AW15 R2: very slow key repeat rate (Win 10)

Hi guys,

I've have often noticed a painfully slow key repeat rate (like1/s). The rate is set to max in the control panel. If I change the setting to a slower one, and back to max - it becomes much faster, but then it seems that the problem comes back eventually. Any permanent fix ideas?

Many Thanks

 

I have the exact same problem. I use a batch file with the following command to work around this issue:

mode con: rate=32

You can then schedule this as a task using task scheduler, to run at startup and logon.
I have searched far and wide for a permanent fix but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be one.

 

Oh! Sorry I don't have a fix, but I'd just like to echo that I have this problem too. For me it only seems to develop after I've played a game that makes Bitdefender activate its "Gaming" profile, so I thought it was a BD problem. That might be confirmation bias on my part though.

 

Thanks, nice hack lol

 

Regrettably this neat trick doesnt doesn't seem to be working. Pretty annoying. What did your tech support have to say about this? I wonder if it isn't some Dell bloatware overriding the setting.

 

Tech support? I never call them for anything software related; the only thing they're going to say is to reinstall the OS.

Try running the batch file with Admin privileges, that should work.

 

I'm having real trouble getting this to work. Basically seems to be a fault of some sort. The only way this works every time is when I issue the command manually from the terminal. it's crazy. any other ideas? I think this is a laptop fault.

 

You can try one more thing:

Go to:
Regedit > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > System > CurrentControlSet > Services > i8042prt > Parameters

Create a new DWORD 32 bit and name it "PollStatusIterations" and give it a value of 1.

Restart.

Do let me know if it works.

 

Good tip, thanks - went through the broader procedure described here:

http://www.howto-connect.com/fix-keyboard-running-slow-in-windows-10/

Really just had to apply the regedit hack. Will report back.

 

The registry trick seems to be working! Now, the latest win10 update broke cygwin - I really wish Dell offered win 10 pro.

 

Lucky you, my problem still recurs sometimes.

 

Occurred for me again What a piece of junk. Right - that's it, just need to check one thing and returning this.

 

It's definitely a Win 10 software issue; a google search reveals that a lot of systems have been affected by it including some of the latest Lenovo laptops.

 

It's def happening less frequently after the regedit change, but it's not just that - I'm affected by the 8GB VRAM issue. Check out the 980M 8GB" thead to see how that's getting handled by Dell

 

@etern4l
What is your BIOS version?

 

updated to 1.2.3

 

Yeah, it's quite annoying - seems to be triggered by sleep and/or charger plug-in. I asked around on Clevo forums and so far nobody has mentioned seeing this, and the best UK reseller stated they have never come across the issue... I think this is the last straw.

 

Any overclocking?

 

No.

 

No difference for me either. Still gets messed up after sleep (works after a full reboot)

 

hi, just wanted to know whats the best reseller for clevo laptops in the UK? is it pc specialist?

 

According to my research @XMG www.mysn.co.uk. pcspecialist sell barebone Clevos more cheaply but arguably much less is known of their reputation. search reseller feedback forums in the clevo sager section for more info. which model are you looking at?

 

thanks.. just wanted to know.. quite happy with my alienware 17 r2 970m.. the only problem for me with this laptop is doing the maintenance like repaste.. i was told from uk chat tech support that opening the laptop beyond the base back panel will void warranty specially doing a teardown for a repaste.. i also asked them since i cant do a repaste will they be able to send a tech agent to do it for me and they said they cant.. tgey can only send a tech agent if they will replace a part. so basically i have to wait for my laptop's temp to reach 95 celcius so they can change the heatsink and get a repaste. so sad. T_T

 

Is there any particular reason why you are hijacking this thread with your lameass problems which has no relation to the issue at hand?

There is a title. The title says "slow key repeat rate". We come here to share our experiences and hopefully find a resolution. Why the hell do you need to sway it to the best UK reseller of alienware or your repaste problems or whatnot?

This seems to be very common here as people are doing the same thing to my threads as well. I couldn't figure out if this is an IQ problem or age problem.

 

17r3. This is a Windows 10 issue. I have tried all the suggestions without success. Both hibernate and sleep seems to be affected. Extremely annoying.

 

sorry.. i dont have any intention on doing that.. my bad.. should have used private message.. you can delete my msg if its possible or you can teach me.. thanks..

edit: maybe ill edit the msg and erase?

 

Has anyone tried a clean Windows 10 install to resolve this? Looks like my laptop was upgraded (I imagine a refurb dellienware sold me as new)

 

Alright, thank you for your understanding. Let's leave it now and concentrate on the issue.

Mine is clean install. This is a Win10 problem.

 

Correction. Win10 + Skylake problem.

 

OK guys so I did a system reset on a separate drive - this in itself didn't solve the issue. However, I figured out the root cause and a workaround.

The problem occurs only when the machine goes to sleep after the lid is closed, but - crucially - not after the system is put to sleep by pressing the power button. I disabled sleep after lid closure, and all good so far. HTH

Edit: the workaround seems to also be working on the lastest windows build, except I had to remove the PollStatusIterations registry key

 

I never use the lid close to sleep. In fact my lid closing triggers nothing. I always put the laptop to hibernate by pressing the power button.

So this can't be the root cause or the solution. :-(

 

Maybe there are multiple causes. For me the problem got resolved by disabling sleep on lid close and I had to remove the registry hack you suggested (it was still happening with it)

Edit: nope, it's not resolved.

 

Happened again after resumption from sleep. Has anyone reported this to Dell?

 

"mode" setting works. Registry setting is not relevant on built-in keyboard.

You need to make sure Task Scheduler is running batch/vb file and the result is successful. Check LAST RUN TIME and LAST RUN RESULT.

I have mine triggerered on "Workstation unlock", "Startup", "Logon".


keyboard_delay.vbs
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "C:\your_path\keyboard_delay.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing

keyboard_delay.bat
mode con: rate=32 delay=0

 

I too have the same issue with slow keyrate on my Alienware 15 R2, havent tried the batch file script yet. I am on a clean install of windows 10 with all drivers and updates installed.

 

Yeah, incidentally that's kind of what I set up (just triggering on "Workstation unlock" for now). So far so good it seems. One difference is that I first set the rate to 1, then to 31. The other is that I scheduled the batch script directly. What's the benefit of the VBS wrapper?

BTW The max rate is 31, although apparently passing a greater number has the same effect.

 

Tried a "clean" install (OS Reset) - not as clean as using non-OEM Windows install), makes no difference.

 

I did the OEM windows install, suspect there to be a driver bug of some sorts software related with windows. I will see if the same issue is happening on my linux partition.

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490932.aspx

Rate is 32 max. However, delay is supposed to take values 1,2,3,4... But using 0 works faster for me.

Wrapper stops the command prompt from flashing.

 

Windows issue -- not Linux.

 

Interesting, let us know what you find. I tried the latest ubuntu live usb - unfortunately the OS died after I suspended the machine (alienfx still fully active, can't wake it up).

 

The rate is max 31.

Proof 1:

> mode con: rate=32

> mode con:

Status for device CON:
----------------------
Lines: 300
Columns: 80
Keyboard rate: 31
Keyboard delay: 1
Code page: 850

Proof 2:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724947(v=vs.85).aspx

SPI_GETKEYBOARDSPEED

Retrieves the keyboard repeat-speed setting, which is a value in the range from 0 (approximately 2.5 repetitions per second) through 31 (approximately 30 repetitions per second). The actual repeat rates are hardware-dependent and may vary from a linear scale by as much as 20%. The pvParam parameter must point to a DWORD variable that receives the setting.

Edit: I can see you added a link of yours. As you can see, the information therein seems to be incorrect since if you set it to 32, you will get 31. Well, I would trust the people who write Windows API documentation a bit more At any rate, let's not get too distracted about this.

Cool.

 

I've been using the mode con workaround for a long time now and I've noticed that it's not that effective. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
And sometimes the repeat rate is fast when I start up the computer but resets back to slow within a couple of hours or so.

What a royal pain this issue is.

 

Btw the folks over at Lenovo forums have been facing the same issue and have a pretty huge thread about it.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...o-slow-after-coming-back/td-p/1676309/page/17

Looking at the latest posts, their problem seems to have been resolved by a BIOS update which was specifically created by Lenovo to address this issue. The Lenovo employee has also participated in the discussion on that thread.

 

Solved for me:
1. batch script:
mode con: rate=1
mode con: rate=31

(trigger on unlock workstation)

2. Remove the registry hack - the workaround DOES NOT work with the hack present
3. Ensure sleep on lid close is off

HTH
Will try the VBS script shortly.

 

I didn't have the first line (mode con: rate=1) in my batch file, but my batch file runs on every unlock.
Even just now, I saw the command prompt flash when I turned on the computer, but the keyboard repeat rate was slow. I had to manually run the file again to make it fast.
So that's what I mean when I said, it works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't.
And yeah, I had removed the PollStatusIterations registry key. Now I've added the rate=1 line as well, hope it makes some difference. :[

 

The VBS didn't work for me. It gets stuck when run from the scheduler. Well, the batch is not too obtrusive, just a brief flicker, however, I will see if I can come up with a better solution by calling the windows API directly, maybe over the weekend.

 

Good luck, it's working for me without fail. The idea is to replicate the action you have to take in the control panel to fix the problem, i.e. "jiggle" the setting.

 

So I had one case today when it didn't work. The script wouldn't do a thing, even when I ran it manually a few times, so I modified it to do the rate =31 twice in a row (so 3 calls to mode in total...). That seems to have done the trick. Looks like a pretty ridiculously buggy driver or - perhaps less likely - a hardware issue.

 

Somewhere someone mentioned that it was a bug with the interface between Skylake processors and the keyboard controller.
Looks likely now.