mpalourdio
Keyboard repeat issue status?
Hi all,
It would be great if people posting configuration could tell us more about the keyboard repeat issue most of the XPS 13 users have in common.
It's hard to tell, but I have sometimes the feeling that changing kernel (last 4.1) seems to improve this behavior.
I still don't know if Dell has open an official issue for this though.
Cheers!
PS: no repeat issue while typing this message, on the fresh ubuntu 4.1 kernel :+1:
I'm on the 3.19.0-22-generic kernel (stock ubuntu 15.04) and haven't seen this issue since upgrading to 15.04. (I do have a few other issues; e.g. palm detection not working, some wonkiness with external 4K displays flickering at max resolution).
It's strange because I have never been affected by this bug, and I type quite a lot. Linux mint 17.2, kernel 3.19.5.
Wouah, that's really frustrating, because I saw many people complaining about this, on Dell.com support website as well...
I'm on Ubuntu 15.04 with the following kernel and couldn't notice any issue for 20 minutes. Which, believe me is already a miracle, because it's so annoying that it leads the XPS to be almost unusable -- really! I'm a software programmer, so I use the keyboard quite often as well!
Linux xps 4.1.0-040100rc7-generic #201506080035 SMP Mon Jun 8 04:36:20 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
I use this PC to code too, and believe me that if I had this annoying behaviour, I would have sent it back to dell :( I see a lot of people having this bug, I thought it was firware related. Maybe there's something kernel related too.
Could be interesting to know if windows users are affected too on A04
Let us know in a few days !
@jchatard what bios version are you running? I believe I was affected by this until upgrading to A04, but didn't keep careful notes
I noted this as key repeats in vim after holding down j or k to move in a file. Never experienced any problem actually typing. A04 resolved that issue for me. Using 15.04 and kernel 3.19.0.2x
On Wed, 15 Jul 2015 20:50 Carl Boettiger [email protected] wrote:
@jchatard https://github.com/jchatard what bios version are you running? I believe I was affected by this until upgrading to A04, but didn't keep careful notes
— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/mpalourdio/xps13/issues/43#issuecomment-121725927.
I'm running A04 as well!
For me it seems to be better since yesterday (kernel ubuntu 4.1), but I still experience it with the space bar. But this might be a hardware issue. Taping on the left side of the bar too softly doesn't fire a space car and hitting in the middle sometimes fires two.
For references:
- Dell explaining how to improve the behavior (no fix) http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN297563/EN
- People complaining about this issue, no matter the Bios: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19626873
I use Mint 17.2 with a patched 4.0.9 kernel for microphone detection. Bios A04.
Mostly it's fine, but sometimes using shortcuts like ctrl+w or ctrl+z results in the 'w' or 'z' being repeated until I press escape or something.
Hello, BIOS A05 is out : http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverID=YMRTD&productCode=xps-13-9343-laptop
You should test as it seems to fix (again !) the keyboard..
Thank you for being so on point. I upgraded just now. Another thing I did was going throuhg Accessibility > Typing > Bounce keys. Enable it and set it to shortest. I found it did not hinder my manual input, but it should prevent this event.
(From the Dell support link posted by jchatard.)
Out of the box, I experienced countless problems with repeated keys. After upgrading to BIOS A04 the problem disappeared for the regular keys, but it remains for the space bar: around every once out of 10 presses on the spacebar generates a duplicate space.
Upgrading to BIOS A05 or kernel 4.1.x didn't seem to change anything.
After reading many different comments, I get the sense that it's indeed a hardware issue on some units. My spacebar key feels very unstable compared to the otherwise solid keyboard; resistance of the key is noticeably different in different areas - the middle is mostly fine while the edges are less stable.
I'll have to send the unit back and perhaps try my luck again with a replacement.
Yeah I'm experiencing exactly the same behaviour as @blapp. Upgraded to A05 and tried with kernels 3.9, 4.0, 4.1, etc.
The space bar is still shitty in the same way you describe...
Also note, that I even did installed Windows 8 on this laptop and I can also experience that issue. And for me Bios A04 and A05 made no difference at all.
So as the bios "changelog" states "Improved Keyboard behavior" it would be nice to have more details about what they did try to fix.
It sound like you are experiencing a hardware issue. I would just contact Dell and have them replace the keyboard. Sucks to lose your laptop for some time, but what else can you do? (Get a mac :unamused: )
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, but I need it right now for holidays (as opposed to my 15 inch Mac). So I'll probably do this soon. But it seems that from so other users, after getting a replacement XPS 13, the same issue appeared one month later again.
So...
I just experienced the issue again on A05. I doubt any BIOS upgrade is going to fix this.
I'm using the last BIOS upgrade and Ubuntu 15.10 and is working. @rpbaptist maybe you should call to Dell
Ok it seems that bios A06 will fix the issue...
http://bartongeorge.net/2015/08/28/recent-fixes-for-xps-13-developer-edition/
Let's hope for the best ;-)
That's good news ! I've updated the first page. The D3100 compatibility is pretty cool too !
For me, a Dell technician and a replacement keyboard did it. I don't know if it's a different keyboard model number, I didn't pay attention - but it's completely gone. I'm running A05 and stock Ubuntu 15.04.
I'm also getting frequent key repeats with an external keyboard! So this issue apparently carries over to external devices too?
A05 | i7 | QHD+ Touch
Ok, so still no real fix, but in the mean time, I've played with some accessibility settings in Gnome.
I have pretty good results after 2 hours... Let's see.
Try different values, the screenshot is my current settings. You can also adjust the Keyboard > Typing, Repeat Keys to have a short repeat delay. So it's a mix.
Hope it helps :-)
@theonlydoo from what I have read, this bug is not related to the OS, because this happens on Windows as well (which I confirm). My understanding is that this occurs on some units - not all.
@jchatard The bug never happened again since I move to fedora 22 (bios A05), and it was painful on ubuntu 15.04
@theonlydoo hmm... that's interesting.
What's the output of this?
sudo kbdrate
Mine is:
Typematic Rate set to 10,9 cps (delay = 250 ms)
I'm also gonna try this, it might help: https://askubuntu.com/questions/647616/can-i-enable-bounce-keys-for-certain-keys-only
I have been on Linux Mint and had the issue occasionally. Not as much as other reports. I also used the settings as described and haven't had trouble since. Hasn't happened on external keyboard either although it is what I use 80% of the time.
I believe @jchatard is right, this problem might not appear on all units. I have been running Ubuntu 14.04 with bios A03 to A05. I have never had this issue.
