wireless keyboard problem... help

[runesword forger]

Well, my formerly wonderful Dell wireless keyboard suddenly turned flaky. Most of the keys work fine, but stuff like the "e" and "o" give a number as well as a letter. The space bar activates the start button (but not always). The delete key seems to tab. You get the picture.

Not the batteries.

The driver seems fine, though I deleted and let XP redetect it. When I press the "connect" button on the receiver box, I'm supposed to press the connect button on the keyboard to sync up or whatever. But it doesn't react anymore. But then, after a while, a message pops up saying connection on 1 established as if it worked.

I haven't added any weird keyboard software. No new RF devices are nearby.

Any ideas?

[Jason Cross]

When was the last time you cleaned it out? You know, pop off all the keys and get all the dust and grime and bits of food or whatever the heck is trapped under there, out.

I've used a keyboard or two that had similar problems, but all it needed was a thorough cleaning.

[nutsak]

.. I'd sugguest chucking it out the window and buying a keyboard with a cable... a mate of mine just bought one of those crusty wireless do hickys and bought it over for a LAN (tool, if you're reading this, fine :-) ) .. any ways, this peice of shit lags unless he hung the receiver off the table.. next to him.. the receivers hanging there, no more than 30 CMs from the keyboard itself.. whats the point of that? Oh, and before you say "must've been cheap" no no, not at all, this is one of them flash gash things that cost him a few hundred bucks... I paid $25 AU for my keyboard and it works just dandy... (it even has all the fancy volume adjustment and browser buttons)

... if cleaning it doesn't work, do like I said, throw it out the fucking window.. get one with a cable, stupid wireless technology.

[Jason McCullough]

My new MS "wireless optical desktop pro" is badass. No lag at all, lots of nifty extra keys, works in DOS. The mouse is cool too, absurdly smooth scrolling. It's like buddah.

Fucking hard to click the middle button though. Guess that's what you get with side tilt wheel.

[Chris Nahr]

How heavy is that mouse? And how is it in games? I've used a wireless Explorer for a while but it was too heavy with the batteries, and the pointer never moved as smoothly as with a wired mouse.

[Jason McCullough]

I can't see a difference between this one and my old intellimouse explorer in responsiveness. I don't have a FPS installed, but there's no mouse lag in Diablo 2, RRT3, or Galciv.

It's heavy, but I figure I'll get used to it.

[Toddy]

No problems here with the same setup as Jason. Just have to replace the batteries a little more often than I'd like. Only issue I was having was solved when I turned off the power management stuff in XP. If my machine shut down the HD, the mouse and keyboard became erratic and I needed to reboot. Plenty annoying, and I was on the verge of chucking the wireless stuff, until I saw a mention of this issue in a review of a wireless keyboard and mouse combo by Wil O'Neal in a recent CGW.

[Jason McCullough]

How often are you doing the battery replace thing, btw? I'm wondering if I need to buy a rechargable setup or not.

[Woolen Horde]

I just bought the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Elite set at CompUSA ($20 instant off rebate). It has both the latest keyboard and the mouse.

Thoughts....

I had the Natural Keyboard Pro, which (for people who consider such things) is considered the greatest keyboard Microsoft ever made. It was one of those split keyboards, which I love. Two USB ports in the back. Lots of useful extra buttons. But mine was getting old, the plastic legs had snapped off a couple years ago, and it just looked hideous with my new sleek glass desk, the shiny aluminum Ideq box, and my Black and Silver Samsung LCD. Just imagine a worn, biege keyboard in that picture. Just didn't work.

So now everything color coordinates.

The wireless mouse is easily the smoothest mouse I've ever used. I'm still tinkering with the acceleration settings and all that, but it's just smooooooth. My previous mouse with an Intellimouse Optical, which (for people who consider such things) was the greatest mouse Microsoft ever made. But it was first generation optical technology, and it's got nothing on this new stuff. Wow. This baby just wants to scream across the screen.

I wish they had kept the form factor, though. Once nice thing about the Intellimouse Optical was that it was a great, ambidextrous mouse. Like a nice bar of soap that fit just as well in your left hand as it does your right. These new mice designs are rather bulky (probably for the batteries), and you're SOL if you're a southpaw, cause it's shaped to fit only in your right hand. Plus, I like how the Intellimouse Optical had the two side buttons arrainged so one was on the left and one was on the right side. The arraingement of the two side buttons in the new mouse are both on the left side, and one is bigger than the other.

I wish the keyboard were a split keyboard; that design is much more natural for me. And I friggin' hate the F-Lock key. DIE, DIE, DIE. And seriously, does anyone use the scroll wheel on the keyboard? Anyone? But I must admit that it's an otherwise nice keyboard. Very sleak and stylish. And it's just friggin' awesome how I can just pick it up out of the keyboard tray, pop it on my lap, and kick back and type. Could never do that while I was still tethered by a cable.

Did I mention that the mouse is incredibly smooth?

p.s. I just realized that it has no indicator lights on the keyboard telling you if caplocks is on, or numlock, or f-lock. I imagine it's probably because it's a battery-draining issue, but daaaaaamn. That does suck.

[Jason McCullough]

The indicator lights are on the base station.

To set the F-lock key to off by default at boot:

http://www.mvps.org/jtsang/flock.html

[Chris Nahr]

I tried the IntelliWhatever Elite and I have to say, I'm impressed. The new wireless mouse is somewhat smaller and much more convenient to hold (in the right hand anyway) than the old wireless IntelliMouse Explorer. Doesn't seem so heavy either, and pointer movement is indeed very precise. Trying to press that mouse wheel button is tough, though...

Very nice fake leather wrist rest, by the way. :)

[Toddy]

How often are you doing the battery replace thing, btw? I'm wondering if I need to buy a rechargable setup or not.

I've only had my wireless combo a couple of months now, and I've replaced the mouse battery twice (and it's going again) and the keyboard battery once. Which isn't that bad, as I use them a lot for work and gaming, though the lifespan isn't what I had hoped. I was sort of expecting five or six months, though perhaps that was wildly optimistic.

[Chris Nahr]

Now that you've bumped this thread... my wireless keyboard generally works fine but I get lots (as in several times per hour) of repeated keystrokes. IntelliPoint shows "high connection quality" and the mouse doesn't miss a single pixel.

Maybe it's because I connected both the USB and keyboard plugs. I've disconnected the keyboard plug now (the manual says it's unnecessary), maybe this will help. Anyone else experience this?

[Lizard_King]

This was the closest thing I could find to a relevant thread. So after some years of loyal service, I have finally had it with the gradually worsening quirks of wireless keyboards and mice. My dinovo setup has run its course, and I am officially no longer dealing with anything that isn't wired (my wife's similarly temperamental relatively new Dinovo convinced me). Love the keys, hate everything else.

The mouse finally went completely apeshit this morning, so I went to BB in the sort of furious "sell me any goddamned thing that is really good no matter the price" that is precisely the opposite of a healthy shopping attitude. My goal was to obtain wired equipment that was setup with something similar to laptop style keys (as the dinovo is, the "scissor" mechanism) that was quiet and never, ever fuck with me.


Now I'm home with a Razer Lycosa KB and a Razer Lachesis mouse, which is the sort of sincere overkill that makes Amex proud of me. Overall, I'm happy with the latter. The shape takes a little getting used to after years of Logitech, but I think it's going to be great to have 1:1 movement again.

The KB I'm not sure about. It's not particularly stupid looking, which is a plus in these kinds of devices, but it's definitely not as quiet as it seemed in the store. I got it open box, so the price actually undercut Amazon for once, but the mouse more than made up for that difference.

So, finally, the question: Are there wired laptop-style keyboards that are particularly good out there? Who makes them? And how much noise is made when you type?

[wisefool]

Ok, I KNOW this one. I've gone through dozens of keyboards including the scissor style, the 90 degree vertical ones, etc. I'm currently using the dinovo wireless because my G15 fried. I like the keys, don't need the wireless, don't like the trackpad.

The Logitech Ultra-X (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-967568-0403-X-Flat-Resistant-Keyboard/dp/B000I4UQZM) is close to perfect. It's not waterproof thought, and the keys do break eventually. I buy the OEM 3 packs cause I tend to spill water on my desk and fry things. ($22 each at amazon atm)

It's a thin keyboard, good quality keys, not the mushy dell crap. You know the best part? If you zoom in you will see there is NO STUPID FN KEY. It's real F1 to F12, baby.

[rei]

I've had 2 or 3 MS Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboards with defective plus-minus keys.

[rei]

I love my Illuminated Keyboard: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/4740&cl=US,EN

[Lizard_King]

The Logitech Ultra-X (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-967568-0403-X-Flat-Resistant-Keyboard/dp/B000I4UQZM) is close to perfect. It's not waterproof thought, and the keys do break eventually. I buy the OEM 3 packs cause I tend to spill water on my desk and fry things. ($22 each at amazon atm)

It's a thin keyboard, good quality keys, not the mushy dell crap. You know the best part? If you zoom in you will see there is NO STUPID FN KEY. It's real F1 to F12, baby.

That's great, but like a couple of other inexpensive alternatives I've scoped out, it seems to be out of stock/production for the moment.


I love my Illuminated Keyboard: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/ke.../4740&cl=US,EN
That may actually be perfect for what I am looking for. Thanks!

[rei]

Look for it on sale, the regular price on those is insane.

Great price on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Illuminated-Ultrathin-Keyboard-Backlighting/dp/B001F51G16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245275057&sr=8-1

Literally half of what it costs retail here in Canada.

[Lizard_King]

Look for it on sale, the regular price on those is insane.

Great price on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Illuminated-Ultrathin-Keyboard-Backlighting/dp/B001F51G16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245275057&sr=8-1

Literally half of what it costs retail here in Canada.

That's actually the only placed I'd looked, so I had no idea how much it was supposed to cost. That might have dampened its luster somewhat. Must be getting discontinued, like every decent wired peripheral that doesn't have GAMERZ EXXTREME plastered on it these days.

[wisefool]

Wrong link, sorry Lizard!

Newegg spells it "UltraX"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126022

[rei]

That's actually the only placed I'd looked, so I had no idea how much it was supposed to cost. That might have dampened its luster somewhat. Must be getting discontinued, like every decent wired peripheral that doesn't have GAMERZ EXXTREME plastered on it these days.

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22896(ME).aspx
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10113650&catid=20392

Woo. "On sale" for $95 from $105 regular.

[Lizard_King]

Wrong link, sorry Lizard!

Newegg spells it "UltraX"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126022

That also shows up as a deactivated item for me. Don't worry about it though, I ordered the illuminated one that's on sale and I think it's going to work out great. The Lycosa's CLACK CLACK CLACK is already getting old.

[Hunty]

I have a Saitek Eclipse I, which is quiet as a mouse, sensitive, and cheap. Version 2 and 3 are out now too. The backlighting has three colours, can be turned off and they come with minimal GAMEZXTREEM trappings.

[rei]

The Saitek doesn't work with the Trackmania series and some other games due to its weird USB driver somehow. A few of the extended key-enabling USB HID drivers have to be disabled. I sold mine for this reason.

[Lizard_King]

Ended up dropping the razor mouse in favor of a conventionally shaped Logitech G5. It's what I'm used to, no reason to mess with it, and trying to relearn the ergonomics of the Lachesis was not worth it. Plus, fuck BB charging me 84$ for that. Enjoy your open box resale, assholes, I'm buying it from Amazon.

[Qmanol]

Ok, I KNOW this one. I've gone through dozens of keyboards including the scissor style, the 90 degree vertical ones, etc. I'm currently using the dinovo wireless because my G15 fried. I like the keys, don't need the wireless, don't like the trackpad.

The Logitech Ultra-X (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-967568-0403-X-Flat-Resistant-Keyboard/dp/B000I4UQZM) is close to perfect. It's not waterproof thought, and the keys do break eventually. I buy the OEM 3 packs cause I tend to spill water on my desk and fry things. ($22 each at amazon atm)

It's a thin keyboard, good quality keys, not the mushy dell crap. You know the best part? If you zoom in you will see there is NO STUPID FN KEY. It's real F1 to F12, baby.

Hey, how did your G15 fry? Do you still have the innards? My G15 is fully functional except for the membrane in the middle.

[Hunty]

The Saitek doesn't work with the Trackmania series and some other games due to its weird USB driver somehow. A few of the extended key-enabling USB HID drivers have to be disabled. I sold mine for this reason.

That's weird. I've played Trackmania without any problems. I have played lots of games and never had a problem, full stop. Maybe it's because I am using an Eclipse I, which doesn't use custom drivers so far as I'm aware.

[Lizard_King]

This keyboard is great. Wonderful feel, looks good, and not a lag problem to be seen. I went with the G5 mouse mainly because Amazon could have it here in a day instead of the longer waiting period for the next tier up wired gaming mouse, and apart from looking a little, um, veiny, it's very nice and exactly the shape I'm accustomed to. But better, now that I can weight it and crank up the sensitivity. Fuck wireless again!

And, as always, the key to happiness with logitech peripherals seems to be never installing the included software.

[rei]

1. Install Logitech Setpoint software
2. Run mouse/keyboard configure once so the XML is created
3. Install and run UberOptions

[Lizard_King]

1. Install Logitech Setpoint software
2. Run mouse/keyboard configure once so the XML is created
3. Install and run UberOptions

Is there any reason to if I don't require customization beyond what simply plugging it into Windows 7 provides (eg, the speed button on the mouse is about the biggest variable I need control over on a regular basis)?

[rei]

You can do way more mappings with UberOptions that Logitech locks/hides away. I need UberOptions to map 'generic button' to the back/forward keys.

1. SetPoint's default settings won't let you change settings on some buttons (such as Left Button, Right Button, and Tilt Left/Right on mouses; and volume and media control keys on keyboards).
2. The buttons you can configure, you can't set to some options (no Launch Program on mouse buttons, etc.)
3. On older versions of SetPoint, the Forward and Back actions don't work with Firefox, Opera, SlimBrowser, or Maxthon (they need another AppOverride to tell SetPoint what keystroke to send, since Logitech didn't just have them send the normal mouse4/mouse5 events for unknown apps).

[FoRmaT]

Why does that f*cking Illuminated Keyboard cost USD 79.99 for you (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/4740&cl=us,en), but EUR 89.99 for me (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/4740&cl=de,de)?

[rei]

It costs $109 Canadian!

[Lizard_King]

You can do way more mappings with UberOptions that Logitech locks/hides away. I need UberOptions to map 'generic button' to the back/forward keys.

1. SetPoint's default settings won't let you change settings on some buttons (such as Left Button, Right Button, and Tilt Left/Right on mouses; and volume and media control keys on keyboards).
2. The buttons you can configure, you can't set to some options (no Launch Program on mouse buttons, etc.)
3. On older versions of SetPoint, the Forward and Back actions don't work with Firefox, Opera, SlimBrowser, or Maxthon (they need another AppOverride to tell SetPoint what keystroke to send, since Logitech didn't just have them send the normal mouse4/mouse5 events for unknown apps).

I see. I'm looking to circumvent as many third party drivers as I can, so I'll save the option in case I come across a program that the buttons don't work for automatically. So far, I think the only thing I use it with is IE8 and its finder variant, and that's doing fine. I just had such bad experiences with setpoint in the past that installing it even if I'm only planning on using it once feels like I'm installing a virus.

[FoRmaT]

It costs $109 Canadian!

€89.99 was $125.494 today. Why do I have to pay $45 more than Joe Walmart? Logitech boycott!