPU and GPU issues, of course you'd have to mail the whole laptop in. But for stuff like keyboards, hard drives, RAM, network cards, etc...does Asus do the cross-shipping thing when you call them up and they "diagnose you" over the phone?

So that's actually something I really liked about Dell; I took MAJOR advantage of that warranty and got several parts replaced throughout the year. It would really suck to have to send the whole laptop in for some little thing; unless they send you a loaner laptop, I don't know how people can go without their laptops for work for more than 24 hours (if they don't have a backup, obviously).

 

That is a very interesting statement. I googled the G51 and the keyboard looks identical to me. I struggle with possibly changing the keyboard. If find the missed keys to be extremely annoying. I wonder if ordering a new G73 keyboard would resolve the issue or if I should just buy a G51 keyboard. I really don't care if the color is exactly the same. There are many laptops with a different color keyboard than the housing just for style.

Can you try a test with the G51 keyboard? press a key like the N key very gently past the "click" and see you you can press it down without making a letter type on the screen. I can do this and then press a little harder to get a letter and then let up a fraction to make it stop "typing" the letter. I think this is the crux of the problem. With the G73 keyboard, you can press a key all the way past the click without making a letter. For people like me with a light touch when I type, this is extremely frustrating.

 

One thing -- you might want to Google "G51 keyboard problem" because it looks like this issue existed before the A73JH models. There are several forum thread here with people talking about it and some of them even came to similar conclusions about the Synaptics drivers (a few of them think they fixed the issue by lowering the system priority of the Synaptics background services to low), but I'm still not convinced this is a software issue. Unitl I'm proven otherwise, it just really looks and feels like a physical design problem (the keyboard flex and the sloppy tactile response). But hey, I could be wrong.

I tried lowering the priority of my Synaptics services but didn't notice a change.

 

I agree with you. It is a function of a keyboard designed with very poor tactile response. You can simulate it by pressing the keys very gently past the break over point. You can fully press the key without registering a keystroke. Press a fraction harder and get a string of characters, then let up just a bit and it will stop. If I hit the keys hard, I can type quickly. I don't appreciate a laptop in this price range forcing me to type differently than I have for many years. I will be hard pressed to buy another Asus laptop with a chicklet keyboard. They do not appear to know how to make one correcly.

 

Since I haven't got my G73Jh yet, I can't test this, but a forum member over at the Asus VIP forums, posted their solution to this problem in this thread, and it amounted to gently cleaning the keyboard connector of residue plastic. This would at least explain why changing the keyboard solves the problem. If anyone who is still experiencing these problems, can unplug their keyboard and try GENTLY cleaning the black plastic from the connectors, as described in the Asus forums thread, and then reinstall the keyboard, perhaps this can help lead to a workable interim solution. (Better than RMA'ing the whole laptop..)

Good Luck..

P.S. If you need a more detailed description of removing the G73Jh keyboard, you can download the G73Jh Chapter 2 Disassembly Guide PDF from mediafire here, or check out the Asus G73 Series Disassembly Guide NBR forum thread.

 

Thanks for that link, I'm gonna take a look at the connector now and see if it's black.

 

Well, just spent a few minutes swapping my keyboards back around and also scraped the connector clean as instructed in the above post. There was in fact black stuff on the entire contact, easily scraped off. Not sure if removing that helped anything, or just the simple fact of moving them around between two computers cleaned them or reseated it, but it does in fact seem to work noticeably better. The spacebar is still not quite as responsive as the G51 keyboard I have, but all the other keys seem to work better.

Will see how it goes through more use, make sure it's not a placebo effect, but thus far, seems very much worth the time to clean, as my gut is telling me it actually did help.

 

Im sorry...I have to post this somewhere...does anybody else feel that it is ATROCIOUS how small the arrow keys are for a gaming laptop? I mean I find myself literally missing them nonstop bc they are friggin tiny!! I f anything they should be abnormally big for gaming! I just dont understand things like this...I mean I can get over the hideously annoying flex of this keyboard, but the size of the arrow keys is unforgivable...(I seriously get mad when Im dying in the same spots in game due to missing the go$ da&* arrows!!! (No I dont like using WASD) - end vent

What is this a school for ants...its needs to be at least 3 times bigger!!

 

For the missing key stroke issues one of my customer found out there is IO Conflict on the KB in device manger:




The problem could be the keyboard itself and need to be replaced, it explains some people have issues and some don't.

 

Yep, that's the same IO conflict that was talked about a day or so ago. I too have the same IO conflict, but I'm not a fast typist and don't notice a problem. I'm also someone that has never used this type of keyboard, so I don't have any baggage that would get in the way of learning it's use. Is the IO conflict common?

 

If this was a full bios you could just reset the resources and be done with it.

Maybe reverting the motherboard bios to defaults will clear it?

I saw "keyboard device filter" on ASUS's site but did not install it.

Instead, I have "Standard PS/2 Keyboard"

May I suggest just uninstalling the device?

Edit: no I apparently have the conflict too, although I have noticed nothing at all in terms of typing issues. And I type fast and alot.

 

I think everyone has it...

 

Is that with and without Synaptics installed?

 

I do not have synaptics installed, where is the proper version for my G73JH? I'd like a little more control over my touchpad

 

http://www.synaptics.com/support/drivers

 

So, that rules out Synaptics as either causing or in part causing the IO conflict.

Also, as I mentioned in the guide, be aware that by installing the Touchpad driver (Synaptics) your keyboard may develop lag.

 

lol Noobs use arrow keys.. Pro's use WASD so stop ranting

 

I use the arrow keys in NFS Shift since I'm not into the racer simulator with wheels etc... it worked fine for me. But ideally, I think Asus should have used the extra 2 inches for a different keyboard. This was done for costs as this keyboard is the same one in their 15" gaming notebooks.