Multiple characters (~18) from a single keypress

Programming
1

I’m experiencing a odd behavior from my Model01: At random, a single keypress yields about 18 of that character inserted instead of a single one. I started logging examples, and I’ve seen this across a variety of different keys. The frequency seems mainly related to my frequency of typing a certain character. I’ve tried cleaning my keyboard, but this doesn’t seem to impact anything.

I’m flagging this as a programming question and not a hardware question, since it appears to be happening at random (i.e., not the same key) and with a very similar number of repeated keystrokes. Here’s a summary of what I’m seeing:

Character Number of instances
" " 10
a 6
r 5
o 4
t 4
e 3
h 3
s 3
n 2
d 2
g 2
l 2
` 1
b 1
w 1
m 1
f 1
i 1

Here’s a log of what actually happened:

Text Intended Text Repeated Char Count of Repeated Char Timestamp Application
" " 26 9/3/2019 11:03
yoooooooooooooooooou e tof s you used to o 18 9/3/2019 11:09
interacttttttttttttttttttionw interactions were t 18 9/3/2019 11:13
inteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer inter e 18 9/3/2019 11:14
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee e e 18 9/3/2019 11:16
thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan than a 18 9/3/2019 11:18
orggggggggggggggggggaanizational organizational g 18 9/3/2019 11:23
interrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrupted interrupted r 20 9/3/2019 11:34
thinggggggggggggggggg thing g 17 9/3/2019 13:03
tttttttttttttttttthem them t 18 9/6/2019 10:06 Word
to to " " 16 9/6/2019 10:18 Word
Thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhe The team h 18 9/6/2019 10:21 Word
emta team " " 16 9/6/2019 10:22 Word
" " " " " " 16 9/6/2019 10:25 Word
formmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmal formal m 17 9/6/2019 10:27 Word
AmSurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg AmSurg r 17 9/23/2019 10:09 Outlook
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwe we w 17 9/24/2019 10:44 Outlook
posssssssssssssssssssted posted s 19 9/24/2019 10:44 Outlook
" " 16 9/24/2019 14:30 Vivaldi/LinkedIn
Desssssssssssssssssscirtpion Description s 18 9/24/2019 14:48 Excel
EDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDF EDF d 17 9/24/2019 14:50 Excel
Cooooooooooooooooodes Codes o 17 9/24/2019 15:04 Excel
" " 17 9/24/2019 15:08 Excel
llllllllllllllllllllen len l 20 9/24/2019 15:08 Excel
Meettttttttttttttttting Meeting t 17 9/24/2019 15:10 Excel
yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr your r 18 9/24/2019 15:13 Outlook
heaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaartburn heartburn a 18 9/24/2019 15:13 Outlook
wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit with i 17 9/24/2019 15:16 Excel
lllllllllllllllllle len l 18 9/24/2019 15:16 Excel
ffffffffffffffffffollow follow f 18 9/24/2019 15:22 Excel
arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ar r 19 9/24/2019 15:34 Vivaldi
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap Ap a 16 9/24/2019 16:44 Excel
``````````````````` | ` ` 19 9/24/2019 16:47 Excel
reportsssssssssssssssss reports s 17 9/25/2019 8:45 Excel
" " 17 9/26/2019 13:03 Vivaldi
or or " " 17 9/26/2019 13:16 Skype
thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhe the h 18 9/26/2019 13:36 Outlook
Tooooooooooooooooouch Touch o 17 9/26/2019 15:35 Outlook
thrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrouh through r 17 9/26/2019 15:37 Excel
johnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn john n 17 9/26/2019 15:47 Outlook
" " 17 9/26/2019 15:59 Outlook
brannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn bran n 21 9/27/2019 8:09 Outlook
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL All A 19 9/27/2019 8:10 Outlook
hhhhhhhhhhhhha has h 14 9/30/2019 8:38 Outlook
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb b b 18 9/30/2019 8:54 Outlook
haveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeomtng have something e 27 9/30/2019 8:54 Outlook
" " 17 10/1/2019 9:28 Outlook
Summaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary Summary a 23 10/2/2019 9:46 Word
ooooooooooooooooof of o 18 10/2/2019 9:57 Word
dddddddddddddddddddaa data d 21 10/2/2019 15:56 Word
caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan can a 21 10/2/2019 16:08 Outlook
ttttttttttttttttt t t 17 10/2/2019 16:25 Word
2

@Sean_Cofoid, weirdly, I’ve been seeing this on the built-in keyboard on my Thinkpad. It happens when the machine is under heavy load. We’ve also had recent reports from a user who was running into this when his keyboard was plugged into a hub with another keyboard and a mouse.

That’s not to say that it’s -not- the Model 01’s fault, but if you’re up for a bit of experimentation to help eliminate possible causes, I’d recommend starting by trying the keyboard on a second computer.

It’s also worth seeing if you see something in the system’s logs complaining about USB problems.

3

That certainly seems plausible. I looked through the Windows Event Viewer to see if there were any System-logged items that correlated to the errors I was seeing, but I didn’t find any. I’ll run a usb logger (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_log_view.html) for the next couple of days to see if anything comes of that. Unfortunately, I don’t have ready access to another computer to test the Model 01 on, so I’ll have to tinker in my current environment.

Thanks for the suggestions!

4

For anyone following this thread, I tried plugging the Model 01 into a different USB port, and in the last week, I haven’t replicated the issue. (This compares with seeing an occurrence at least once per day.) I’m assuming that the dock that I’m using shares the port I had originally plugged into with some other resources. I’m planning to switch back to that port this week to see if I can replicate.

I feel certain that it isn’t a software/programming related issue at this point.

5

Wow. That was fast. I’m literally on my fourth typed word with my Model 01 plugged into the original USB port and I replicated the issue.

Thanks @jesse for the suggestion.

SOLUTION:
If you are experiencing multiple keypresses, seemingly at random and after you’ve given your keyboard a good cleaning, you may want to try plugging the Model 01 into a different USB port. My issue seems to have stemmed from using a USB port that was on a hub that was shared with too many other resources. When those resources got chatty on the USB hub, the Model 01 would get interrupted, resulting in missed keystrokes, pauses while the keystrokes caught up, or repetition of the same key many times. Switching to another USB port fixed my issue. If you are thinking this may not apply to you because you are using a USB dock and the only thing plugged into it is your Model 01, I’d encourage you to still try this approach. This is my own setup, but internally to the dock, that USB port may be on a hub with your network or a video controller. I hope this helps someone else!

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