Thought you would like to know that double letters also occur on my three year old Dell inpiron 1521 running Vista. I tried to get it fixed with no success and now have the annoying problem of repairing anything I type. My previous Dell inspiron 2500 with xp had none of this problem. I agree with the idea that my heavy typing adds to the problem. I am surprised that Dell has not fixed the problem yet. I doubt that I would buy another Dell.
i get the same thing, the doouble letters typed on my brand new Dell inspirion, purchased in december. i don't even poound on te keyboard that much. The problem is - i get skipped letters too! for sure i type the letter, then i read back - and there are missing letters. anyway, you just saw that "poound". ok, well, looks liek there is no remedy outthere, why even go to dell support. btw, i did press space between "out" and "there".
Please, add me as a name to this increasing list of kyboard issues. I have been writing in my notes of my software which does not have any spell check so it is a pain to see that I have to go back over and correct typing isssues. I am not a super typing persoon but this really becomes annoying. I was going out of my mind thinking I kept typing errors but then I did some teests and found the same issues. odooddooddooddooddoddooddooddoddooddoodd. This was a succession of o and d letters typed rapidly as I would normally type these keys. Anyways I hope I don't have to change my typing style to correct for poor or faulty equipment. Otherwise I love this laptop. Please ffix thiis issue.
P.S. Double typed keys left in to show fault rate.
Hi everyone. I have created a utility to filter out keybounces like the ones you are experiencing.
I have a new Dell 1470, and you could certainly add me to this list... keybounce issues from the start. The problem persisted, even after three keyboard change-outs along with an OS wipe/ factory restore and also a motherboard swap-out. A thorny problem, indeed. My utility cleared up 99% of the issues on my laptop. Now I can type whole paragraphs without having to go back through them with a fine-toothed comb. Woo-hoo!!!
To help with visibility, I started a new thread over here. See if this uliltiy can help you... hopefully it can.
I notice someone has created a poll about this problem here: http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19321202/19653279.aspx but not many people have responded to it so far.
I've had the keyboard & motherboard in my laptop changed (for unrelated reasons), but the problem of typing dupliicate characters still occcurs. (Like two words i the lasst sentence...)
KingdomSeeker: Well done for trying, I gave your script a go, and although it does stop the bounce, iit also has a number of major drawbacks. It seems to stop ALT key shortcuts, treating ALT as if it's been pressed first then the subsequent key comes afterwards, rendering such things as ALT-BACK unusable in your browser for example. It also messes up desired key repeat behaviour. I wonder if your script can be adapted to keep ALT key combinations - you're definintely along the right lines to something useful there - if only they'd help us out, admit there's a problem and put a basic debounce in the driver - shurely it'd be so simple to fix!!!
Thanks for the feedback. Please check back over in my script thread again. The script has been updated to no longer grab the Alt- or Win- keys.
The repeat rate limit is an understood limitation of this method. If you tweak around, you may be able to strike a moderate balance between the repeat rate and the programmed gating time that you need for your keyboard (you can certainly try lower values than the default 40).
Yes, the real fix would need to be performed at the driver level.
I am another furious XPS Studio 1340 owner with ongoing issues 1 year after purchase (purchased July 2009). Previously, I owned two fantastic/robust XPS M1210 machines. Loved them and loved DELL.
My machine was delivered with multiple problems right from the start. I got a tech out 2 or 3 times to resolve them, but nothing was resolved properly, they were just patch ups. Everything is replaced using the same poor quality parts. So it looks ok on the surface, but then the problems resurface later. Just about 4 weeks after purchase, I was scheduled to move to Japan, this was booked for months and unavoidable. As my machine was still suffering problems and I complained several times, DELL at this point offered me a replacement machine (built from recycled parts - what the) or a refund. As I use my machine for my work (consultant software engineer) and needed it immediately on arrival in Tokyo, I could not afford to wait for another machine or to go through the weeks of pain setting everything up again on a new machine as I was about to board the flight. So I told DELL just to fix the remaining issues and then everything would be fine. They transferred me over to DELL Japan to take over ownership of my warranty and issues. Ever since then, everything has just been repeatedly patched up with the same poor quality, faulty parts. Some issues have been resolved, but others continue to plague the machine and DELL refuse to do anything more than to keep on replacing them with more faulty parts, despite me telling them "This is my 8th palm rest, and the next one will break too, so I want a new machine or a refund".
They always come back to me with "We offered you a refund in the first month and you declined, so now you are stuck with the machine". Basically pulling that legality out to bend me over, simply because I was rushed moving overseas and couldn't afford to be without a machine. I had no way of knowing that these very same issues would continue to plague the machine for the following 12 months. 1 month is insufficient time to determine this. Their failure to be flexible and look after the customer is a very short sighted approach, because history has proven that when companies do this, their profits always suffer more in the long run.
My problems have included:
- Entire machine warped - did not sit flat on any desk.
- Warped screens - now onto 5th screen.
- Malfunctioning media buttons.
- 3 or 4 motherboard replaced.
- Edges of screen poorly manufactured (rough sharp edge, cut my fingers several times just touching the screen).
- About 8 palm rests! Current one is broken again. Rubber pads keep dislodging due to poor design and poor materials.
- Enter key fell off.
- Keyboard regularly misses characters. When the machine was new, it regularly doubled characters.
- Poor screen hinge alignment and becomes loose.
- Plastic battery casing, cracks and flakes off around the edges, randomly breaking away. This is while still lodged in the machine. I never carry this laptop anywhere, it never leaves my desk. So this is not wear/tear or damage from ill treatment. Very bizarre, as if the design puts too much pressure through the battery case or the edges rub and are caused to crack. No idea, but very poor quality.
All in all a terribly low-quality piece of hardware not suitable for professional use.
I buy a new $4000/$5000 machine every year, this is DELL's loss and someone else's gain. This is the biggest waste of $4000+ I have ever spent. I used to be such an avid DELL fan but now I tell my friends in the tech industry about my experience with this machine. DELL have had far too long to sort this out properly, so they are well and truly let me down, so I openly tell everyone not to purchase DELL so that I save them the pain I have experienced.
I will pursue this with the department of fair trading in Australia and aggressively pursue a full refund for this disastrous machine.
I started this thread almost a year ago to the day, having bought one of the very first Studio XPS 1640's as they rolled mint off the production line at launch - only to be bemused, then disgusted at the lamentable keyboard.
Back in November 2009 I said I would not post again on this issue, as it was pointless, and Dell didn't care (they didn't and still don't). But having reached a first anniversary, and STILL seeing new posts on this issue from others keep rolling in, I couldn't resist a postscript ! ;-)
One year on, 60+ replies and additions to this forum, and having tried ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING possible re software and hardware fixes, the laptop is no better. This issue is, in my opinion, a deeply baked-in flaw and unsolvable. MS Word and Outlook's spelling auto-correct do catch and replace a good amount of the duplicate characters. And the key filter tweaks I made (mentioned in one of my first posts back in April '09) help mitigate some of the remainder. But it's still flawed, and now as good as it will ever get. Which for the most critical input device to a computer is rather dire.
I even found an e-mail address for Michael Dell and sent him a polite, but firm note. Of course he never got it. But someone further up the food chain than regular CSRs did immediately attempt to give me preferential treatment, and for a while I got very attentive follow up. Alas, all they could do was desperately offer me replacement keyboards, hardware and the like. As those of you who have followed this thread and others experiences from the start will know, along with motherboard swap outs, this does not cure the problem one iota. So save yourselves the hassle.
I too WAS a loyal Dell advocate. This is my 6th laptop in 8 years from them. All have been the top of the range and configured and spec'd with the very best components. So we're talking a good $15,000 -$20,000 over the years. It will also be my very last ever Dell laptop.
I used to be a Sony Vaio advocate in the late nineties / the turn of the century, and then got lured to Dell by comparable performance, at half the price. In the early years of this century, Dell's were solid products and I was delighted by this decision. Now, even their premium range seem to be made like flimsy third world disposable toys.
Two weeks ago I bought an iPad, just as an additional fun device. Parking all (pretty much irrelevant) criticism aimed at it - it is a fantastic product, a master class in hardware / software / content integration and ergonomic usability - the build quality and user experience are poles apart from my XPS. I now find myself - to my utter surprise - preferring to e-mail from it's superb touch sensitve screen "keyboard", and web-surf on it rather than on the XPS, as it's a far more pleasant, quick (and accurate!) experience. I've never owned a Mac in 20 years of computing, always thought they were overpriced and overrated, and tolerated the many and extensive irritations of Windoze - mainly due to it's ubiquity - solely on the basis that I had, at least, a reliable and well spec'd hardware platform to bug fix it on. Now I have neither!
So my next laptop will be a Mac Book Pro. Whatever the short-comings (and there will be some), if the iPad experience is anything to go by, it will be the quantum difference between driving a flakey built-to-budget-not-to-last, all plastic chrome facia, but no substance Daewoo - (let's face it, Dell's are just full of cheap Asian components with practically zero QA these days) - and an Lambourghini Gallardo (which are no longer fall apart temperamental Italian supercars, but Audi's on steroids!).
After trying everything. REALLY wanting to give this XPS every chance to redeem itself (esp as it DOES have some really great pluses), I have no advice to anyone else other than to send it back and get a full refund if / whilst you still can. Because it will NEVER, EVER get any better, sorry! - That, or just live with it for a while, accelerate your planned depreciation term, then buy something else, from someone else, as Dell's best days are behind them.
Very sad, it'd didn't need to be this way. Michael Dell was a visionary and pioneer in direct sales and customer online build configuration. But somewhere along the line they got too big, too fast, too complacent and their products are now junk and their customer support even worse. Expensive junk at that ! - (one can sort of deal with it if you've paid $200 for a cheapo-clone netbook, but not at this price tag).
Reminds me of that great Aristotle quote about reputation - taking a lifetime to build, and a day to lose. Thanks Dell for the first 7 years and the first 5 really good laptops. But the last 12 months and the 6th laptop - particularly your total disinterest in proactively intervening or really trying to solve the problem - have destroyed any chance I will ever part with hard earrned cash for something that has a Dell badge on it ever again - regardless how many times in appears in episodes of "24" or other!
Steve Jobs, here we come, warts and all.
Goodbye fellow XPS blighted, and I wish you all the very best of IT luck.
Cheers
Hal
"Dave, please don't do that Dave....daisy, daisy....." ;-)
I got my studioXPS 13 last Aug (2009) and I have been frustrated ever since with the key issues all of you have mentioned. The most frustrating is that many times out of the blue I would (or the keyboard would) delete whole lines. I have NEVER EVER had this happen before.
It is unbelievable that Dell is not addressing this. I guess it is better for people like me to just move on to another company than to pay the money to fix the issue. I am NOT buying a Dell again.
BGChips
3 Posts
0
February 9th, 2010 10:00
Thought you would like to know that double letters also occur on my three year old Dell inpiron 1521 running Vista. I tried to get it fixed with no success and now have the annoying problem of repairing anything I type. My previous Dell inspiron 2500 with xp had none of this problem. I agree with the idea that my heavy typing adds to the problem. I am surprised that Dell has not fixed the problem yet. I doubt that I would buy another Dell.
ingex
1 Message
0
February 9th, 2010 23:00
i get the same thing, the doouble letters typed on my brand new Dell inspirion, purchased in december. i don't even poound on te keyboard that much. The problem is - i get skipped letters too! for sure i type the letter, then i read back - and there are missing letters. anyway, you just saw that "poound". ok, well, looks liek there is no remedy outthere, why even go to dell support. btw, i did press space between "out" and "there".
Bossycara
1 Message
0
March 7th, 2010 20:00
Please, add me as a name to this increasing list of kyboard issues. I have been writing in my notes of my software which does not have any spell check so it is a pain to see that I have to go back over and correct typing isssues. I am not a super typing persoon but this really becomes annoying. I was going out of my mind thinking I kept typing errors but then I did some teests and found the same issues. odooddooddooddooddoddooddooddoddooddoodd. This was a succession of o and d letters typed rapidly as I would normally type these keys. Anyways I hope I don't have to change my typing style to correct for poor or faulty equipment. Otherwise I love this laptop. Please ffix thiis issue.
P.S. Double typed keys left in to show fault rate.
KingdomSeeker28
1 Rookie
•
42 Posts
0
March 18th, 2010 17:00
Hi everyone. I have created a utility to filter out keybounces like the ones you are experiencing.
I have a new Dell 1470, and you could certainly add me to this list... keybounce issues from the start. The problem persisted, even after three keyboard change-outs along with an OS wipe/ factory restore and also a motherboard swap-out. A thorny problem, indeed. My utility cleared up 99% of the issues on my laptop. Now I can type whole paragraphs without having to go back through them with a fine-toothed comb. Woo-hoo!!!
To help with visibility, I started a new thread over here. See if this uliltiy can help you... hopefully it can.
Blessings!
KingdomSeeker28
1 Rookie
•
42 Posts
0
March 19th, 2010 19:00
Just thought that I'd bump this thread since I have found a solution and some may have missed my earlier post. Look here
mat8iou
7 Posts
0
March 25th, 2010 14:00
I notice someone has created a poll about this problem here: http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19321202/19653279.aspx but not many people have responded to it so far.
I've had the keyboard & motherboard in my laptop changed (for unrelated reasons), but the problem of typing dupliicate characters still occcurs. (Like two words i the lasst sentence...)
KingdomSeeker28
1 Rookie
•
42 Posts
0
March 25th, 2010 15:00
Thanks for the link to the poll. I voted.
Did you try my utility to see if it would help? (Please see two posts back.)
p_crozer
4 Posts
0
March 26th, 2010 01:00
KingdomSeeker: Well done for trying, I gave your script a go, and although it does stop the bounce, iit also has a number of major drawbacks. It seems to stop ALT key shortcuts, treating ALT as if it's been pressed first then the subsequent key comes afterwards, rendering such things as ALT-BACK unusable in your browser for example. It also messes up desired key repeat behaviour. I wonder if your script can be adapted to keep ALT key combinations - you're definintely along the right lines to something useful there - if only they'd help us out, admit there's a problem and put a basic debounce in the driver - shurely it'd be so simple to fix!!!
KingdomSeeker28
1 Rookie
•
42 Posts
0
March 26th, 2010 09:00
Hello p,
Thanks for the feedback. Please check back over in my script thread again. The script has been updated to no longer grab the Alt- or Win- keys.
The repeat rate limit is an understood limitation of this method. If you tweak around, you may be able to strike a moderate balance between the repeat rate and the programmed gating time that you need for your keyboard (you can certainly try lower values than the default 40).
Yes, the real fix would need to be performed at the driver level.
KingdomSeeker28
1 Rookie
•
42 Posts
0
March 26th, 2010 10:00
Script updated today. Corrected side-effect where "+" and "^" were not coming through the filter.
aaronclausen
4 Posts
0
June 20th, 2010 01:00
I am another furious XPS Studio 1340 owner with ongoing issues 1 year after purchase (purchased July 2009). Previously, I owned two fantastic/robust XPS M1210 machines. Loved them and loved DELL.
My machine was delivered with multiple problems right from the start. I got a tech out 2 or 3 times to resolve them, but nothing was resolved properly, they were just patch ups. Everything is replaced using the same poor quality parts. So it looks ok on the surface, but then the problems resurface later. Just about 4 weeks after purchase, I was scheduled to move to Japan, this was booked for months and unavoidable. As my machine was still suffering problems and I complained several times, DELL at this point offered me a replacement machine (built from recycled parts - what the) or a refund. As I use my machine for my work (consultant software engineer) and needed it immediately on arrival in Tokyo, I could not afford to wait for another machine or to go through the weeks of pain setting everything up again on a new machine as I was about to board the flight. So I told DELL just to fix the remaining issues and then everything would be fine. They transferred me over to DELL Japan to take over ownership of my warranty and issues. Ever since then, everything has just been repeatedly patched up with the same poor quality, faulty parts. Some issues have been resolved, but others continue to plague the machine and DELL refuse to do anything more than to keep on replacing them with more faulty parts, despite me telling them "This is my 8th palm rest, and the next one will break too, so I want a new machine or a refund".
They always come back to me with "We offered you a refund in the first month and you declined, so now you are stuck with the machine". Basically pulling that legality out to bend me over, simply because I was rushed moving overseas and couldn't afford to be without a machine. I had no way of knowing that these very same issues would continue to plague the machine for the following 12 months. 1 month is insufficient time to determine this. Their failure to be flexible and look after the customer is a very short sighted approach, because history has proven that when companies do this, their profits always suffer more in the long run.
My problems have included:
- Entire machine warped - did not sit flat on any desk.
- Warped screens - now onto 5th screen.
- Malfunctioning media buttons.
- 3 or 4 motherboard replaced.
- Edges of screen poorly manufactured (rough sharp edge, cut my fingers several times just touching the screen).
- About 8 palm rests! Current one is broken again. Rubber pads keep dislodging due to poor design and poor materials.
- Enter key fell off.
- Keyboard regularly misses characters. When the machine was new, it regularly doubled characters.
- Poor screen hinge alignment and becomes loose.
- Plastic battery casing, cracks and flakes off around the edges, randomly breaking away. This is while still lodged in the machine. I never carry this laptop anywhere, it never leaves my desk. So this is not wear/tear or damage from ill treatment. Very bizarre, as if the design puts too much pressure through the battery case or the edges rub and are caused to crack. No idea, but very poor quality.
All in all a terribly low-quality piece of hardware not suitable for professional use.
I buy a new $4000/$5000 machine every year, this is DELL's loss and someone else's gain. This is the biggest waste of $4000+ I have ever spent. I used to be such an avid DELL fan but now I tell my friends in the tech industry about my experience with this machine. DELL have had far too long to sort this out properly, so they are well and truly let me down, so I openly tell everyone not to purchase DELL so that I save them the pain I have experienced.
I will pursue this with the department of fair trading in Australia and aggressively pursue a full refund for this disastrous machine.
dave_jacobson
5 Posts
0
June 20th, 2010 10:00
I am in a very similar situation to you. Dell agreed to give me a full refund. I would continue pursuing getting a full refund.
aaronclausen
4 Posts
0
June 20th, 2010 10:00
Thanks Dave. Can I ask how long after your purchase you obtained the refund? And did you have to demand multiple times to speak to a manager etc?
HAL-9001
6 Posts
0
June 20th, 2010 12:00
Greetings fellow afflicted :-)
I started this thread almost a year ago to the day, having bought one of the very first Studio XPS 1640's as they rolled mint off the production line at launch - only to be bemused, then disgusted at the lamentable keyboard.
Back in November 2009 I said I would not post again on this issue, as it was pointless, and Dell didn't care (they didn't and still don't). But having reached a first anniversary, and STILL seeing new posts on this issue from others keep rolling in, I couldn't resist a postscript ! ;-)
One year on, 60+ replies and additions to this forum, and having tried ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING possible re software and hardware fixes, the laptop is no better. This issue is, in my opinion, a deeply baked-in flaw and unsolvable. MS Word and Outlook's spelling auto-correct do catch and replace a good amount of the duplicate characters. And the key filter tweaks I made (mentioned in one of my first posts back in April '09) help mitigate some of the remainder. But it's still flawed, and now as good as it will ever get. Which for the most critical input device to a computer is rather dire.
I even found an e-mail address for Michael Dell and sent him a polite, but firm note. Of course he never got it. But someone further up the food chain than regular CSRs did immediately attempt to give me preferential treatment, and for a while I got very attentive follow up. Alas, all they could do was desperately offer me replacement keyboards, hardware and the like. As those of you who have followed this thread and others experiences from the start will know, along with motherboard swap outs, this does not cure the problem one iota. So save yourselves the hassle.
I too WAS a loyal Dell advocate. This is my 6th laptop in 8 years from them. All have been the top of the range and configured and spec'd with the very best components. So we're talking a good $15,000 -$20,000 over the years. It will also be my very last ever Dell laptop.
I used to be a Sony Vaio advocate in the late nineties / the turn of the century, and then got lured to Dell by comparable performance, at half the price. In the early years of this century, Dell's were solid products and I was delighted by this decision. Now, even their premium range seem to be made like flimsy third world disposable toys.
Two weeks ago I bought an iPad, just as an additional fun device. Parking all (pretty much irrelevant) criticism aimed at it - it is a fantastic product, a master class in hardware / software / content integration and ergonomic usability - the build quality and user experience are poles apart from my XPS. I now find myself - to my utter surprise - preferring to e-mail from it's superb touch sensitve screen "keyboard", and web-surf on it rather than on the XPS, as it's a far more pleasant, quick (and accurate!) experience. I've never owned a Mac in 20 years of computing, always thought they were overpriced and overrated, and tolerated the many and extensive irritations of Windoze - mainly due to it's ubiquity - solely on the basis that I had, at least, a reliable and well spec'd hardware platform to bug fix it on. Now I have neither!
So my next laptop will be a Mac Book Pro. Whatever the short-comings (and there will be some), if the iPad experience is anything to go by, it will be the quantum difference between driving a flakey built-to-budget-not-to-last, all plastic chrome facia, but no substance Daewoo - (let's face it, Dell's are just full of cheap Asian components with practically zero QA these days) - and an Lambourghini Gallardo (which are no longer fall apart temperamental Italian supercars, but Audi's on steroids!).
After trying everything. REALLY wanting to give this XPS every chance to redeem itself (esp as it DOES have some really great pluses), I have no advice to anyone else other than to send it back and get a full refund if / whilst you still can. Because it will NEVER, EVER get any better, sorry! - That, or just live with it for a while, accelerate your planned depreciation term, then buy something else, from someone else, as Dell's best days are behind them.
Very sad, it'd didn't need to be this way. Michael Dell was a visionary and pioneer in direct sales and customer online build configuration. But somewhere along the line they got too big, too fast, too complacent and their products are now junk and their customer support even worse. Expensive junk at that ! - (one can sort of deal with it if you've paid $200 for a cheapo-clone netbook, but not at this price tag).
Reminds me of that great Aristotle quote about reputation - taking a lifetime to build, and a day to lose. Thanks Dell for the first 7 years and the first 5 really good laptops. But the last 12 months and the 6th laptop - particularly your total disinterest in proactively intervening or really trying to solve the problem - have destroyed any chance I will ever part with hard earrned cash for something that has a Dell badge on it ever again - regardless how many times in appears in episodes of "24" or other!
Steve Jobs, here we come, warts and all.
Goodbye fellow XPS blighted, and I wish you all the very best of IT luck.
Cheers
Hal
"Dave, please don't do that Dave....daisy, daisy....." ;-)
Stouks
4 Posts
0
September 14th, 2010 09:00
Well, I need to pile on here as well.
I got my studioXPS 13 last Aug (2009) and I have been frustrated ever since with the key issues all of you have mentioned. The most frustrating is that many times out of the blue I would (or the keyboard would) delete whole lines. I have NEVER EVER had this happen before.
It is unbelievable that Dell is not addressing this. I guess it is better for people like me to just move on to another company than to pay the money to fix the issue. I am NOT buying a Dell again.