G-Series Gaming Keyboards

[Selakah]

System:

Asus P6T Deluxe V2 (Bios version: 901)

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bits

Intel Core i7 920

6GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 RAM

and other probably irrelevant stuff.

Problem:

The keyboard reboots. The reboots seem to happen in clusters. What will usually happen is I can use my keyboard fine for one day, then the next day I get a cluster of 4 or 5 reboots within an hour or hour and a half. This is an extremely annoying issue because I use my machine exclusively for gaming, and when your keyboard reboots in the middle of a L4D2 or SC2 Beta match, it causes your game to freeze for a few seconds.

Things I've tried:

1) Disabling Esomething Handoff in BIOS --> The moment I did this, the keyboard became unresponsive while in the BIOS. I had to plug in an old $10 keyboard I had around to finish the changes.

2) Disabling Legacy USB support

3) Spacing plugging the G19 as far away from my other USB devices (a Logitech G35 headset and a Razer Mamba mouse).

The keyboard continues to reset in clusters, seemingly every other day. I'm about to give up and return it since I'm still withint return time, but the keyboard is so nice I'd rather have the issue fixed.

[Selakah]

One thing I forgot to mention: the reboots don't exclusively happen when I'm playing a game or doing some other activity that puts my machine in high load. They've happened multiple times when I'm just browsing the net or even when the machine is idle.

[slobsy]

I have exact same issue as previous poster.  Erratic rebooting for no apparant reason, yesterday was a nightmare, today it's only done it once so far.  Already returned one keyboard for the identical problem, this new one was fine for 2-3 weeks and then started doing exactly the same.

Running Vista 32bit.

[enigma28]

I've got a USB 3.0 board comming next week I will try it then and see how it goes. I will also give the Y connector thing a go with USB 3.0. Though hopefully the former works.

[Goldfire]

Well, good bye Logitech.

I have completely had it with this G19 keyboard and the lockups. It gets to the point where the keyboard locks up, and causes all the USB devices (regardless of the port) to lock up as well. The only way to fix it is to restart the computer, even then, it will not always restart correctly unless I do a cold reset (eg. cut the mains power and reapply)

How do I explain my stuff ups when gaming online? You can't. I have given this issue long enough to see a proper firmware upgrade to either the keyboard itself or my motherboard.

I have tried all of these with my Asus P6T:

Updated to the latest BIOS time and time again

Disabled EHCI handoff

Disabled legacy USB support

Tried different USB ports on different internal hubs

Used a different USB motherboard header (or a Y cable as some would call it)

Moved my mobile phone away from the keyboard

I shouldn't have to do any of this bull**BLEEP** to make a keyboard work, nor should I have to compromise on any of my hardware (X58 board) in order to make this keyboard work. Keep telling yourself that you're able to replicate the results with ANY USB keyboard. Because as soon as I use my old G15, it works perfectly for as long as I wish with no issues. Load of garbage.

This one keyboard has turned me away from Logitech for life, period. What makes it worse, I can no longer return this keyboard.

[techweenie]

This is an update to my previous post about the 780G chipset.  I'm now on another ASUS board with a Nvidia 8200 chipset and do not have any issues with the G19.  The CPU is heavily overclocked also.

[Melayna]

Hi,

I'm running windows 7 Home 32bit

Gigabite g31m-s2l motherboard that has a Intel® G31 + ICH7 Chipset (I think?)

I have tried disenabling the EHCI, I have reinstalled windows 7 (This seemed to fix the problem, Keyboard was working fine.  Then I Installed the drivers for my PCI card, popped onto wow to see if the ingame features where working which they where, downloaded MSN and installed,went to install  Mozilla firefox.... and the **bleep** started flashing again.  I thought it might of been firefox... and uninstalled it... it's not firefox. )

I have updated all my drivers.  According to the website I have the most up to date bios.

 Backlighting is working but the LCD is doing the rebooting flashing thing.  Sometimes it's just dead.  I have everything plugged into the front (shudder) and only the keyboard in the back.  Unplugging power will get it to go to full logitech loading screen and power on like usually.  But then the flicking starts.

I tried uninstalling the logitech software and reinstalling it... but it won't recognise the g19 at all now it just asks me to insert device.  It's recognising my G35 Headset and G9x Mouse.

My HTC Desire is not even in the ROOM.

I don't understand why after months and months of having the keyboard.... it's only becoming a problem now.  Is there something I can do to fix this? Ontop of my mouse problems.... i'm loosing alot of faith in logitech.

[CharlesB]

Goldfire - If you're really not happy with your keyboard, contact support. They'll see what they can do to make you happy. But we can replicate it with any USB keyboard in a USB 2.0 hub, but I don't think you're getting what I'm saying, so I'll make this diagram

Computer with particular chipsets <----> seperate USB 2.0 hub<---->USB keyboard

Anyways, if you're not happy with your G19, contact support and see what they can do for you.

Melayna- What I'd do is play with the wiring, and try plugging the G19's AC adapter into a different wall socket. Maybe you're getting some funky ESD or voltage oddities across the power to the AC adapter, and that's causing the pain?

(Entirely possible. I've seen a laser printer repeatedly crash a computer that wasn't even connected to it, but was plugged into the same pair of wall sockets, from causing a low power event during it's warmup)

That being said, also try it on other computers. If it worked fine, then degraded, see if you can replicate this behavior on other computers to see if a fault developed in the keyboard, or if there's an oddity elsewhere.

[MestreSplinter]

I reinstalled the windows 7 and this time installed the 32-bit version.
Still the same problem, the button lights will not turn on the LCD display remains off the keyboard and the software displays the following message:

Please plug in your G-Series device. If you have not already done so, please plug in your G-Series device now.

[cctoide]

My findings regarding BIOS versions for the following setup:

Logitech G19

Asus M4A79 Deluxe (+ USB/Firewire connector running off internal motherboard connector)

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

EHCI handoff: off, legacy USB support: auto

Originally running BIOS version 1602 or below (earlier than June 2009), would get repeated input and USB disconnection sounds, but only in certain, very specific games - namely Episodes from Liberty City and DCS: Black Shark. There seems to be no correlation between how resource-intensive the game is and whether it has problems or not, as I ran GTA IV fine before and in theory it should cause the same load as EFLC. Despite the repeated inputs, the keyboard and system were stable and would not crash if left idling for extended periods of time.

I flashed the BIOS to the latest version, 3204 (25 March 2010). This fixed repeated inputs and disconnections completely, but both the keyboard and the system are rendered very unstable. If the computer is left idle for 5-10 minutes or more, I sometimes come back to a "dead" keyboard - screen off, keys don't work, though key backlighting is still on.

I can get the keyboard to work again by re-plugging it, but it can't be in the same port as before. I have both the motherboard USB ports and a USB "board" which is actually just a metal strip with USB ports on it that connects to internal motherboard USB leads. If the keyboard "dies" in one of those, it will only work if replugged into the other. If both are "dirty", it seems to be impossible to get the keyboard working again, though occasionally switching it to another port on the motherboard seems to work. Other devices connected via USB will continue to work, but not on a port that has been "killed" by the keyboard.

I also get a lot more bluescreens - sometimes when actively using the computer, others when it is just idling - though I can't say this is related to the keyboard, it does seem like it may be due to some external device, as I haven't made any other changes to the system lately. Flashing the BIOS back to the June 2009 version restores the old behavior completely, unfortunately that includes the key repetition. I have also installed the Microsoft update, at first I thought that was what had fixed the problem as I'd installed it at the same time as I flashed the BIOS, but it turned out not to do anything.