Solved Very Strange Keyboard Issue

[Thaigrr]

Salutations SevenForums People.

This week I started using a new PC with Win7 Ultimate. There is something wrong with the way my keyboard responds in all first person shooter games.

The move forward key stops working when I hit other keys. For example, when I hold the move-forward key down my guy will continuously move forward until I hit a strafe key or a melee key, etc. At that point my character stops moving forward and I have to release the forward key & then press it again, in order to keep moving forward.

In other words, it's not digitally continuous. The same thing happens if I strafe left, or right, or move backwards. As soon as I hit a combination of keys, the movement halts. It requires a constant re-pressing of the key to continue moving. In summary: My keys are 'interrupted' when I press other keys; they are not constantly activated when depressed. The problem does not occur with mouse inputs.

I've changed the keyboard & mouse, and the USB ports they're connected to, and the problem persists. I've done all updates to BIOS, operating system, chipset, drivers... 'Sticky keys' is not on, neither is 'filter keys'. My regional keyboard setting is English US, and that's all.

I've ran an antivirus scan & combofix & my system is clean (just reformatted). I've disabled everything except the necessities in system configuration. There are no infections or app threads disrupting me, and everything is fine with my PC except for this keyboard issue in gaming.

I'm at a loss as to what is causing this. It's a very tricky subject to search on Google, and I've had no luck there. So here is my forum post, hopefully somebody can suggest a resolution. Thank you for any help.

Thaigrr

 

[paulpicks21]

Hello and welcome to the forums,

That is a very tricky one, you are right!

Reading through your post, it looks like you have tried everything! What are the 1st person games it is happening in?


Paul.

 

[Thaigrr]

Reply to Paul

Thank you for your reply Paul. The problem occurred in Left4Dead so then I tested it with Quake2, and the problem occurs there as well. This leads me to conclude that it will occur with any FPS. I believe the problem is fundamental to the way Windows 7 Ultimate operates my keyboard.

You can replicate what I'm talking about by following this simple exercise. Open notepad and hold down your 'D' key. After a few seconds tap your 'S' key once (while keeping 'D' held down). You will see that all text inputs stop. This is perfectly normal in a windows environment but it should not happen in a gaming environment, in which the keys should be 'active' as long as they are depressed.

The keyboard problem I'm having is that 'windows environment functionality' is occurring in my gaming environments, it would seem. Sadly I confess to being stymied at this point, and certainly I welcome any suggestions, thanks, Thaigrr.

 

[paulpicks21]

No worries,

I am really struggling to think of anything it could be, especially seeing as you have re-formatted and tried a different keyboard.
Do you have another FPS game you can try it out on just to be 100% sure it's not an issue with those 2 specific games?

 

[Thaigrr]

Reply2 to Paul

Thank you again for your extended interest. I will try another FPS game when I finish work to ensure it is not game-specific as you have suggested, although I'm very confident it is not, as evidenced by the problem's occurrence in two games already. Left4Dead (is the greatest game ever, in my opinion, and) is the only game I play.

Perhaps I will need to look into finding a way to prompt windows to continuously digitally acknowledge key inputs, perhaps with a specific driver or registry tweak. Again, the problem I'm having is a very complicated subject to seek out on Google.

In any case, Windows will not update my keyboard driver because it recognizes the current driver as 'the best driver is already installed'. My keyboard is a Microsoft Natural ergonomic model, and I played L4D with it just fine on my old computer, which ran WinXP.

Just out of curiosity, did you try the exercise I described above? If so, you will understand exactly what I am referring to. Thanks again, Thaigrr.

 

[paulpicks21]

Hiya Thaigrr,

Yes I tried what you said, and I understand fully what is happening. It must be annoying as hell!

You certainly should not need to find a registry tweak for such a thing as it should not be happening in the first place. I just wish I had one of those 2 games to test it out on myself on Windows 7.

Lets see if it does the same in another FPS game for you. Do you have any such as Battlefield 2 or 3 or any Call of Duty games?

 

[Thaigrr]

I played the Call of Duty games when they originally came out but I haven't played anything but L4D since it came out. I have a binder full of older FPS shooters though, and I will install one of them and test it, and then post here again with an update. Thx, Thaigrr

 

[Thaigrr]

Reply3 to Paul

Another game I have installed is Left4Dead 2. It's a really great game too, but it's not as good as the first one, which is for the most part, the perfect co-op action game. Testing L4D2 has resulted in the same problem as the other games.

I can't continue moving forward (or any direction) as soon as I hit another key. What a frustrating issue. If you have any colleagues that you think may offer enlightenment, please refer this thread to them. Thank you again for your efforts. Thaigrr.

 

[paulpicks21]

Dam, that rules out the games then.

I have requested more help on this as it beyond me. I don't know if anyone will be able to help but hopefully a couple of people will try.

Paul.

 

[Anak]

Hi Thaigrr, welcome to 7F! Hi Paul,

The problem being experienced here is called "Ghosting"
https://www.microsoft.com/Microsoft Applied Sciences Keyboard Ghosting Explained, and from a link within that blog: https://www.microsoft.com/Microsoft Applied Sciences SideWinder X4 Anti-Ghosting FAQ

Thaigrr you don't fully explain what type of Microsoft Natural ergonomic model you have, but it should handle up to 6 simultaneous key presses. See report from: Lab-Tested: 8 Ambitious High-End Keyboards - Page 2 | Maximum PC, scroll down to the second comparison chart for the 7000 Anti-ghosting.

One problem mention in the sidewinder blog is limitations with the USB connection.

I'm coming up with four conclusions here:

• Try all the other USB connections you haven't had the keyboard (KB) attached to. If you've been using wi-fi I don't know what to tell you.
• You may have an outdated driver, check your version to see if it's 8.2 Both the 4000, and 7000 are 8.2. Even though they are the same, if you have the 4000 try the 7000 driver, maybe MS updated ghosting or other features that the 4000 doesn't have, worst case, the KB wouldn't work and you'd have to swap back. A restore point might help here.
• Maybe remap the KB, but that's out of my league.
• You may have a bad keyboard, can you RMA it?.

 

[paulpicks21]

Thanks for dropping by Anak, some interesting info there.


Paul.

 

[Anak]

Your welcome Paul, I remembered it from years ago, but it took a little bit to jog my memory for newer information on it.

Steve

 

[Dude]

Some keyboards have limits on input. If the good advice above does't work then get a gaming keyboard.

 

[Thaigrr]

Reply to Anak & Paul

Hi Anak, thank you for your detailed reply to my problem. Now that I understand the 'ghosting' concept I can explore keyboard solutions a little more specifically.

This is what I discovered: My MS Natural ergonomic keyboard is 'ghosting' under Win7 Ultimate x64. This isn't a problem with the keyboard itself because it worked fine with WinXP. I did try a different keyboard and had the same problem, but it was also an MS ergonomic keyboard (although not an identical model).

Today I tried a third keyboard; a MS 'comfort curve' keyboard that is much newer, and it does not have the ghosting problem. So now I will attempt to find a special Win7 driver for the older keyboard and failing that, I will purchase a newer model and chalk that cost to another Microsoft legacy incompatibility. I will now mark this thread as solved.

Thanks again Paul & Anak, Thaigrr.

 

[paulpicks21]

Excellent, I am pleased you finally got to the bottom of it Thaigrr.

Well done to Anak

 

[Anak]

Thaigrr, I'm glad to hear you were able to come to a resolution, although it wasn't with the keyboard you seemed most comfortable with.

Thaigrr, If I run across any "special" drivers I'll post back, I hope you can do the same. By the way, what are the model and serial numbers of those two keyboards?

As an afterthought, did you ever consider installing the ergo boards with XP compatibility? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html

Paul, thank you for those kind words.

Steve

 

[Thaigrr]

Reply2 to Anak

Hi Anak, thank you for the compatibility mode link. It seems to apply only to programs & unfortunately I cannot find any compatibility adjustment options for my keyboard hardware, nor can I find any special Win7 drivers, either official or third-party.

Yes, my MS Natural keyboard is a discontinued item but it's a really great ergonomic keyboard. I suppose I could use it at the office or such, because the only thing it has problems with is ghosting whilst gaming...

In any case, it is a Microsoft Natural Keyboard part number: 59758. The other keyboard I tried, and with which I had the same problem, is the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite (there is no part # for this one, and it is also a discontinued model).

I think it was very indolent or short-sighted of Microsoft to build a new OS that excludes perfectly good legacy hardware that worked fine under XP, but I can't say it is atypical.

Thank you again for your assistance. Thaigrr

 

[Anak]

Hi Anak, thank you for the compatibility mode link. It seems to apply only to programs & unfortunately I cannot find any compatibility adjustment options for my keyboard hardware, nor can I find any special Win7 drivers, either official or third-party.

Your welcome.

It seems to apply only to programs
A driver is a program, and I wouldn't think there would be any adjustments in the hardware application once its been installed.

You don't want to disrupt the board that is working for you now, but have you tried following the Compatibility Mode tutorial going as far as Option One step three to see if it will give you that option?

If the software for the ergo board(s) is/are on a CD or DVD you could check the properties of the setup.exe file on the disk, but you would have better luck if you copied the disk to your Desktop and checking the properties there.

On a lark, I downloaded the driver for the 7000;

Here is the General Tab, you would have to Unblock the file first then go to the Compatibility Tab and make your selections:



And the Compatibility Tab:



Compatibility Mode still may or may not work, but the options are there. The choice is yours.

 

[Anak]

I got to thinking and looked at my keyboard P/N and its the same as yours 59758, and we've been using it since win98. Remember that USB limitation?

Well, I've always had ours hooked up with a PS/2 connector, even now because that's the type it came with. So if yours has a USB connection and you have a PS/2 connection at the back of your machine try an adapter or if you've been using an adapter take it off and plug it into the PS/2 connection..

Here's a pix of ours:



More: Keyboard Ghosting ＆ N-key Rollover: How Many Keys Your Keyboard Can Take?

 

[Thaigrr]

Yep, that's my keyboard (or it used to be, I just bought the MS Ergo 4000). Now I'm getting used to a new keyboard