Keyboard issues with the Studio 17

Hello everyone!

I recently recieved my Studio 17 notebook from Dell and its really wonderful, everything works as it should except one thing (there always is isnt there)

The problem is with the keyboard, when i type it works fine, but when in games (especially the WASD-keys) get sort of "stuck". Not stuck like they are physically stuck, its more like if i press two keys at once they often freeze so im still strafing left or forward even though im not touching the keys.

This is pretty annoying when playing (cant tell you how many times it got me killed )

Does anyone expierence similar problems?? Or maybe a solution? I am getting a backlit-keyboard sent to me today so that might fix it, im not sure.

Anyways any help would be greatly appreciated!


Other than that its a wonderful "lil" lappy

Cheers!

SOLLUTION!: I just figured it out! Try hitting Num Lk on your numpad, if the little light to the left of it is on, then your keys should no longer be stuck (atleast for me) But if it is off the stuck key problem stays. Hope this helps!

 

did u try using an external keyboard to check if the problem was there in external keyboard also ??

 

Tried it with a external keyboard now, and it worked fine. So it seems that the problems are with the keyboard on the Dell.

 

well then replacement itself is the best strategy

 

Hey, my Studio 15 keyboard does the exact same thing. Mine, however, is already backlit and it only happens in Windows XP.

...But Im also having major problems with the fan going crazy and media buttons working only sometimes...

 

Well it could be a driver issue if you are using xp because the laptop was not designed for it.

 

Same Problem

Even keyboard replacement didnt work, still talking/testing with Dell...

 

Ditto here. Not very often but enough to be annoying. Pressing the same key again "unsticks" it. It smells like a software rather than a physical problem to me though I've no proof of that.

Studio 17, backlit KB, Preloaded Vista install with latest $everything drivers.

 

Im using Vista 32-bit. The replacement keyboard did not work so im guessing its a software issue. But it ONLY happens when im gaming.

If i try it in notepad for instance it does not "stick".

By the answers in this thread i see that im not alone with this problem, i have not tried to contact Dell support (i live in Sweden) But if someone gets an answer by Dell please share it with the rest of us. I will try and get a hold of them today aswell.

Cheers

 

Im using Vista 32-bit. The replacement keyboard did not work so im guessing its a software issue. But it ONLY happens when im gaming.

I mean, how am i supposed to "pwn n00bs" when im strafing into walls all the time

If i try it in notepad for instance it does not "stick".

By the answers in this thread i see that im not alone with this problem, i have not tried to contact Dell support (i live in Sweden) But if someone gets an answer by Dell please share it with the rest of us. I will try and get a hold of them today aswell.

Cheers

 

Im using Vista 32-bit. The replacement keyboard did not work so im guessing its a software issue. But it ONLY happens when im gaming.

I mean, how am i supposed to "pwn n00bs" when im strafing into walls all the time

If i try it in notepad for instance it does not "stick".

By the answers in this thread i see that im not alone with this problem, i have not tried to contact Dell support (i live in Sweden) But if someone gets an answer by Dell please share it with the rest of us. I will try and get a hold of them today aswell.

Cheers

 

I'm thinking driver/software issues too, but there are no drivers for a keyboard. Both Windows Vista and XP just recognize it as a generic keyboard.

 

Someone else here with the same issue too.

 

Same issue here. Seems that my "Windows" Key gets locked sometimes. When you press "E" the Explorer opens (Like when pressing Windows+E). Pressing the Windows key then once unlocks it. Happens pretty seldom, as I don't game (business user) it doesn't disturb me that much, but it definitely happens.

 

i have had the same problem with locked keys on my studio17

 

Allright, do this and then call up Dell:

Pop in your Dell Diagnostics CD and load up the "Interactive Test" listed under "Keyboard". Now you can press the keyboard keys and see them light up on your screen.

Now press 2 keys at the exact same time, like "S+A" or "6+7" and see one of those 2 keys getting stuck (blinking). Pressing that key again will release the key again.

If you press 2 of the arrow keys at the same time, this NEVER happens.

Test this and confront Dell with this if you get the same result. They can't make the excuse now that it's game related because it happens with their own diagnostics CD. Also, because the CD loads it own interface, you also rule out that it's a bad driver issue in your current Windows.

 

Also, look on google for "ASWD" "Flash" Game" and select a site that has a small flash game with "ASWD" controls. I'm having the same problems there.

 

I doubt this is the cause (when I experienced it, it only happened with games on GameTap), but I ran into a similar issue a year ago.

ati2evxx.exe (ATI HotKey Poller) is the program that controls the ability to change video settings using hotkeys. For whatever reason, this caused me to have a similar (but not identical) experience you are - when I was playing a game, it would act like I was holding buttons down long after I stopped pressing them.

Again, this was over a year ago and I'm sure software updates have helped resolve this, but just as a test, you might end task any instances of
ati2evxx.exe and see if the problem persists. Don't worry, the program will start again next time you restart so you aren't making any permanent changes just testing this.

 

Thank you SO MUCH! This actually solved my problem! Now i dont get the "stuck" keys anymore!

So i guess i have to close ati2evxx.exe everytime i want to game. Kind of annoying but now i atleast have a solution! Thank you again!

P.S I booted CS:S (where movment is key) after i disabled ati2evxx.exe and it worked great!

I hope it works for all the others who are having problems too!

Cheers!

 

no need of stopping the service everytime. you can go to msconfig and disable the ati hotkey poller useless service permanently using startup or services tabs

 

Good point. Also, updating to the latest Catalyst 8.10 might help as well...

 

Glad I could help. I left off the part about using msconfig to permanently disable it because I honestly didn't think it would work!

But yeah, that problem was driving me CRAZY.

 

Well, didnt work for me.
I allready had that service disabled and to be sure I also uninstalled the video driver and tried out a flash game with aswd keys and still the same problem.

Glad to see it's working for some people!

 

This is strange, today after i ended the service i STILL had the problem. Even though it worked the first time. I am going to test diffrent drivers for the GPU and i am going to call Dell Support aswell.

I'll let you all know if i get some answers/solutions.

Cheers!

 

Ok, ive talked to Dell. He gave me a tip to completly remove CCC (Catalyst Control Centre) becuse of some hotkey-issue. If you are having the same trouble as me you can try this, it did not work for me though.

What DID work however was a system recovery, if you reboot your Studio and press F8 you get a few choices to choose from. I chose to format my C:/ and turn the computer back to how it was when delivered. I also got rid of alot of bloatware stuff so that was good. Anyways the first thing i did once i got back into windows was to jump in WoW and YES! It WORKS!
No stuck keys, no nothing!

So if you feel up to it, do what i did and see if it works for you aswell.

Cheers!

EDIT: OMG! I just figured it out! Try hitting Num Lk on your numpad, if the little light to the left of it is on, then your keys should no longer be stuck (atleast for me) But if it is off the stuck key problem stays. Hope this helps!

 

......

***, that's it! Thanks!

 

i have same problem and its a major pain in the *** in WoW...hitting num doesnt seem too do anything also lights out on the button...its only a month old...way to go dell...

 

any word on a permanat fix for this issue?

 

I had the same issue with my studio 15 laptop. I tried all kinds of different things like uninstalling the keyboard drivers and disabling catalyst hotkeys. None of them worked. The issue occurs in the Dell diagnostics software too so it seemed to be more a hardware than a software problem. Then someone else on the Dell community forum pointed out the solution to me. If this solves your problem you are going to kick yourselves.

Turn on Num Lk.

It's as simple as that. When Num Lk is on on my keyboard the problem goes away, when I turn it off it starts occurring again. It seems to be some very weird quirk with the keyboards on the studio laptops. The num lock button is not supposed to produce this behaviour. I've heard of Dell replacing keyboards over this issue so clearly they don't know about it. Could other people try this to confirm that this is the problem ?

 

Can we please get this as a sticky? As it seems that the solution is to turn your Num Lk on.

Or alternatively, add this thread in the "Studio 17 Owners Thread", as an edit on the first post.

Since there are alot of people who are having this problem, a sticky in the Dell Studio forum here at Notebookreview would be appreciated alot!

Cheers!

 

funny thing is that in WoW, NumLock is the key used to make your toon run... no?

so it's constantly on and off...

replacing the Keyboard doesn't seem to do the trick...

 

so dell still has ball dropped on this one?

 

Studio 15 owner (backlit KB) here. After having this same issue in WoW, then noticing it in Left4Dead and a flash game called robokill, I went through the motions with Dell ruling out software and getting a new keyboard. Like Dell, they sent a non-backlit keyboard which they installed anyway. Same issue.

I checked online for the issue as a Studio-wide issue and found this thread--seems like it's more widespread than I thought.

Anyway, the num lock fix worked for me but it is a little troubling that they don't seem to know (or care?) about this kind of serious issue for anyone using it to game. At any rate, they're sending back out a new backlit KB to get installed--looks like I'll just have to keep the num lock on and deal with it!

 

Studio 15 - double strikes on kb all over the place. I've now had Dell techs on site twice, and my machine has beeen (see what I mean about the double-strikes?) to the factory twice. Total: Four motherboards, six keyboards. The last time, before the tech even left me the kb was fubar. I finally asked for a replacement, which came in with all new bios, etc. and...it does exactly the same thing.

 

After replacing the motherboard and keyboard multiple times .. it might not be an error on the computer.

Do you press the keys for a long time when you type?

 

Just turn on Num Lock.

I have no idea why this works, but it does. Since I turned on Num Lock months ago, I have not had a single sticky key issue in any game I've played.

 

I dont have a Num Lock key on my Studio 15!