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May 3rd, 2015 10:00

XPS 13 (DE) repeating key bug

I have an XPS 13 DE that still appears to experience a tame version of the repeat key bug: every once in a while, I press a key once, and the key is typed twice. As a fast typist (sometimes I'm able to get another character in *between* the repeated keys!) with quite a bit of typing to do, this is a pretty annoying bug. What is the status on it, and when will it be fixed?

It's possible that there is a fix/patch that I have not applied; I did wipe the default install and re-install linux (as was necessary in order to set up a fully encrypted disk). Is there some kernel patch to apply or something in order to fix this bug?

I'm running linux kernel 3.19 and BIOS A03.

May 5th, 2015 03:00

I noticed the same thing, with the default install that came with the XPS 13.

May 7th, 2015 11:00

I can also reproduce this error with the default install. I received my laptop today after ordering it about a week ago. Other than installing another desktop environment I haven't made  any changes to the system  (but I could reproduce it using Unity too). I've noticed that the space  key along with others often repeat themselves. I performed a software update when I first booted the machhine earlier today.

uname -a output:

Linux XPS-Dev 3.13.0-37-generic #64bdw1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 25 14:01:25 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

9 Posts

May 11th, 2015 21:00

Confirmed, I have this constantly, especially with the space and C keys. I have *mostly* solved it by using Ubuntu's accessibility features ("Bounce Keys" settings), so this appears to be a key debounce timing issue in BIOS. Very frustrating.

4 Posts

May 23rd, 2015 06:00

I can report the same problem. Double key repeats appearing randomly and sometimes key continues to type indefinitely until some other key is pressed.

39 Posts

May 23rd, 2015 11:00

Still having issues here. It's especially wonderful when you're in an e-mail message list and the delete key decides to repeat 25 times.

DE Bios A03, Ubuntu 15.04, Kernel 4.0.0

May 23rd, 2015 12:00

I ended up sending mine back for a full refund after experiencing this and the touchpad issue (the latter is apparently no longer an issue with Ubuntu 15.04 - so why's the unit ship with 14.04?). It's even more frustrating to me that it was claimed the issues were fixed in the 2015 XPS Dev Edition laptop - I'd read (with some concern) about the keyboard issue before but saw that it had apparently been fixed with BIOS version A01 - seemingly not the case.

May 25th, 2015 21:00

Dell just released a new BIOS (A04) that resolved the key repeat issues for me.

I was also able to resolve my touchpad driver issues by upgrading my kernel in place using the LTS Enablement stack testing repository.  I have a write up of how to do it in another thread, but here is my system info:

gshulegaard@ronin:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:    Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS
Release:    14.04
Codename:    trusty
gshulegaard@ronin:~$ uname -a
Linux ronin 3.19.0-18-generic #18~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 20 09:38:33 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
gshulegaard@ronin:~$

Curiously, when upgrading the BIOS, my touchpad reverted to glitchy behavior, but downloading and installing the .deb packages that Dell released previously for their fix resolved the behavior again.

Bottom line, you want BIOS A04, kernel 3.19 +, and the custom .deb fixes from Dell, but after those three things, your laptop will be stable and should fly.

May 26th, 2015 05:00

Bios A04 seems to have fixed the issue for me, thanks!

3 Posts

May 26th, 2015 09:00

BIOS A04 has mostly resolved the issue for me -- nice work, Sputnik team! I don't think it has entirely resolved it, though: it's rare enough that it's a little difficult to be sure they aren't just normal typos, but I'm maybe ~60% sure that I still occasionally get a double keypress.


ETA: I'm now 99% sure that it's still happening, albeit more rarely than before. For reference, I'm on kernel 3.19 BIOS A04 running arch linux; is there some other patch I need to apply?

13 Posts

May 26th, 2015 15:00

Me too. I installed BIOS A04 this morning and I haven't seen the repeated key press issue yet. However, given that Dell thought that they could ship me this laptop with:

  • A trackpad that was so bad as to be unusable with the installed (Ubuntu 14.04) OS.
  • A keyboard that was unusable with the installed (A04) BIOS (imagine vim with dddddddddd.....)
  • A BCM4352 wireless module which is not supported by the stock Linux kernel which makes it very hard to upgrade to new versions of Ubuntu (especially with no Ethernet).

I have basically lost all of my trust in Dell and this laptop. By comparison my Studio 1558 from five years ago has been completely trouble free.

I want Linux and Sputnik to be successful, I really do. But my 8088 had a functional keyboard from the factory 30 years ago.

4 Posts

May 26th, 2015 19:00

A04 BIOS did make it worse for me -- now keyboard problems happen few times a minute. On top of that broadcom drivers stopped working. Time to return the thing back.

May 26th, 2015 21:00

I applied the backport packages for the 3.13 kernel after upgrading BIOS to A04 and I don't have the repeating key strokes at all.  So here are steps:

1. Upgrade kernel to 3.19

2. upgrade BIOS to A04

3. Download and apply the backports for 3.13 from the Dell link at the top of this forum.

This is counter-intuitive since the backports were targeted for 3.13, but they seemed to resolve my issues.

13 Posts

May 27th, 2015 11:00

Am I the only one that isn't seeing the repeating key bug with BIOS A04 + ubuntu 15.04 (kernel 3.19.0-18-generic)? I definitely saw the issue with the stock image and A03.

May 27th, 2015 11:00

It is a stickied post at the top of this forum:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19632338

Here is a direct link to the Knowledge Base page linked in the post:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN297219/en

Finally, here is a direct link to the download page:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/m/mediagallery/20441258

May 27th, 2015 11:00

I am not seeing the issue, but I am on 14.04.2 with 3.19.0-18.  As I mentioned, upgrading the BIOS after upgrading my kernel brought back my touchpad issues, but applying the 3.13 targeted backports on my 3.19.0-18 resolved the touchpad issues again.

But I am currently 100% stable, I haven't even run into a kernel panic when resuming from suspend yet.

I am also US based, so I can't comment on the status of channel 12/13 support from the Broadcom drivers.

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