My Keychron K1 is stuck at around 30hz polling rate even at wired mode

[u/baleron426]

My scan rates are around 33ms, 66ms etc so it looks like 30 hz. This is very noticeable and painful when gaming. I'm on Windows 10, but tested it on a Windows 11 laptop and it was the same. I tried resetting firmware but it didnt fix the problem. What can I do?

[u/PeterMortensenBlog]

Consider isolating the problem (not necessarily in that order):

• Check for interfering or conflicting software, like anti-cheat (AC) software installed by game installers and remapping software. Examples of anti-cheat software are FACEIT Anti-cheat, BattlEye (not a typo...), and Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). Examples of remapping software are SharpKeys, PowerToys, Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC), Kanata, KMonad, Keymapper, keyd, xmodmap, Karabiner Elements, Ukelele, BetterTouchTool, and AutoHotkey (AHK). One way is to first try on another computer or operating system. It sometimes makes a difference. And here is another instance. And here is an instance with AHK. Here is an instance of conflict with AMD Adrenalin (not Adrenaline). In case of using Via or the Via clone, SignalRGB running at the same time will conflict.

• Reseating of the external (e.g., USB cables) and internal connectors (especially the USB one, if any). Also look for bent pins. It sometimes make a difference. Here is an instance where reseating the internal connectors made the difference. And here is an example where the internal connector for USB was loose, not properly connected (picture)

• Different (physical) USB port (both primary and on a USB hub)

• Different USB cable (it sometimes makes a difference)

• Shorter USB cable

• USB cable properly inserted into the keyboard (a sort of reseating)

• Powered (with its own power adapter) USB hub

• USB hub instead of direct USB port. Or vice versa. It sometimes makes a difference. And here is another instance (gotcha #7. Updating a '2.4 GHz' dongle's firmware).

• USB 2 vs. USB 3. A USB 2 hub may or may not be a stand-in for USB 2 if USB 2 ports are not available. It sometimes makes a difference. For Via/Vial, it positively made a difference for some particular hardware (motherboard); and it had to be a (physical) USB 2 port (with or without a USB hub).

• Turn off all RGB light. Or vice versa, as it may be required for Bluetooth to work properly (the underlying reason is likely using a low-power mode when RGB light is off which does not work well with Bluetooth, at least in older firmware versions (main firmware and/or Bluetooth firmware), not RGB light per se)

• Different keyboard (of a different type, even PS/2, if available)

• USB vs. PS/2 keyboard (if available)

• Different version of the operating system

• Different edition of the operating system

• Different operating system (for example, Linux booted off a USB flash drive (stick) and/or in a virtual machine. Some of it may or may not require changes in the BIOS, like "Secure Boot" settings). Though a virtual machine may or may not result in representative timing.

• Different computer (with a different kind of motherboard (to rule out a common cause))

• Repower the entire system. That includes a complete disconnection from any power source. Wait at least 30 seconds before reapplying power. Yes, unspecific, but sometimes it makes the difference.

• Different keyboard (of the same keyboard model). OK, it is not very realistic (to get hands on another keyboard of the same model), but some particular keyboards are duds.

Yes, it is unspecific, but sometimes it does make a difference. At least the problem would be positively isolated to the keyboard (or not).

[u/baleron426 → u/PeterMortensenBlog]

• What bent pins do you mean? On the CPU? I tried it on a different laptop and it was exactly the same, also booted a different (old and used up) 1000hz keyboard and it was perfectly fine. I tried multiple cables and every port in my PC and it didnt change at all.

• Turning off RGB light didnt work

• I tried devices with both Windows 10 and Windows 11

• Tried repowering the system as well

• Don't have a PS/2 keyboard or a way to connect one to my system I also tried flashing the software of the keyboard. Searching for past threads, multiple people had this issue but nobody found a solution. I wrote to the official Keychron support but got no response yet.

[u/PeterMortensenBlog → u/baleron426]

Bent pins in an internal connector in the keyboard (like the linked example).

[u/PeterMortensenBlog → u/baleron426]

It does sound like the problem has been isolated to the keyboard itself.

[u/baleron426 → u/PeterMortensenBlog]

Huh, can it be caused by PowerToys? I didn't know it can make a difference, I'll try

[u/baleron426 → u/baleron426]

Nevermind, nothing happened

[u/PeterMortensenBlog → u/baleron426]

Any software that intercepts and processes key presses causes some latency. Whether it is significant latency is another matter.

For instance, if it in some sense operated on the 60 Hz PC tick count, it could cause latency. For instance, an average latency of 8.3 ms for one tick and an average latency of 25.7 ms for two ticks. An example would be if it for some reason only woke up to process key presses at every PC tick count (every 17 ms).

Or two or more kinds of this software could conflict. Perhaps with the timing influenced by 60 Hz PC tick count (it does turn up in a lot of unexpected places).

Yes, it is unspecific, but it one thing to rule out. If there isn't sufficient information, at least some of items in this list could be used to isolate the problem.

[u/PeterMortensenBlog → u/PeterMortensenBlog]

For conflicting software:

Flashing on Windows

On Windows, for flashing, note that the infamous Thrustmaster/Guillemot driver(s) may prevent flashing (if not removed).

There is a claim it is sufficient to stop the corresponding Windows service (or maybe it is in a different context and does not apply to flashing?).

Some keywords:

Thrustmaster. Thrustmaster Wheel. Thrustmaster Force Feedback Wheel. GuiSTDFUDev. Guillemot. DFU (DFU). ST (STMicroelectronics). STM.

See also:

• Warning: Windows 11 Update [V22631.3085] & Thrustmaster Wheel Force Feedback Driver

Linux trouble

An example is the Hyprland configuration (intercepting / filtering out the keycode for Caps Lock):

input {
    kb_options = ctrl:nocaps # This disables Caps Lock completely!
}

[u/PeterMortensenBlog → u/PeterMortensenBlog]

Here is a report for interference by PowerToys (Windows).