Beta BIOS - Possible Missing Keystroke Fix

wow 206 works good on my touchpad on me too, but i miss some keys sometimes on the kb.

 

someone else posted in another thread that reverting to 206 has improvements
try it
btw mine is fine with the 211

 

Unfortunately even with 206 BIOS and v14 of the driver it's getting bad sometimes now. Started to get annoyed again after thinking I solved it

But still MUCH better with 211 and latest beta, which was almost completely unusable at most times.

 

Mine is not perfect with 206 but I couldn't even use it before. I don't claim credit for figuring out that 206 helps... I quoted the original suggestion.

Anyway, once I started using the betas, I couldn't get back to normal. Going back to 211 didn't help nor did 209 but that's as far back as I went. 206 seemed to straighten it right up without changing anything else. I then tried the 15.1.22.2 because I had never been able to use that driver since the beta flashes. It works just as well as any other driver for me now so that is a definite improvement. I then flashed back to the latest beta and it's still OK but going a little goofy here and there like most of you describe. The difference is that it was completely hosed all the time before and now it works most of the time. Furthermore when it gets screwy, pressing the right click straightens it out again like you guys were saying.

I guess going back to 206 got me to the point where my touchpad isn't any more broken than all of yours which is good? That's confusing. On 206 the pad works really well for me. On beta 4 it is a little wacky but mostly usable.

Now I know that if I try another beta and it freaks out completely that 206 will probably straighten it up. I was loading Synaptics drivers, reinstalling ATI drivers, and all sorts of things before and couldn't get back to "normal". Now I can.

 

Well, tried this latest bio and my keyboard is still missing keystrokes. Sometimes, the keyboard is totally frustrating, resulting in tons of missed strokes. My keypad is and has always been fine, but I'm hoping there will be another bios update coming. I have to say I really appreciate all the work Gary is doing in trying to get this fixed.

 

according to Gary, bios 206 and below has issues with the current vbios so I wouldn't bother reverting back.

Missing keystrokes are random. I don't have them at all and I'm a fast typer. no idea why that is. If its software and not hardware, then shouldn't that mean that if everyone has the same settings, we should see the same results?

bios 211, vbios (from gsod blues thread but I don't think this effects the keys), synaptics driver ver 15.1.9.0 (currently trying 15.1.16.2) located in my tutorial in my sig in description and I kept my windows at factory settings. Due to all the stuff I've heard, I figured factory is the safest bet as it is recommended settings from asus. Then I just uninstalled the crap I don't want.

so give that a try and see if u still have missing keys. touchpad still isn't perfect but its better.

 

I dropped back to 206, booted up to see everything was OK, and then flashed to a newer bios. It is the only thing that made my touchpad usable again. Just going back to 211 or 209 didn't work for me although upgrading to 211 after flashing 206 continued to work pretty OK (technical term).

YMMV

It's good to know that 206 with a current vBios is not a good idea. I was tempted to just leave it at 206. I definitely won't do that now.

 

After updating the bios, is it supposed to show the updated version or the old version? I don't know if it worked or not. I tried to see if the build is updated on HWiNFO but it shows an older BIOS version.

 

Beta 2 (or was it 3?) Had a build date of July.

 

Updated to Beta 3 and HWiNFO shows a build date of October 09'.

 

ignore the build dates on the betas

 

beta 4 calls itself 211 and has a build date of January 6th 2011

 

Hi!

I'm proud Polish owner of G73jh, also bearing with the problem of touchpad that is not even marginally useable. I've just discovered something that may be useful in debugging touchpad; something so useful that i decided to register on the forum, the procedure that I'm not fond on.

I've bought myself Wacom Bamboo Pen&Touch tablet, a device that supports, inter alia, multitouch input. I have had fun with it for a few days, just to discover today that its multitouch function has stopped working! It displays the syndromes somewhat similar to touchpad - it constantly sends keypresses to computer, even if there were none, doesn't react to actual touch, etc. Damaged unit? No! I've connected it to my other laptop (HP dm3) - and found out it works perfectly!

To wrap out - it seems that problems with touchpad - and other input devices - seem to stem from some kind of software conflict. I hope that you find that information useful, and - maybe - send it to someone at ASUS (Gary?) who may use it in troubleshooting process.

My current BIOS is latest beta, I've also got the latest vBIOS. My version of Synaptics is 15.0.11. I've tried all of beta BIOSes, a number of versions of Synaptics software - and found them of no use.

EDIT: It seems my tablet is going weird only when it's connected together with Xbox360 Wireless Gaming Receiver. Strange...

 

lukeg - That is interesting, thanks for taking the time to post about it. The timeline seems similar, works well at first and then degrades to an unusable state.

I discovered another fix for the touchpad. When it becomes unruly, put your computer to sleep. I did it via the Windows start button > power > sleep. It is quicker then rebooting and it seems to fix it for a while. I put mine to sleep and then immediately start it again and the touchpad works great for a while.

 

I've also found that my Razer Mamba every once in a while hangs for a second on my G73JH. I tried different Mamba & Dock...different drivers, no drivers, firmware, fresh OS install etc.... but on my M17x R2, M11x R2(sold) EEE PC, Acer and HP(all work PC's) I've never encountered that.

 

I've missed a couple of spacebar presses on my USB keyboard today. It's a big Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard and there is definitely a big clack as I type away on it so I know I hit it. I am running the latest beta. I'm now wondering if something in there is screwing with all input and not just the PS/2 touchpad/keyboard input based on what you all are reporting.

 

Then look at your IRQ and Resource mappings and give us a peek.

 

I am seeing my Mouse lag now every now and then.
When this starts is when all starts to degrade, it does not matter if I am using the mouse or the Touch Pad when this starts.
I never saw this before on the other Betas. I am seeing all types of odd things with this new Bios.

 

Does anyone have a link to the Synaptics diagnostic PDF? I have lost mine and cannot find it here. I looked in the links but it was not in the zip files.

 

WOW! i just discovered something. There is something called Enhance Pointer Precision in the touchpad options. I disabled that and i dont have problems now. But the mouse is slow now. Slow in the meaning that you have to scroll to move your finger across a lot to get somewhere. But it doesnt do random things like before. Maybe Gary should look into this.

 

lol I just turned palm check WAAAAY up...

 

I also had this issue, with my OLD MS Ergonomic keyboard. It was actually an issue with the button on the right side. If I pressed to far right, then it didn't register the press.
This was with an other PC, not connected to the G73JH.

 

Sooo... is this gg then? No further updates for BIOS?

 

Or learn to type better maybe? Who knows, but likely they are working on the next model. Wouldn't be surprised, personally I don't think there is anything left to fix other than a better vBios, the vBios works, so likely won't update that either.

I am a believer some people just need to learn to type on Asus chiclet keyboard.

 

We know how to type. Disabling the touch pad in BIOS yields perfect "typing". The keyboard buffer drops keystrokes. It is quite repeatable and has nothing to do with chicklet style keyboards.

 

Considering I'm using the same keyboard, the same touchpad and the same bios, I can't believe you. It's just one of those have to see to believe it. It really doesn't make any sense to me. And considering every reseller of G73jh was sold out from pre-orders in December/January up through June, and there are only a smattering few of you having this issue, affirms my doubt also.

Well good luck to you, but I foresee your "issue" persisting as it's been a year and I'm sure Gary will do his best to help you. But likely the higher ups will come to the same conclusion as I and say there isn't anything to fix and to focus on the next upcoming models.

 

That makes me want to fly down to where you live and make you type out a paragraph on this keyboard, and after watching you screw up every 5 words, laugh at you and tell you to learn how to type

Believe what you like, but you don't know how much it sucks to be plagued by missing keystrokes.

 

No need to fly down here, I can type already on my own machine thank you, my own machine that has the exact same keyboard, same touchpad, and the same bios as yourself. I've used every beta bios released so far but when back to default 11 as I saw no differences with the betas. And yes I do use my touchpad frequently, a lot.

 

If you don't think there is a problem with our keyboards or touchpads, perhaps "Re: Beta BIOS - Possible Missing Keystroke Fix" is not the right thread for you. I think it's great that your touchpad and keyboard work perfectly. I wish mine did. It's starting to seem like an awful lot of money spent on a machine that still doesn't work correctly after 11 months of ownership minus 35 days for RMA repairs.

 

That's not how technology works. Even if yours works perfectly fine it doesn't mean others do. My keyboard is perfectly fine also but my touchpad is complete crazy. Some people have keyboard issues and a perfectly working touchpad while the unlucky ones have both. Just because you technically have the same hardware doesn't mean everyone's is going to be dandy, that would be implying that failure rates and problems are nonexistent. That's like saying just because I've never gotten a RROD on my 360, the problem doesn't actually exist and people are just doing something wrong.

Basically if you're going to belittle a problem that many users have just because you don't have it then just simply stop posting in a thread about those problems because you're not helping.

 

I'm not saying everyone who reported having issues are not having an issue. I'm just talking about a few specific posters.

And the PC is not just any technology. There are so many outside factors that can contribute to any problem, but the hardware itself being fine. That's the problem with this issue, who knows what software, what drivers, what mods and or number of different things users have done here. Or even what periphery accessories they are using. I'd say majority of issues posted on NBR forums are not hardware issues with the laptops but rather user problems.

The other problem I see here, is that some claim they RMA their notebook and had the MB or whatever else replaced, KB etc. Yet they continue to have the problem. The coincidence the same person having a hardware problem that is likely affecting less than 1% of G73jh owners, with different hardware parts is slim to none, pointing to again, user problem.

That's why I have so much doubt over this. And also I can't find a single review from an official reviewer who is paid or operates a well known site for it that has come across any keyboard or touch pad issue. And these reviewers after reviewing hundreds of laptops yearly for over a decade undoubtedly know what to look for.

Now the few who did have such issues, RMA it instead of waiting a year for a magic fix, had hardware replaced, got it back, with a clean install, completely reformatting drive and using the Asus image installer, and then not having the issue anymore, then I can see they had the problem. But the problem continuously persisting for one individual when this problem isn't widespread, that makes me very doubtful.

There have been now a number of Bios releases that Gary has found to have results in their own testing of laptops I'm sure they have confirmed to have issues with, yet the same users on this forum have issues all the time.

 

Perhaps. But if there were a few specific posters, and asus can verify that there was a problem, and those same posters still have a problem ... you have to admit, it is possible that asus is just trying to patch the issue.

And considering that only a small number of people actually know how to type properly, it isn't particularly surprising that there are only 5-10 people here who have the problem.

I've got a super-sensitive touchpad. I can push down BESIDE the touchpad and activate it. I can hold a finger there and when the plastic warms up sufficiently, it activates it. Is that normal? Sure. Should asus have perhaps thought about this and designed appropriately? Yes. Did they? No. Will I get a refund because my computer wasn't designed properly? No.

When buying a car here, you've got a 7 day cool-down period where you can take the car back (legally), no questions asked, and get your money back. Dealers don't like it, and will argue with you, but they know the law and if you persist, they will relent.

Can't do that with a computer. And you can't tell me I should have got a computer from a store with a good refund policy - up here in canada, there aren't any that a) carry computers worth buying and b) allow you to return them with no restocking fee.

 

Actually you can. Newegg, Amazon, no doubt Ken @ Gentech, probably XoticPC. That's why the first few days of using a laptop and testing to make sure everything works as advertised is important. Even Best Buy will let you do it, no questions asked. Between 14 to 30 days of use you can return your G73jh if the keyboard and touch pad are not functional. I personally don't see much of a point in a laptop that doesn't have functioning keyboard and touch pad, so if I had the issue I would have returned it. And I know Best Buy exists in Canada as I have studied there and there were multiple Best Buys in the same city. And I know you can return laptops at Future Shop, just not sure if they have G73jh, never looked for em.

Are you sure you don't have a hardware issue there that is affecting your system?

Anyways, I should stop, I don't want to troll those who are having this issue. Though baffling it may be. I am not surprised Asus is having problem identifying this enigma problem since keyboard etc work fine on their own g73s.

 

I am curious as to why you would try all 4 of the beta bios releases if your machine and touchpad were / are working perfectly. I also really have to wonder why you would join this thread if you are not having issues with your G73. It is very narrow minded to think that all of the people posting in the touchpad and keystroke threads are victims of their own actions. Maybe you are just trying to stir up a ‘Ruckus’ or maybe you do have the same problems and are considering selling your machine and want to try and skew public opinion in the other direction.

As for myself I would much rather be doing something else than trying to troubleshoot a problem with my computer. I am one of those that goes by the philosophy ‘if it is not broken don’t fix it’. It would be scary to actually calculate how much time I have invested in trying different fixes to get the touchpad to work properly on this machine.

I also believe the posters on this issue are just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the owners who have issues would contact their sellers directly. I do not believe for a second that Gary Key is pursuing a fix for the few who have posted on this forum. I am guessing his action is based on feedback from Asus G73 sellers. The forum is simply a reflection as to what is happening in the big picture.

I do want to thank you however for giving this thread a bump. Even though these threads are just the tip of the iceberg I think every bit of exposure will help to motivate Asus towards an ultimate fix for the touchpad and the keyboard.

 

There's only one video on Youtube demonstrating the G73 touchpad behaving in an erratic manner. Perhaps more of you users with the keyboard lag/touchpad issues could make a video to confirm the presence of such an issue in the first place. To bust the myth so to speak.

Mine functions as flawlessly as it should since day one so I can't speak for it, but a video might convince the naysayers.

 

Too bad I already fixed my touchpad, I should have uploaded a video demonstrating its problem before I fixed it. What my touchpad did was it occasionally becomes a 4 directional arrow and acts like pinch zoom, often times, it just stays on it's position for a second or two even when moved.

 

That's what that single video on YouTube shows. So that somewhat validates its existence.

Its the missing keystrokes problem that's iffy. Any volunteers to debunk the myth of there not being keyboard issue in the first place with a video?

 

Personally, just like PSOD, GSOD, keyboard lights, the issue is real and affects a fairly 'broad' base. If it really was just a very few folks ASUS themselves would simply say RMA it. As the new / repiared units would fix it. And, the over all cost to them would not be that high.

However, if there are relatively more users, then RMA cost is a last resort for them since the cost is higher (shipping, labor, parts) per overall units sold. Further if machines start going flaky after fixing, its even worse. Best bet is to try to elimante the issue (as best as can) first through patches and so forth. I would guess that the rate of failure is not super high, but it seems far from trivial.

Overall? So far they have responded consistant with the second scenario IMO.

As far as weird user behavior goes? If windows update and manufacturers driver updates are weird... then guilty as charged Otherwise, I have never had a (non gateway) laptop with this many problems. Don't get me wrong. I like my G73 - when the track pad does not weird out. But, truly even a $399 Kmart special will run, update drivers, and keep running in my experience.

My previous ASUS experience has always been good, so I chalk it up to an oopsie that happened. And one they are addressing so far, if not as fast as I would prefer. That said I will certainly look at both the Alienware 17r3 or newer ASUS G73 ?? when the 6970 comes out. And, yeah some of that decision is based on making good on my G73 for sure.

 

Hey, thanks for your advice. That'd be a great option, if I was american. As stated, in CANADA, those options don't help.

 

I agree with you whole heartedly that this is near diversion into a troll fest although I can see where you are coming from, I suppose.

Gary has had several laptops that exhibit this problem. I don't know if he had five or twenty, but the technical team has laptops in their possession that miss keystrokes. They don't all do it and that's great. It's a crappy and frustrating problem to have. If I had noticed it within the replacement period for NewEgg I would have returned it. I got my laptop and it died after three days. It had a very real dead screen.

It was over a week before I got the second one so I was two weeks into a four week return period before I got a properly functioning unit. It took me a little while to realize that it wasn't just my unfamiliarity with chicklet keyboards that was causing so many typos. I assumed I wasn't "pressing the keys right". After getting to know the laptop I realized that the darn thing was actually throwing away keystrokes. Someone said to disable it in bios and the problem goes away. That was absolutely correct and at that point I realized I'd owned yet another problem laptop only now I'm out of return days and it's RMA or live with it.

Honestly I think I'm spending more time defending it and griping about it than it is worth. The only place I do any real typing on it is in these forums. The rest of the time I'm mostly gaming on it unless I'm at work. At work I connect it to a mouse, keyboard, and LCD so it's not an issue where I do the bulk of my typing. When I work from home and have the touchpad enabled, I have to make sure I proof my typing rather than just blasting out a missive and hitting send. I usually disable the touchpad when working from home so my boss doesn't think I spell like a third grader.

 

Questioning whether this is real is not constructive. Let's please get back on the topic of talking about the actual beta bios and keystroke problem.

 

I cannot seem to get back to a stable touchpad again. I flashed 206 and then 209. I removed the tp drivers, ran ccleaner in safe mode and then loaded the original stock 14.10.somethingOrOther. No joy. I really think the beta bios modifies things that the older bios does not restore or fix.

The keyboard missed a few keystrokes here and there before the beta. Now I can't use the touchpad at all, though.

 

The touchpad went back to being responsive after a few days again... Weird... It is also worth noting I've only been experiencing touchpad issues when running on battery.

 

Since when did your touchpad problem showed up? In my case, I didn't have missing keystroke problem and I only used the official bios for flashing and never have used the beta. I've never flashed my vbios too nor update my GPU driver and CCC.

 

The keyboard and touchpad issues seems to come up after flashing the vBIOS. Which is kinda weird, but thats what happened to me.

 

But my touchpad problem came when I flashed my bios from 206 to 211. My brother too got it when he flashed from 206 to 209. But the only difference is the two of us managed to fix the touchpad problem by uninstalling Synaptics 14.0.10.0 the installing it again. I wonder what's the real source of the problem why it worked for us but not for others

 

I just noticed that while I was reading over the posts here that my Razer Mamba started to hang over the text. These hangs usually last for about 2 seconds. On the third time it hanged I immediately place my finger on the touchpad, it would not respond because it was displaying the same symptoms(2 second hangs) that my Razer Mamba had experienced.

What's even more interesting is that I can go days without any problems playing games surfing the next etc...., but after prolonged touchpad use and scrolling over text all hell brakes loose.

 

Seems a nice amount of people are saying from bios 206 to 211 causes touchpad issues. Honestly, I flashed my bios a long time ago and can't remember if I had touchpad issues back then or not....

 

FWIW My touchpd was okay at the start as well, but developed issues after about 5-6 months. So, it could well have been a bios update that triggered it. Possibly 209?

 

No, the keyboard issues were happening long before the vbios update.