What are possible causes of keyboard lag on my desktop machine?

I am running Windows 7 and began experiencing keyboard lag in most applications, and it seems to be getting worse. Certain websites are the worst - on some, I can type a sentence, take my hands off the keyboard, and watch the characters continue to appear on the screen for several seconds. Others are not as bad, but still noticeable and annoying. I just started noticing it in non-browser applications (e.g. Outlook) as well.

I've disabled all extensions in Firefox, rebooted my machine, and that did nothing. There is nothing using much memory or cpu cycles, even when the lag is occurring.

This is a machine at work with very strict controls over what can be installed, so the chances of any kind of malware are very slim. I don't believe anything as been installed since before the problem started.

What could be causing this, and/or what can I do to debug?

Solution 1:

I had this problem too. I was furiously typing harder each time because it was severely lagging, but then I realised that my Filter Keys function was accidentally switched on. Turning Filter Keys off made the keyboard revert back to normal.

My computer is running on Windows 7, so maybe it might help to check.

Solution 2:

Try using another keyboard on the same computer. If you are only experiencing lag with the first keyboard, then it is probably not an application that is the culprit.

If the keyboard is wireless it could be due to bad wireless connections and can lead to the keyboard lag or missing key presses altogether. (Even if the wireless receiver isn't very far from the keyboard.)

Here are the steps I would take to narrow down the problem:

1. Test out another keyboard on that computer. If there are the same results, then it is a computer problem.

2. Test out the keyboard on another computer. If the results appear on the new computer, it is a keyboard problem.

3. Test the keyboard with a different USB port.

4. Are there special drivers for this keyboard? Check the manufacturer's website to see if there are updates available.

Solution 3:

You'll never believe me , but i noticed that ipad 2 with magnetic cover and wifi connection beside the wireless keyboard made it so slow and repeat keystrokes.

Can't explain why , but moving the ipad fixed the problem !

Solution 4:

I've had this issue for three days and finally figured it out. My problem was that every time I scrolled up and down (internet/windows browser) it was randomly freezing for a second, then responding again. Same with typing as well. I found out that under my NVidia settings, I changed PHYSX settings from Auto select (recommended) to my GPU. I'm assuming it was using my CPU resources instead and that was the reason causing the delays.

I've tried everything below and nothing works until I found this fix:

• changed keyboards
• changed batteries
• switched usb ports
• upgrade all usb drivers AND keyboard driver
• reset CMOS
• default bios configs
• re-install/update Java and Adobe Flash player
• re-installed and used on browsers i.e: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome
• Disabled all browsers add-ons/extensions