Dell XPS 13 (2015) - Repeat Keys, Double Space, etc.

Hello all,

I was just reviewing the forums to try and see if there was a solution to the keyboard problems that plague this otherwise fantastic device.  It seems as though there are a lot of theories but no real solutions, even from Dell (I'm referring of course to this posting: http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN297563/en

This was driving me nuts as I type 120 WPM and can't be wasting time correcting preventable errors not of my own doing.  Since I work in IT, I started digging.  And I think I may have found a solution after repeated testing.

NOTE: This worked for my specific issue, and assumes you have no need for a touch keyboard (since you have a physical one) or handwriting recognition (since there is no digitizer support anyway).  No promises it'll make any difference with your machine, but I share it here in case it might help someone, or help Dell properly identify the root cause instead of guessing at it.  IF YOU ARE NOT COMPUTER SAVVY I DO NOT RECOMMEND PROCEEDING.

First off, BIOS A04 seems to make the problem worse.  Let's get that out of the way.  My laptop was purchased in Canada, and came with BIOS A03.  At that time I saw the double space issue but it wasn't nearly as bad as when I updated to A04, when it was just out of control.

Another post suggested some things, and when coupled with my own research, I'm now 99% error free! 

Corrective Action:

1.  Rolled BIOS back to A00.  This got the double space issue down to about once every 15th word.   Not bad, but still annoying given how expensive this machine was.

2. Disabled the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service.  This service tells Windows 8 when to engage the Touch Keyboard and other tablet-oriented features.  One such is, when a physical keyboard is attached, instructions are given to Windows not to display any of these features.  Theory here is that for some reason there is some duplicate signals being sent to the Touch Keyboard when you type on the built-in keyboard, causing the multiple or bad character entry.

3.  Uninstalled the HID Keyboard Device driver. This is a generic driver that provides mapping functionality for keyboards that Windows doesn't recognize.  Problem is there's already a Standard PS/2 Keyboard driver provided, which generic physical keyboards automatically map to anyway.  (Note that the HID driver will re-install if you use an external keyboard, most likely.)  This step may be unnecessary, but I don't like excess drivers.  Windows acts funky when you do that.

After rebooting, I now might see the issue once or twice in an extended writing, and in those instances it's entirely plausible I caused the error.  Nowhere near as frequent as before, and totally manageable.