Triggering Keyboard Lag / Repeated Keys
So this took me a while to figure out what was going on. So I primarily run Linux, the only exception is gaming. I periodically was experiencing the key's randomly not typing, or repeated key strokes, that I've seen mentioned here (across more than one of my WASD keyboards).
- If boot into Linux first, stay in Linux, no issue.
- If I boot into Windows, stay in Windows no Issue.
- Boot into Linux, reboot into Windows, no issue.
- Boot into Windows, then reboot into Linux, the issue is fairly likely to happen (it just doesn't always happen right away, sometimes some time, say ~10 minutes). Unplugging and re-plugging in the keyboard will fix it generally. This happened across a couple versions of Linux Mint, and many kernels (as well as PC change / upgrade).
Is this one of those situations I should downgrade the firmware to eliminate this issue?
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I have the same issue on a V3 hotswap model, however my PC only has Windows 10. On mine it seems to start happening anytime the PC goes to sleep. I can tell it's going to be problematic because the caps lock/num lock/scroll lock lights stop working completely as well. Unplugging the keyboard and plugging it back seems to fix it until the PC goes to sleep again. Have you found any solution?
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I have not, I was hoping that it maybe a clue on how they could fix their firmware. Especially as their hasn't been an update for a while, and this has been a known problem. I forgot to mention the lights, as this is also a problem I have. My caps / num / scroll lock function, but the lights stop functioning. So I have no idea if they are on or not.
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Have you found any solution?
So at the bottom of their firmware "support" page:
https://support.wasdkeyboards.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018518874-Keyboard-Firmware-Updates
There is this response from WASD (in the comments, second page):
A lot of people confuse a higher number with "better" but that's not always the case, we actually have 3 different (separate) firmware sets going (V2, V3 0.13~0.17, and V3 1.20~3.0) It's not really appropriate to describe them as "better" than one another, they're just different, they do different things in different ways. We still have all of them available because I personally think that this flexibility is beneficial to our customers, the only drawback is that it tends to confuse a lot of our customers and they will assume that this one is clearly better, look at how much bigger that number is!
As for this particular issue, it has somewhat halted further development as our firmware devs would like to fix this issue before going forward. The problem is that this particular issue it's extremely hard to reproduce, of all my data gathering there isn't any reproducible pattern, through hardware (mac, windows, linux), software (different OS for each major operating system, old to new) nor firmware. It's some combination of those three things. It only affects some computers, and of those computers only randomly/intermittently. I've personally tested 30+ different systems myself so far and I haven't been able to reproduce this issue.
So I have switched to 0.16, and my keyboard seems more reliable. It definitely doesn't seem to have the repeated keys anymore. However, I know I'm having an issue right now where I just update the Linux kernel on my PC, and it seems to be a bit buggy. However is my PC not responding all the sudden or is my keyboard? You can see why I have a doubt now.
So I actually have 3 WASD keyboards. The first one, or the original I had a PC that I couldn't update the BIOS with it plugged into (always had to get out another keyboard). The new ones, have firmware issues... These keyboards have "premium prices" they should be fairly well sorted out. I know stuff happens, but I'll likely be shopping around next time.
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I had the exact problem on Win10 and Win11 on two PCs, both with an AMD CPU (which seems to be triggering the issue ?), my keyboard would Lag/not register some keys/repeat several time some of them.
I reverted to the firmware 2.5 and it's now working like a charm, no more problems. I just had to change some DIP Switches positions.
So yeah, TLDR: revert the firmware until it works.
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In our place this issue exists with at least 3 WASD keyboards with 3 different PC's. All Dell with Intel CPU, all Windows 10/11. So not limited to AMD CPU.
We haven't been able to spot a pattern to it. But then again, as someone else mentioned, at this price, you would expect the keyboard to be working out of the box.
Will definitely buy another brand next time.
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Will definitely buy another brand next time.
I did. I admitted defeat and replaced my "daily driver" board with something else. I honestly should have done it sooner, as the new board feels night and day better:
I do miss having the ability to have whatever I wanted printed on the key caps, but the PBT double shot key caps do feel nice. So pros and cons.
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Hey, I wanted to chime in, as I was having a similar issue with my keyboard as well. I think I found a workaround, disable everything, all bells and whistles.
Set DIP switches to: 1-4 off, 5 and 6 on. Yes, the keyboard will lose all special features, but on the flip side, all of these issues have gone away for a month so far. And to make sure I wasn't crazy I re-enabled just FN, and yea within a day the lag/repeat came back. Turned FN back off (program was already left off), and again it stops doing this.
Please feel free to chime in if this works for you as well (or doesn't). I sent an email to WASD support with my findings to see if perhaps it helps locate the problem. I know the biggest issue for us is that replicating the issue is mere impossible, it seems to happen "when" it wants to, and you can press just one key and it decides to do it, but no with 1-4 off, and 5-6 on, it's been perfect, it acts just as it should, and I can still temporarily enable the program key to set the lock LED colors just fine.
(I'll post my PC specs though at this point it seems to hit AMD and Intel, so I'll detail *as much* as I can.
First, it happens in the BIOS itself for me, actually when the keyboard "acts up" it locks up the BIOS setup utility, so it's not OS related for me.AMD FX-8370
Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 R2
32GB RAM (I doubt RAM has anything to do with this)
Windows 11 64-bit (again it affects my BIOS setup so I don't think OS has to do with it)
Tried both the southbridge based USB 2.0 controller, and the VIA USB 3.0 controller, and it would happen with either.
Happens through hub, or without a hub.
My work laptop is a ThinkPad P series (not sure of the exact model) and this is where the issue is different as compared to my own PC: It only hits my work laptop if going through the monitors USB hub, but not if plugged directly into the laptop. As for the work laptop specs, it's locked down, I can't even open task manager, and the BIOS is password locked. I honestly have no idea what is in the laptop or if it's a CTO.) -
I do miss having the ability to have whatever I wanted printed on the key caps, but the PBT double shot key caps do feel nice. So pros and cons.
Yea I have to be honest here, the reason I even purchased a WASD keyboard was for the keycaps primarily, but wanted a new type of keyswitch anyway. I do like the keyboard with the mentioned workaround that at least works for me to prevent this problem from ocurring, but my Hylian keycaps totally wore out in months, and now more than half a year later, 2 of the keys are already missing half their characters, and several more are glossing over as the "coating" just breaks down under my use. My Model F XT which is 42 years old has zero signs of wear from my typing.
I did put on new PBT double-shots today, and it's back to looking nice at least (and sounds entirely different, it actually sounds nice, so plastic material goes a long way). But I'm not entirely happy that the Hylian keycaps I paid for lasted not even a year before just wearing away. There's no point in getting it replaced, it'll just wear away again. ABS and my oils don't mix, and their coating doesn't stand a chance against my oils apparently either. Can't ask for a refund for something out of both of our control, but the firmware issue is a major issue that I can't discredit. I hope my workaround does help others though, and perhaps helps WASD find the issue, perhaps cluing them as to wear the problem is.
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Set DIP switches to: 1-4 off, 5 and 6 on. Yes, the keyboard will lose all special features, but on the flip side, all of these issues have gone away for a month so far.
This is the setup for my boards and I still had the issues. At least on the latest firmware. If you roll it back as WASD suggests, you may not.
Yea I have to be honest here, the reason I even purchased a WASD keyboard was for the keycaps primarily, but wanted a new type of keyswitch anyway.
My skin stays pretty dry anyways. The all black WASD keyboard in the one image I posted had 9 years of use on it, and some of the key caps looked a little shiney but really it held very well.
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This is the setup for my boards and I still had the issues. At least on the latest firmware. If you roll it back as WASD suggests, you may not.
WASD would need to comment on what firmware my keyboard has. I never changed it from whatever it shipped with, which was earlier this year (so it should be the latest). That's unfortunate it didn't work for you. In that case this firmware issue is more of a mess than I thought. Even something that can fix it for me, doesn't work for others.
My skin stays pretty dry anyways. The all black WASD keyboard in the one image I posted had 9 years of use on it, and some of the key caps looked a little shiney but really it held very well.
I wish that was the case for me (my hands are always clammy, I have never been able to control that and I wish I could). Here's my custom keycaps, they were removed yesterday from service since ordering it earlier this year. Those are just a sample of 4 keys. All have wear where my fingers touch it. At first WASD said it might be my fingernail but no, I went religious and filed my nails down, and video taped how I typed. It wasn't my nails. In fact, what's weirder is 3 of those 4 keys clearly lost the coating, but one of them did not, yet lost part of the legend anyway. For comparison, the key without the gloss but missing parts of the character is the Breath of the Wild Hylian "S" character if you want to Google it to see how it *should* look. It's missing the whole inner portion basically, but the coating never came off, as if it was printed on top of the coating.
I will state, the space bar was replaced as that was the first to show signs of wear, so the bar pictured above is the original one. The replacement is shinier now, as it was uncoated.
Overall, when it comes to key caps, the fact my 42 year old IBM Model F XT's keycaps look as good as the day I got it (let's just say I'm the second owner and have had that keyboard for most of my life now), has zero signs of wear on the caps, but the WASD keyboard showed signs of wear within the year, is why I'm a proponent of PBT over ABS. If WASD ever considers PBT and dye sublimination at least, I'd consider ordering my Hylian key caps again, but not with the current printing process and ABS plastic. My oils are just too acidic to it unfortunately.
At this point though, I prefer the caps I ended up putting on my board more, it sounds better, feels better, and is PBT with double-shot. So those legends aren't going anywhere. -
In fact, what's weirder is 3 of those 4 keys clearly lost the coating, but one of them did not, yet lost part of the legend anyway.
Which is quite odd. However I noticed a difference in the keys right away when I ordered my first V3 keyboard from my V1 keyboard. The keys appeared "cheaper" (*personal opinion). That texture which I'm guessing is the coating seems to be what is wearing through on your key caps.
Here is an image from my V1 and V3 keyboard, notice that same texture is not present on the V1 keycaps:
My V1 keycaps ended up shiny after 9 years of use, but no wear through like what you posted.
I'm also a little concerned about the legends wearing off. I know I had originally contacted WASD before I ordered the V1 keyboard and asked about the keycaps. IIRC they said it was a laser etching process that was permanent, and could not be worn off (I can't find that email). I do however have my receipt and payment for the V1 keyboard, and those emails, and the custom keycaps I ordered for that board, all say laser etched (these invoices are from 2013). I notice none of the V3 boards or keycaps I've ordered since say this. Perhaps this has changed, and why the legends can now wear off?
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IIRC they said it was a laser etching process that was permanent, and could not be worn off
Yea this in no way is laser etched. In fact you bring up some interesting points, so I grabbed my microscope.
It does look like the coating is on top of the silkscreen but somehow the silkscreen detached and took the coating off clean without leaving a wear pattern on this particular key, as compared to the other. But that is silk-screening it looks like, it's no laser etching.
I guess the takeaway here is, they used laser etching in the past, which didn't require any coating to proect it. Now they silkscreen which does require the coating (that is indeed the texture) to protect it, but the coating isn't as "proof" as they claim it is for some people at least. For me it's a travesty because I had to pull all the keys, swap them and the o-rings over, and honestly the 3rd party keycaps are already shockingly better in quality, and cost $20 shipped from Amazon, while being PBT and double-shot.
WASD needs to reconsider how these keys are made, if they were using laser etching in the past, and decided to do this, man I want my Hylian keycaps re-made on PBT with laser etching. THEN it'd last as long as I'd expect for the price I paid.
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But that is silk-screening it looks like, it's no laser etching.
That's disappointing... I would guess a quantity over quality thing then. That bad thing is their boards are already at a "premium" price point. At least that's my guess, as their has to be a reason they switched to this inferior (*personal opinion) method of producing keycaps.
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That's disappointing... I would guess a quantity over quality thing then. That bad thing is their boards are already at a "premium" price point. At least that's my guess, as their has to be a reason they switched to this inferior (*personal opinion) method of producing keycaps.
If running a business has taught me anything it's this: When demand from customers goes down, so does the quality of the item if the price is to remain the same, or the price will need to be adjusted for supply and demand.
And they chose lower quality. In fact, the V3 keyboards like this one, I don't remember, but I think WASD admitted to me in an email that the keyboard is actually manufactured FOR them (so in that case, who's really making the firmware?), which was why I was allowed to remove the warranty sticker without voiding the warranty, as that sticker is placed there by the real manufacturer, not WASD, as when I first ran into the firmware issue, I was almost certain it was a mechanical issue as if soldering needed reflowing, being *my* business is electronics repair ironically.
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Never had any of those problems with any of my WASD CODE keyboards (3). One is V2 with Cherry MX Green keys, the others are V3 with Cherry MX Brown. When I bought it I was developing software 16-18 hours a day. I wore the black off the keys, they looked like a 80's strip mall size that was broken and the light box was visible. Some of the F keys lost their back lighting. It's definitely poor craftsmanship relative to the 80s, but everything is these days. At this point, life has taught me to have low expectations from others, so I'm not disappointing, but if I had the skills to design and build one myself, it'd be too expensive. For what it's worth, my development machines are all from System76, all Linux with i3wm, tmux, and nvim. There's very little mouse action going on.
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