Asus G73JH Keyboard Issues

Yeah, I spoke to Justin over at Xoticpc, and he told me that a lot of he initial complaints about the keyboard have been resolved with a ton of new Asus drivers. He also mentioned something about people who download drivers from ATI directly getting multple issues and said that if you own this laptop, you should only download your drivers from Asus.

As for my personal preference against (lol more of a hatred, actually!) of the chicklet keyboard, I think that this is simply something I am going to have to get used to since all the new laptops, particularly the gaming rigs, have them. The old style keyboards seem to be a thing of the past, at least for lappies. While I dread writing on those new keyboards, I am starting to wonder if writers had the same issues I am having now two decades ago as electric typewriters were being replaced by PC's. I bet that the best secretaries and novelists in the early nineties and late eighties struggled with what we now regard as standard PC keyboards.

Maybe this is just something I am going to have to live with if I am ever going to upgrade my dinosaur of a cinderblock gaming lappy.

 

I don't think that the keyboard issue experienced by many of us is a matter of getting used to a chicklet style keyboard. At least in my case, I had used this type of keyboard on a Macbook for a couple of years before this one. Considering the identical problem with other Asus notebooks using this keyboard (e.g. M50, G51) I think it is a hardware issue that can't be fixed (or at least hasn't yet) with a bios or driver update. I would love to be wrong, though.

 

Hmmm Okay, because Justin (xoticpc) was telling me that people aren't having this problem anymore, not with the latest ones being sold anyway. It was weird, because when I spoke to him about a month back, he was warning me off the G73 for all the problems, PSOD, keyboard issues, etc. He said he would sell the G73 only to people who absolutely wanted it and that he felt obligated to warn all his customers about the issues, not to mention the two month turnaround for RMA's!

But when I spoke to him today, he seemed a lot more supportive and encouraging about the G73's. I asked him why, particularly citing our prior conversation, and he told me he is seilling a ton of them now, but that he isn't getting nearly as many complaints or issues with the newer ones.

But you are a G73 owner, not a salesperson, so now I don't know what to think! lol

Oh, and for me it is a pure preference and style issue. I absolutely HATED the feel of a chicklet keyboard. I had tried one of the Best Buy models out a month or two back, and it wasn't pretty. I could hardly type at all on it, and I am pretty damned fast on a regular keyboard.

 

Don't get me wrong, however - I LOVE this notebook! The touchpad/keyboard issue is a niggling issue considering that I prefer to use a mouse anyways. I have had none of the other problems that have plagued some other users (GSOD, sound problems) and think that this notebook was a bargain and wouldn't trade it for any other. I think it is a safe purchase if you are not going to use the touchpad a lot and don't mind disabling it in the bios. Also, the problem may not be present on yours. Some people say that don't have the problem and I think that for a lot of them, that is the case. Hope you enjoy whatever your purchase!

 

Oh I would definitely want to be using the touchpad on my laptop. I would RMA the b*tch so fast if that became an issue. Not that I am opposed to using a regular mouse sometimes, but it's a laptop for Christsakes! lol

 

LOL - well, I have had one keyboard replacement and don't want the hassle of another. I would never use this notebook while travelling - it stays in my bag until I get to the hotel room. My iPhone and iPad function as my travelling companions.

 

Hi.. I have already flashed my Bios. How do i get back to previous bios state. As raindog_mx said.. my keyboard may have trivial issue. But I have changed my language settings from US international to US, to print " and ~ these two characters by single press.

Any Ideas on how to revert back to a state before I flashed my bios. Any help would be highly appreciated.

 

Hi.. I have already flashed my Bios. How do i get back to previous bios state. As raindog_mx said.. my keyboard may have trivial issue. But I have changed my language settings from US international to US, to print " and ~ these two characters by single press.

Any Ideas on how to revert back to a state before I flashed my bios. Any help would be highly appreciated.

 

John, sitck with your new BIOS. It's good to have the latest. I only wanted to save you the risk of upgrading because it wasn't related to your problem but now that you've done it it should be cool.

 

lol Rqindog, although reading your original post I can totally understand why he was scared. :laugh:

 

I know a lot of people are having problems with these Damn Laptops. I have RMAed mine 3 times because every time I get it back there is something wrong. This past RMA the Tech got everything right but ed up the keyboard lights. So it is back in RMA again.

The Jeffersonville Indiana Facility is a horror show don't send it there.
The only hope I have found has been a Customer service Rep named Trinity Sparks who I talk with frequently on the phone.

She trying to make wrongs right by sending me Overnight shipping labels to and from destinations. The 1800 number that sends you to the Jamaicans is useless. They do not solve problems.

trinity's number is 510 818 4877. It goes Directly to her or her secretary. After this 4th RMA. I am hoping the Techs in california do not have their heads up their asses and can fix a simple lighting issue.

This has been the worst experience of my life. All I can say is at least I am talking to someone who I can understand and seems to be making an effort to solve problems.

 

Why did you RMA your laptop 3 times? What was wrong with it? I am sceptic about this whole RMA thing. Just check out this thread, 5 or so posts ago there was someone suggesting to RMA the laptop beacause of something that could be fixed in Windows control panel.

 

First thing that happened is I got the PSOD. Then they sent it back to me with a lower quality monitor that only supported 1600x900 resolution. LOL. (I swear they were trying to slip one by me).

RMAed it again to have them tell me they did not have record of the screen being swapped. So I complained enough to have them send it to California Headquarters. Where they put the right screen on and swapped out the mobo (for reasons unknown to me)

Then I get it back to find the KB lights not working.

So now it is back to California. I wish trinity would take the elevator down to the repair facility and tell those morons to get it right. LOL

 

After updating the bios to version 211, it seems that the problem is still there of the missing keystrokes, and another problem came with it. It could only be me, but i can't shut off the numpad with the Fn + F9 combination anymore..

Asus should really look into it....

 

Fn+F9 disables the touchpad. Not the Numpad.

I'm on 211, and everything works fine.

 

there are looking into it next... look at the keyboard debugging thread in gaming forum.. but seriously , they got one thing right with the keyboard lights at least.

 

Damn, where's my head? I ment to type; my Fn+F9 doesnt disable the touchpad anymore. Anyone else got this problem ?

 

Yes I suddenly got this problem but I'm still on 206. After some update though (have no idea if this is the reason), Fn+F9 suddenly stopped working, and it's been working forever until now.

BTW I also have the keyboard problem which can be fixed by disabling the touchpad in the BIOS.

Oh yeah also randomly after hibernating or sleeping, sometimes the brightness can't be changed until I restart. Just random nagging problems like this prevent it from being the perfect computer.

 

Set your computer to not hibernate or sleep when you close the lid. Close and open the lid. That's it.

This problem happens to many machines, not just the G73jh.

 

I want to hibernate and sleep though lol. It only happened like once or twice ever on sleep and it almost always happens on hibernate, so I just sleep it.

Asus asked me to reinstall my touchpad but it still didn't fix the broken Fn+F9. Actually it's weird, Fn+F9 works when I disable the touchpad in the BIOS, but since it's disabled in the BIOS, the touchpad won't work, but it actually lets me know that I'm trying to do it with the pop-up saying "touchpad disable". But when I enable touchpad in the BIOS and try Fn+F9, the pop-up message doesn't even come up.

 

Right. It's because I always set my laptop not to hibernate or sleep when I close the lid and it's plugged to the A/C, but of course it's not worth changing your preference over this bug

 

The only problem i seem to have with mine is with the space bar.
Many times i have to hit is twice because often if doesnt read...
and another thing.. its only been1 week since i got my laptop and its been working great so far.. but the right Ctrl key is slightly higher than all the other keys.. and it is quite loose...
i dont know what to do about that.. but is there any specific reason why my space bar seems to require a lot of double hits? it happens more often when i press it on the two ends.. not in the middle.. writing this comment , i had to do about 6 double hits for my space bar

 

I've discovered something while playing an online FPS:

Try this- hold the Shift and E keys down, then try hitting the space bar while in a text editor.

The shift key doesn't work with these two keys being depressed on my Asus G73h.

There are other key combinations which disable some keys from being simultaneously worked.

 

I get that too on Linux, it's not a driver problem. Must be the keyboard controller.

 

Try with another computer, this is true for most keyboards.

It is because keyboards use a multiplexer, a clever electronic device that reuses wires so you don't need to have one wire connected from each key to the CPU, the problem is there are not enough wires to have more than certain amount of keys pressed at the same time, which is not a problem for most purposes.

 

Do you guys know if the missing keystrokes include any key that doesn't type at all? My "P" AND "Backspace" keys doesnt works at all.

(PS: Im gonna still receive the notebook from a friend. He just told me about this problem)

 

No, the dropped keys/keyboard lag issue is different. If your keys don't work at all you will need a new keyboard. There's a chance taking the key cover off and cleaning underneath it could help, if the keyboard is dirty.

Edit: There are a few reports that the keyboard fix beta bios doesn't solve the issue, and one report so far that specific keys stop working until a reboot. So I may be wrong, depending on what you mean by the keys not working. If they don't ever work you obviously need a new keyboard, but if they don't work sometimes, it could be a physical problem or this software problem.

 

Well... I've received it.

My "P", "1", "Backspace", "3", "4", "6", "7", "8", "9" AND the whole numpad are not working at all.

I've already taken off the keyboard. It didn't change a thing. I've ordered a new keyboard via eBay...

Do you guys think its a keyboard problem? (I mean, physical)?

 

Sorry for the double post, but you guys got any solution?

 

If your keyboard doesnt work with the touchpad disabled, than its a hardware failure.
I know mine is not a hardware-problem. I had missing keystrokes as well, untill I uninstalled the synaptics drivers. Now it works perfectly. Mine is definatly a driver-issue..

 

i see.

I have touchpad already disabled via BIOS.
So, as i am thinking, it really is a hardware problem.
I've already ordered another keyboard via Ebay. Waiting for it.
Thank you ppl for the help.

 

I have the same issue already ordered a keyboard replacement on ebay and still didn't work. I have it at a Asus service center near where I live in Socal. They immediately said it was the motherboard, then I asked BTO and they said it shouldn't be the MOBO. I'm confused and my laptop has been at the center since the 22nd of December. I called and they stated that Asus hasn't sent them the new MOBO yet. So I'm patiently waiting until Friday, if it's not done by then I'm picking my computer up and will try to clean both ribbon cables with rubbing alcohol.

Tell me if yours works with the new keyboard.

 

Okay. I'm still waiting for it. It should arrive in about 1-2 weeks.

Edit: What was, exactly, the problem with your keyboard?

Mine are letters "p", "backspace", whole row of numbers and 70% of numpad not working.

 

Having the same issue. I uninstalled Synaptics, but when I restarted windows, Synaptics installed itself again. I have no idea how to keep it uninstalled.

Also, when it was not installed, I wasn't able to disable the touch pad, so that's another issue.

It gets really annoying as I tend to type fast and I always seem to skip a few letters per sentence.

Thoughts?

 

the beta3 211 BIOS should help your keyboard issue.
G73 Series Driver and Application Reference

 

Did that just come out? Cause I believe I have the latest BIOS

 

@darkwonders The latest beta bios was released a few days ago here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/540181-beta-bios-possible-missing-keystroke-fix.html

 

Hi Chastity,

I have downloaded the v3 beta 211 bios from both your driver and apps page, as well as Gary Key's post of it. (B42C18F.BIN)

With both versions I get a different MD5 Checksum to the one you have posted.

I get:
02d25e95800124038e1cd1526156aaf6

You posted:
3BEF03058F868FAFE1695AA0847BA936

I have used two different MD5 utilities to test the file. Could you please double check it when you get a chance, or advise me what program to use to get a matching value?

Want to make sure file is ok before flashing via USB (as I did with original 211 bios and beta vbios).

Cheers!

 

MD5 & SHA-1 Checksum Utility - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Using that util, I get matching MD5 and SHA-1 hashes for both Gary's and my mirror.

 

Chastity, Shrink and other G73 beasts, I'm checking in after 9 months of ownership to see if Asus has done the impossible and actually gone ahead to produce a solid fix for our beloved keystroke lag/miss. I mean, it's probably rocket science so I wouldn't be surprised if this still exceeds their level of intelligence, but who knows. Maybe 2011 is the year for a complex (totally sarcastic) fix. Lemme know, and I'd say ASAP, but in good Asus spirit, why not just wait 9 months for a reply to this message. I mean, who needs urgency anyway? Hope you all are doing well btw, and pwning significantly

 

The 2nd beta bios fixed my keyboard problems, and I'm on the 3rd (and it's still good).

I don't think I ever really had a trackpad problem - I just don't *like* the trackpad. It's too sensitive, and doesn't work right when you're hands are too hot (but that last part is true of all trackpads).

 

7hief: I think we may have a winner with beta4, but I'll reserve judgment til we get some numbers. Should come out within the next 24 hrs.

 

Huzzah! The newest bios update seemed to have fixed my problem!

Luckily I didn't own the laptop for that long. it must have sucked for the guys who had to wait a year to get this fix...

 

You know when a full ver. is coming out? I'd rather just get the fix with a non-beta. Still though, link for install? I might consider it. Thx and keep me posted.

 

see my driver sig link

 

There's no reason to go off-site for the beta BIOS. The thread is right here.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/540181-beta-bios-possible-missing-keystroke-fix-35.html#post7035570

 

Edit: I'm on Beta 4 and it works fine. The trackpad is more sensitive than on bios 3, but it isn't wonky - just more sensitive.

 

Kthx Chastity.

 

There is people saying that Beta 4 causes the trackpad to become totally useless after a few days? Is this true? has any of you experienced any real problems with it?

 

Yo mama!

Whoorray! I've received my brand new Ebay keyboard and everything is working 100%!
It was, indeed, a physical hardware problem (about my keyboard having missing keys).

Everythings perfect now.

But, again, i will NEVER buy anything from ASUS again...