G-Series Gaming Keyboards

[Business]

Hey there,

I have the G110 Keyboard, and the G35 Headset running on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, and the problem is?  Well, I bought this board for the Microphone and Headphone jacks, AND purchased the G35 Headset at the same time, without bothering to read the box on the G35 to find out it was a USB Headset, and not a Analog Headset like my old one.

The issue with this is, the headphone/microphone mute buttons on the keyboard don't work when your Headset is plugged into the USB port, no matter how much I would LOVE that.  The microphone mute button isn't a big issue, as there is a convenient button on the Headset for muting the microphone, but I would have thought that Logitech products would work together better than this.

Considering the Keyboard cost me $80 bucks, and the headset cost me $130, I'd like to see some uniformity between the two products.  Is there ANYTHING I can do to get my headset to work with the microphone and headphone mute buttons even though its a USB Headset?  And, in addendum to that question, if it IS possible, is there any way for the Microphone mute on the keyboard to sink up with the Microphone mute light on the Microphone boom of the Headset?

Is there any software support that I'm missing for this?  As it seems as though it would be a simple driver issue.  Please give me a hand with this if at all possible.

P.S. For anyone who uses the analog format for their Headset, when muting the Headphones, will the sound go through your speakers then, and STILL allow you to use the mic?  Or does it simply mute the whole sound system?  If thats the case, then please ignore this until if/when the driver support is there to allow that.  I'm disappointed that Logitech's own products don't naturally flow together better than this, I guess they have spoiled me with their quality up until this point.  Still a solid fan of Logitech though, will always choose them over another brand.

[kgober Logi Guru III]

it's my understanding that the headphone and mic mute buttons are physical cutoff switches that actually disconnect those circuits.  they're not keyboard keys whose keypresses are delivered to Windows and acted upon by device drivers.  so there' s no way to (1) detect whether they've been engaged or not, or (2) change settings of other software as a result.

so this isn't a software issue, and it's not something that software can fix, either.

on the plus side, this total lack of software involvement means that the headphone and mic mute buttons will work on any computer that supports USB audio, without needing any Logitech drivers.  so theoretically you could use it on a gaming console, although I haven't tried it myself.

-ken

[Business]

Really?  I hope that isn't the case...  Know of any Keyboards that DO have this functionality?  It would be amazing if Logitech offered one.. 

[kgober Logi Guru III · Accepted solution]

doing this would probably require Microsoft's involvement, since keyboard (and mouse) input devices are handled specially due to security concerns.  first Microsoft would have to define standard scan codes for new "mic mute" and "headphone mute" keys, then add support for those scan codes to Windows, and advise third-party hardware manufacturers (like Logitech) what the new codes are so they can manufacture keyboards that are able to emit those codes.

the alternative is to handle them as non-keyboard-key 'soft keys', similar to how the backlight button is handled.  the disadvantage there is that the keys will only work using vendor device drivers.  this is all well and good when you have a Logitech keyboard driver attempting to mute a Logitech USB headset.  but it would be a complete mess otherwise, because no headset vendor is going to want the operation of their device to be dependent on hardware and device drivers made by other less reliable sources.

imagine how many support calls Logitech would get about their headset not working because some no-name keyboard driver is completely fouled up and keeps muting things.

there are other deeper technical reasons why this would be difficult to do (even though it sounds simple on the surface).  combine the fact that it's technically difficult, with the fact that support would be a nightmare if you *did* do it, and I can say with some confidence that this feature won't be added anytime soon.

-ken