Does your G73JH miss keystrokes?

I'm proposing a poll to see how prevelant this issue is among my friends here at NotebookReview's Asus gaming notebook forums.

In my case, removing Synaptics does not solve the problem. I have also removed the ribbon cable and scraped the black stuff from the contact which doesn't help either. Running Asus Synaptics driver versus the latest Synaptics doesn't matter. I'm told that replacing the keyboard doesn't fix it either. In my case, disabling it in BIOS makes the problem go away completely.

Now I just have to figure out how to post a poll.

 

I have the same issue... Only BIOS disabling makes the problem completely disappear...

 

I think HellCry found the problem which had something to do with the ATK package in another thread but everyone ran him off.

Mine does not have the problem because I can not type

 

No, but I suspect that it's a PEBCAK for me, ~70 wpm isn't enough to trigger or notice it

 

yea never had a problem with it.

 

Based on the very small sample so far, it seems that the percentage of machines with missed keypresses will not be tiny. We're probably not talking 5% of all of them... it's going to be a lot more than that. Furthermore, there may be a lot of people who own this laptop and don't do a lot of typing on it so they won't even realize it does this.

I sincerely wish I could explain why some of the units don't do this at all.

 

Jody: You thought you were going to have no problems?? Uh uh... I get the GSODs, you get the keyboard lag

 

LOL! All I need is one teeny weeny fix and my laptop is all good.

 

Never had this issue, but then I don't type 200 WPM.

I do know my typing speed is much slower whenever I use a new keyboard. So for me, using the G73 keyboard took a few weeks to get used to, but after, it was fine.

I think a lot of people hate to admit that they may just not be accustomed to the style and size of the G73 keyboard.

But who knows, maybe there is lag when you type 200 WPM.

 

Well for me it completely misses keystrokes. The word "the" will come out as "te" or "he". It is very pronounced with double letters like the word "missed" coming out as "mised". When I turn it off in BIOS, this never ever happens. All words come out perfectly. I can only type 60 or 70 wpm so I'm not sure it's a speed thing.

To test, I open notepad and type "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children that she didn't know what to do." I do this about five times looking at the keyboard. I press enter to start a new line each time. When I look up, there are letters missing here and there in at least one or two of the sentences so they don't line up nicely. Reboot and disable it in BIOS and every sentence is perfect every time. And don't make fun of my nursery rhyme! It's my keyboard test and I can type what I want.

 

Well I can safely say I don't miss any keystrokes whatsoever. Zero keyboard lag, and only my fingers that still need about a few days to get used to the chiclet keyboard. (Also trying to avoid hitting the keys with my fingernails. )

Never had to disable my touchpad in the BIOS.

And now, for testing purposes. With no backspaces.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn't know what to do. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn't know what to do. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn't know what to do.

Just my experience of the whole matter.

 

Fixed it enough with uninstalling synaptics drivers, it's still not perfect (feels slughish but at least I'm not missing keystrokes anymore).

 

Ha ha... poking fun at the guy with the busted keyboard.

That is really weird though. How can it be a software problem if some people don't have the problem?

 

More info, according to Device Manager, my Synaptics's driver's version is 14.0.10.0 and dated 09/10/2009.

 

I think you might be able to learn to get around it somehow; press shift a few times before starting a new sentence and the multiple shift strokes would've "absorbed" the lag.

I don't know though, might be a common component in a very large share of the models out there (mine was made this summer and came with 209 bios though).

 

I only miss spaces mainly. I updated the Synaptics driver, and it got better, but yeah, when hitting the spacebar is when I notice it most.

So disabling the touchpad in the bios helps? I'll have to give that a shot. Luckily, at work I use an external keyboard.

 

Disabling the touchpad in the bios resolves the problem 100%. That is the only solution suggested that has ever worked completely for me. It sure would be nice if Asus got to the bottom of this as it appears to have affected other Asus notebooks in the past as well. On the other hand, I have gotten quite used to just using an external wireless mouse.

 

Me too. I like using my external mouse. However, I haul it around in my backpack. It was a very expensive and very nice Logitech Performance MX. I carry it in a side pocket on my backpack and the wheel button got smashed flat. Now it is out for RMA replacement to Logitech and I am really missing it. Missed keys because I have to use the touchpad. Also, the touchpad two finger scrolling thing is THE BOMB. I would love to use it all the time.

 

My Synaptic driver is 15.0.11.0 dated 3/5/2010

 

I tracked down 15.0.11.0 and installed it. I'm going to see if this one makes any difference. I don't think it did. I missed about three keys while typing this post.

It's almost like there is a stutter in what's going on in Windows while you are typing and the key is missed. Like it is registering the keystrokes but deciding to throw one of them away occasionally.

 

no, I have no issues. My synaptic version is 14.0.10.0 under programs and features.

edit - I'm a fast typer but don't ask how fast.

 

Have you tried disabling any Synaptic special features?

 

Same here... I'm in missed keystrokes hell, especially when typing passwords. I've uninstalled synaptics but that didn't help much either. Now I'm just used to keeping an eye on what is missing, but it was definitely annoying in the beginning.

 

I've played around in there some. There are a lot of settings so testing can get pretty tedious. Especially when Dirt 2, Fallout 3, or Oblivion start calling your name. You're all like testing things and trying to find a keyboard fix and then that little blonde headed 1950's boy from Fallout starts whispering "Jody! Play Fallout Threeeee... Fallout Threeee, Jody" And I quit.

 

One could almost accuse you of buying a laptop to play with, not to debug.

Shame on you!

 

Where did you get that? On the synaptics website, the latest offered is 14.0.3 dated 27/08/2009

Drivers | Synaptics

I have it installed, works great. I use gestures, 2 finger, 3 fingers and so far I haven't been able to notice missed keystrokes that I can't blame on my typing skills.

----
OK, so I installed Scrybe, their gesture software and it installed a new driver 15.0.9.0 from 18/02/2010. seems to work well. But I don't have the same as yours!

 

I thought the same thing. I googled and found 15.0.11.0. It is actually out on Asus FTP server. It's for another laptop. It works fine, but it has the two finger gestures removed just like the updated Asus G73 driver. It didn't solve the problem for me.

I just did an experiment. I booted to a bootable flash drive that had Windows XP installed on it. I typed a LOT in notepad and never missed a keystroke. Apparently it is some combination of drivers and software that causes this issue. I guess it is definitely a software thing. It's not the Asus keyboard filter because I don't have that installed right now and it will miss keys with or without it. HellCry found that removing ATK drivers makes it go away. I'm running the latest ATK from the web site. It has done this since I bought it so the stock ATK isn't a solution either. It's a real head scratcher.

 

I have a similar problem with my spacebar. In fact, just typing this post I missed at least 3 spaces and 2 regular keystrokes. I type around 90 WPM.

 

Are you running a stock Asus install or a clean install? I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate that I installed from disk. I loaded the essential Asus stuff back from the disk that came with the machine. I have ATK, Chipset drivers, RealTek, Creative, LAN drivers, and so on but none of the bloatware like Asus Updater, facial recognition and all that other junk. I didn't leave the stock build on the laptop for more than an hour so I have no idea if it does it with a completely factory setup. I suppose I could test, but that will burn an hour or two. I'll have to ghost the drive, then put that recovery partition back and run the whole thing. I bet it would take three hours or more to test. Copying images to and from a laptop over USB 2.0 takes a little time.

 

I'm on stock Asus install. I was in a rush the day I got my laptop, and then I sort of got involved with classes and such, and by then I had my stuff all installed (specifically games like Final Fantasy XI, which takes forever to update from a fresh install). That said, I never bothered cleaning the thing up. I probably should, but the keyboard issue has only really been a minor annoyance.

 

Well that's a very good data point to have. Yours does it and it's all stock. Most likely there is no point in going through all the trouble to get back to stock since it is unlikely to change anything.

 

Mine doesn't. The only problem is when I hit the space key too far right, and it doesn't make contact.

 

Missed keystrokes is a problem prevalent with Asus laptops in general, especially the G series. You can find people talking about it with the G50, G51, G71, G72, etc. The, "Disable your touchpad in the bios" maybe solution was one I was reading about last year when I got my G50 refurb. I've seen it discussed with several Asus laptops.

So this is not, "chiclet keyboards are different." I'm glad to see they are working on resolving it. I really think it is tied to the Synaptics driver/app. I think it polls too much, bumping the keyboard input out of the way sometimes.

 

The Synaptic driver isn't the only poller. Anything with a hotkey does.

 

anyways , slightly off topic , but how does the single button touchpad work? I just saw that the G73 had one but nver used one so i'm freaking out...

 

It's a rocker type thing. It just has one plastic button covering to different contacts. I guess it works fine. I would prefer two buttons with less resistance, but it works fine.

 

ok that's ok..anyways i can always use the touchpad and press to get left click... which is what i need 999 times out of a 1000.

 

I have discovered that this problem may be related to other programs operating in the background. I also have problems with the touchpad becoming very slow and unresponsive - sometimes freezing for awhile. I turned off Windows Search and this stopped the issue of the dropped keys and the touchpad. But then when outlook started downloading emails the touchpad got sluggish again. So I think there is something wrong with assigning priorities to various activities. The keyboard and mouse should always have the highest priority but on my G73JH (with Windows 7 64 bit) the background activities like Search are getting a higher priority. Anybody know how to change this?

 

Actually, it is a BIOS problem having to do with timers, or a flat out physical design issue. Removing system load is just a secondary effect, and one that is the wrong way of trying to deal with it. We bought our systems to work at any load level and perform basic functions like display the desktop, take input from the keyboard and touchpad and not corrupt data from discs. Hell, even netbooks with 1/20th the power of our systems can do all of that gracefully.

Point blank fact of the matter is that the keyboard/touchad polling shoud be able to happen and be responsive REGARDLESS of system load (both processor and I/O).

This is a serious flaw that needs to be addressed properly. Looks like the keyboard missed characters is accompanied by the touchpad "freaking out" issue as well. They are indicative of the same problem.

Hopefully Gary Key is listening and knows it is not just a keyboard issue, but also a touchpad issue. I would expect if they fix one the other will be taken care of as well because they are tied together into one subsystem, but I don't assume anything becuase we have all seen the inclination to band-aid fix the problem instead of engineering a proper solution.

Has anyone tried removing the ATK package and seeing if things become less "glitchy"??? We already know the Synaptics package just masks the problems.

 

HellCry removed the ATK package and reported that the problem goes completely away in that scenario. I don't remember which thread we discussed that in, but it was about five days ago and I haven't seen him post in several days.

Also, I thought the same thing about task priority. I write process control software for a living so I spend a lot of time dealing with task priority in Windows. I pushed up the priority on different exe's related to both the touchpad and the ATK package but it seemed to have zero effect on my missing keystrokes.

My touchpad will act strangely every once in a great while. I keep turning it off in BIOS though so I can freaking type without constantly having to correct so maybe I'm not using it enough to have a proper opinion of that.

 

I definitely have this issue and I am a fast typer making it even that much more annoying.

What will I lose if I uninstall this ATK package?

I haven't tried the BIOS option because I do want to use the touchpad at time even though I mostly use my mouse.

I have changed some settings in the Synaptics program and I recently upgraded to the new BIOS.

I honestly haven't paid any attention to see if that BIOS update made any difference or not.

I'm willing to lose the ATK if I knew what I would be giving up but I'm clueless as to what it actually does.

 

You lose all FN+ functions on the keys if you uninstall ATK, as well as those onscreen prompts/graphics that happens when you press them. I'd just wait for the upcoming new synaptics driver, you don't realize how much you use FN keys...

 

Yeah, that would be a no go for me. I use those FN+ keys a lot.

I will just wait.

It seems to have gotten better since I upgraded the BIOS to 211 and messed with some of the Synaptics settings. I use the FN+F9 to turn the touchpad on and off. So far that seems to work well enough.

 

They are still working on a fix for us. They haven't forgotten or given up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. gadzooks64, does that stop the missing keystrokes for you? Turning it off with Fn+F9? That doesn't help me at all. I have to turn mine off in BIOS.

 

Yes, my keyboard does miss keystrokes. I just got my laptop a few days ago.

I nearly didn't get this laptop because of the keyboard lag issue that I read about. I was familiar with it because my first Asus purchase was a gaming laptop from Best Buy a couple of years ago (it was a G series too; don't recall the exact model) and it suffered from the keyboard lag that I'm seeing on this model. I returned it to Best Buy in exchange for a different laptop at the time.

I was encouraged by mention of the 209 bios fixing the issue (which my laptop came shipped with) but it's definitely there. It's not as bad as the first Asus laptop from BB I mentioned earlier but it is present. I'm guessing Asus thought they fixed it with bios 209 but it simply suppressed it a bit. A lot of users probably won't notice because it is very subtle but to those touch-typists like myself, it's really noticeable (and I would say I'm rather average, 40-60 wpm).

In my experience I would say the space bar and enter key are the major culprits. I would notice a lot of typos like:

"my mom b eat me with a wooden spoon."

And the enter key, noticeable with Google searches. I found myself typing a search, hitting enter and then nothing happened. I would have to hit enter again for it to register.

I have currently disabled the touch-pad in the bios for now and the keyboard lag appears to be gone. If anyone needs any additional information from me on the issue I would be happy to assist.

 

Jody - I also have the missed keystrokes problem. There is no fix out there that has worked, including the "scraping" fix. It is pretty frustrating, accompanied by my "squeaky spacebar" problem. I love the laptop, but the keyboard has been a nightmare. Unfortunately, no one in this thread seems to know a fix for this problem. I really don't wanna RMA as I'm in College and being laptopless is not really an option :\

 

hopefully the synaptics drivers fixes this issue.

 

Gary is actively working on a fix for us. Hopefully we'll get something soon. I am not personally considering an RMA since so many people have the same problem we do. I'm imagining that there is less than a 50% chance of getting it back with the problem solved. Keeping my fingers crossed for a fix.

 

Mine misses a lot of keystrokes, especially on the bottom row. I have a very hard time getting the "," key to work, I sometimes have to press it 3-5 times to get it to show up. I hope that Gary will have a fix for it soon. His fix for the GSOD is working great so far for me and I hope for everyone else.

 

School's starting soon, guess what that demands

Yeah, I guess I'll have to type under 60 WPM during lectures, which kind of sucks because that's not nearly enough to keep up with the profs these days. Bump this thread if a fix comes out (I have no idea where to look out for Gary Key threads, he posts rather randomly).