Keyboard Keys working only Partially

So, I’m having for a while issues with the integrated keyboard of my laptop.
The issue is:

Both the s and y keys don’t work consistently. Sometimes they work correctly for a while, sometimes they stop working until I click them 50 times and they start working again.

Asus support is lazy and telling me it’s a software issue. I sent it in and they said they could not reproduce it, but it also does usually require a couple of attempts until it shows up, so I’m not sure I trust them on this.

I already did a keystroke detection thing and they do not show up, so at most it could be a driver thing.
Anybody any similar experiences?

System:
  Kernel: 6.9.12-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.1.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.9-x86_64
    root=UUID=415d8219-ad78-4626-ab10-536750de4619 rw acpi_osi=!
    "acpi_osi=Windows 2015" quiet
    resume=UUID=5dd48583-a3fe-4bb0-af56-f4678bff9466 udev.log_priority=3
    nvidia-drm.modeset=1 drm.vblankoffdelay=0 pcie_port_pm=off
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.0.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.5.0
    wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: ROG Strix G713RS_G713RS v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: G713RS v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: G713RS.327
    date: 02/16/2023
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 69.3 Wh (89.0%) condition: 77.9/90.0 Wh (86.5%)
    volts: 16.5 min: 15.9 model: AS3GWAF3KC GA50358 type: Unknown
    serial: <filter> status: not charging
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 32 GiB available: 30.61 GiB used: 20.23 GiB (66.1%)
  Message: For most reliable report, use superuser + dmidecode.
  Array-1: capacity: 64 GiB slots: 2 modules: 2 EC: None
    max-module-size: 32 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: Channel-A DIMM 0 type: DDR5 detail: synchronous unbuffered
    (unregistered) size: 16 GiB speed: 4800 MT/s volts: note: check curr: 1
    min: 1 max: 1 width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: Samsung
    part-no: M425R2GA3BB0-CQKOL serial: <filter>
  Device-2: Channel-B DIMM 0 type: DDR5 detail: synchronous unbuffered
    (unregistered) size: 16 GiB speed: 4800 MT/s volts: note: check curr: 1
    min: 1 max: 1 width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: Samsung
    part-no: M425R2GA3BB0-CQKOL serial: <filter>
PCI Slots:
  Permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4 level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm)
    family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x44 (68) stepping: 1 microcode: 0xA404102
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB desc: 8x512 KiB
    L3: 16 MiB desc: 1x16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2653 high: 4616 min/max: 400/4935 scaling:
    driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: powersave cores: 1: 2050 2: 400 3: 3049
    4: 2051 5: 4447 6: 2533 7: 2049 8: 2051 9: 2051 10: 2052 11: 2051 12: 2051
    13: 4614 14: 4616 15: 4116 16: 2271 bogomips: 105444
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm adx aes aperfmperf apic arat avic avx avx2 bmi1
    bmi2 bpext cat_l3 cdp_l3 clflush clflushopt clwb clzero cmov cmp_legacy
    constant_tsc cpb cppc cpuid cqm cqm_llc cqm_mbm_local cqm_mbm_total
    cqm_occup_llc cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de debug_swap decodeassists erms
    extapic extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid fma fpu fsgsbase fsrm fxsr fxsr_opt
    ht hw_pstate ibpb ibrs ibs invpcid irperf lahf_lm lbrv lm mba mca mce
    misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor movbe msr mtrr mwaitx nonstop_tsc nopl npt
    nrip_save nx ospke osvw overflow_recov pae pat pausefilter pclmulqdq
    pdpe1gb perfctr_core perfctr_llc perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pku pni
    popcnt pse pse36 rapl rdpid rdpru rdrand rdseed rdt_a rdtscp rep_good sep
    sha_ni skinit smap smca smep ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3
    stibp succor svm svm_lock syscall tce topoext tsc tsc_scale umip
    user_shstk v_spec_ctrl v_vmsave_vmload vaes vgif vmcb_clean vme vmmcall
    vpclmulqdq wbnoinvd wdt x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveerptr xsaveopt
    xsaves xtopology
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Vulnerable: Safe RET, no microcode
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW;
    STIBP: always-on; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104M [GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile / Max-Q 8GB/16GB]
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 550.107.02 non-free: 550.xx+
    status: current (as of 2024-06; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx
    process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-2023 pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none
    off: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-6,eDP-2 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:249c
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: AMD Rembrandt [Radeon 680M] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu
    v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22
    pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,
    DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, Writeback-1 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1681
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 63.0 C
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,nvidia
    unloaded: modesetting,nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: nvidia,amdgpu d-rect: 4480x1440 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 pos: primary,left res: 1920x1080 size: N/A modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 pos: right res: 2560x1440 size: N/A modes: N/A
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0
    drv: nvidia device: 1 drv: radeonsi device: 3 drv: swrast gbm:
    drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: radeonsi x11:
    drv: radeonsi inactive: device-2
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.1.6-arch1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon 680M (radeonsi rembrandt
    LLVM 18.1.8 DRM 3.57 6.9.12-1-MANJARO) device-ID: 1002:1681
    memory: 500 MiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 17 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu name: AMD
    Radeon 680M (RADV REMBRANDT) driver: mesa radv v: 24.1.6-arch1.1
    device-ID: 1002:1681 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 1
    type: discrete-gpu name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU driver: nvidia
    v: 550.107.02 device-ID: 10de:249c surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8
    link-max: lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_pci_acp6x v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 05:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 05:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  Device-4: Sennheiser GmbH & KG Profile driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 9-1:3 chip-ID: 1377:1100
    class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
  API: ALSA v: k6.9.12-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.2.2 status: off with: pipewire-media-session
    status: active tools: pw-cli
  Server-4: PulseAudio v: 17.0 status: active with: pulseaudio-alsa
    type: plugin tools: pacat,pactl
Network:
  Device-1: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Foxconn driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:0616 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global broadcast: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 0489:e0e2
    class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: see --recommends
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 800.32 GiB (83.9%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Micron model: 2450 MTFDKBA1T0TFK
    size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: V5MA010 temp: 42.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  Message: No optical or floppy data found.
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 944.77 GiB size: 928.86 GiB (98.32%)
    used: 800.28 GiB (86.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
    label: N/A uuid: 415d8219-ad78-4626-ab10-536750de4619
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 312 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
    label: NO_LABEL uuid: F729-D657
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 44 MiB (0.5%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3 label: swap
    uuid: 5dd48583-a3fe-4bb0-af56-f4678bff9466
Unmounted:
  Message: No unmounted partitions found.
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-3:2 info: ASUSTek N-KEY Device type: keyboard
    driver: asus,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s)
    lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 0b05:19b6 class-ID: 0301
  Device-2: 1-4:3 info: Foxconn / Hon Hai Wireless_Device type: bluetooth
    driver: btusb interfaces: 3 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1
    mode: 2.0 power: 100mA chip-ID: 0489:e0e2 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1
    speed: 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 3 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-4: 3-2:2 info: Genesys Logic USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 ports: 4
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 05e3:0606 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 3-2.1:3 info: China Resource Semico USB Keyboard
    type: keyboard,mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1
    speed: 1.5 Mb/s (183 KiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.0 power: 500mA
    chip-ID: 1a2c:40e2 class-ID: 0301
  Device-2: 3-2.3:4 info: [Maxxter] USB GAMING MOUSE type: mouse,keyboard
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1
    speed: 1.5 Mb/s (183 KiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 1.0 power: 100mA
    chip-ID: 18f8:1286 class-ID: 0301
  Hub-5: 4-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1
    speed: 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-6: 5-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 1 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-7: 6-0:1 info: Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub ports: N/A rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s (596.0 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-8: 7-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 1 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-9: 8-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 1 rev: 3.1
    speed: 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
  Hub-10: 9-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 1 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s (57.2 MiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002
    class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 9-1:3 info: Sennheiser GmbH & KG Profile type: audio
    driver: snd-usb-audio interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s (1.4 MiB/s)
    lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 1377:1100 class-ID: 0102
    serial: <filter>
  Hub-11: 10-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 1 rev: 3.1
    speed: 10 Gb/s (1.16 GiB/s) lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-2x1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 87.2 C mobo: 20.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 64.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 3200
Repos:
  Packages: 2080 pm: pacman pkgs: 2060 libs: 493 tools: pamac,yay pm: rpm
    pkgs: 1 pm: flatpak pkgs: 19
  Active pacman repo servers in: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    1: https://mirrors.xtom.de/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    2: https://mirror.it4i.cz/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    3: https://cofractal-ewr.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    4: https://mirror.alpix.eu/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    5: https://southfront.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    6: https://mnvoip.mm.fcix.net/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    7: https://mirror.kku.ac.th/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch
    8: https://manjaro.mirrors.lavatech.top/stable/$repo/$arch
Processes:
  CPU top: 5 of 457
  1: cpu: 96.2% command: cc1 pid: 95818 mem: 126.9 MiB (0.4%)
  2: cpu: 93.7% command: cc1 pid: 95821 mem: 128.7 MiB (0.4%)
  3: cpu: 39.3% command: pamac pid: 83858 mem: 249.3 MiB (0.7%)
  4: cpu: 37.4% command: java pid: 83392 mem: 1972.2 MiB (6.2%)
  5: cpu: 27.4% command: kwin_wayland pid: 4124 mem: 419.7 MiB (1.3%)
  Memory top: 5 of 457
  1: mem: 5735.6 MiB (18.2%) command: java pid: 18288 cpu: 21.7%
  2: mem: 1972.2 MiB (6.2%) command: java pid: 83392 cpu: 37.4%
  3: mem: 1619.6 MiB (5.1%) command: java pid: 19329 cpu: 0.5%
  4: mem: 890.1 MiB (2.8%) command: java pid: 19708 cpu: 0.9%
  5: mem: 864.0 MiB (2.7%) command: gitkraken pid: 26546 cpu: 3.8%
Info:
  Processes: 457 Power: uptime: 8h 1m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: s2idle
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume
    image: 12.23 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd Init: systemd v: 256
    default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: clang: 18.1.8 gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 default: Bash
    v: 5.2.32 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.35
  • It is most likely a hardware error
  • small objects - dust, fluff - has accumulated under the keys
  • bad contact inside the bubbles under the keys

Try cleaning the keyboard with compressed air - carefully of course - fast moving air turn cars upside down.

An air blower - a hairdryer on cold air, highest setting - a small brush or a keycap remover - then carefully clean the keyboard.

2 Likes

I did a cleanup under the specific keys, and removed a bunch of cat hair. The weird thing though is that:
a) The error persists and
b) The s/y keys actually always fail together and never separately.