After two years of stability random lag started in typing and keyboard skipping inputs. Mouse works 100% well

Hi.

I’m using qtile. Inxi results for hardware at the bottom of the post. My system has been stable for a long time. Never encountered this issue before. I don’t recally doing any changes in the system. My workflow has been set for some time now.

A major part of my work is done in web applications (Firefox). But the lag also happens in other applications (such as when writing in mousepad).

Could really use some help here.

Problem description

  1. Endeavour is at times randomly skipping characters while typing (some characters just wont appear)

  2. OR ignoring keyboard inputs alltogether (kb inputs wont work)

  3. OR is adding lag to inputs (when you type, it takes 10 seconds for a single character to appear)

What I tried: tried a different keyboard, changed batteries on the current keyboard (2 times).

My keyboard is connected via wifi dongle. It’s in the closest port, like 40 cm away from the keyboard. I moved it around, didn’t make a difference.

The thing is, I’ve been using the same keyboard for years. There aren’t any issues when using the keyboard on a laptop. Keep in mind that the same keyboard and dongle have been in use on the same Endeavouros for about 1 year now, or perhaps 1.5 years. Not a single issue until this thing started happening.

[jj@jj-systemproductname ~]$ inxi -Faz
System:
  Kernel: 6.12.30-1-lts arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: initrd=\6f2941abb3a44e048ade5c95fb93952e\6.12.30-1-lts\initrd
    nvme_load=YES nowatchdog rw rootflags=subvol=/@
    root=UUID=ba4fefc3-d257-4b93-a18e-f78c44970bb5
    resume=UUID=19e6ba33-d050-49ed-847c-26592a87422e
    systemd.machine_id=6f2941abb3a44e048ade5c95fb93952e
  Desktop: Qtile v: 0.31.1.dev0+g8666bfc8.d20250312 vt: 7 dm: LightDM
    v: 1.32.0 Distro: EndeavourOS base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG MAXIMUS X HERO v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: 2701 date: 07/13/2021
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-8700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake
    gen: core 8 level: v3 note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xFA
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 6 cores: 6 threads: 12 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB
    desc: 6x256 KiB L3: 12 MiB desc: 1x12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/3700 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800
    8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800 bogomips: 88824
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: conditional;
    RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: TSX disabled
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20
    ports: active: HDMI-A-2 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:3e92 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6
    compositors: 1: Picom v: 12.5 2: Qtile v: 0.31.1.dev0+g8666bfc8.d20250312
    driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: vesa alternate: fbdev,intel
    dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 507x285mm (19.96x11.22")
    s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-2 mapped: HDMI-2 model: Sony TV 30 serial: <filter>
    built: 2021 res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 120 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 40 gamma: 1.2
    size: 1218x685mm (47.95x26.97") diag: 1397mm (55") ratio: 16:9 modes:
    max: 4096x2160 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris x11: drv: iris
    inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.1.1-arch1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL
    GT2) device-ID: 8086:3e92 memory: 29.57 GiB unified: yes
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo de: xfce4-display-settings x11: xdriinfo,
    xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 200 Series PCH HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:a2f0 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Focusrite-Novation Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2nd Gen
    driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0
    bus-ID: 1-3:2 chip-ID: 1235:8202 class-ID: 0102
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.30-1-lts status: kernel-api
    tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.2 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15b8 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager,systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Microsoft Nano Transceiver v1.0 for Bluetooth
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1
    mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 045e:0745 class-ID: 0300
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 10.23 TiB used: 9.27 TiB (90.5%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 960 EVO 250GB
    size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 3B7QCXE7 temp: 26.9 C
    scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT1000MX500SSD1
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 010 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WD100EFAX-68LHPN0 size: 9.1 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 0A83 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 921.73 GiB size: 921.73 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 449.27 GiB (48.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-2: /home raw-size: 921.73 GiB size: 921.73 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 449.27 GiB (48.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 921.73 GiB size: 921.73 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 449.27 GiB (48.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 34.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.28 GiB used: 5.26 GiB (17.4%)
  Processes: 305 Power: uptime: 2h 20m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 12.1 GiB
    services: power-profiles-daemon,upowerd Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: 1581 pm: pacman pkgs: 1524 libs: 491 tools: yay pm: flatpak
    pkgs: 57 Compilers: gcc: 15.1.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37
    running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.38

A very tiny note, this doesn’t sound like a problem of the hardware. I would suggest keeping open a sudo journalctl -f on a second monitor and check if when the characters are missed something is written to the journal. I would think some restart of the USB driver after a crash or something like that is happening.

Thanks for the tip. I’ve sporadically had a similar issue where keystrokes go missing on a wireless Logitech keyboard. I have to replug in the wireless module a couple times before it behaves. So maybe crashing.

This happened to me using a BT dongle in an USB 3.0 port. Either try a USB 2.0 port or (if not available) use a short cable extender to remove dongle some cm from the port. 5 cm are enough.

this has happened to me too, in fact I’ve had a corrupted dongle and another time a failing port. having both of those happen seems statistically improbable but that’s me. Hardware likely; I’ve never seen a decent explanation for the wireless lag problem

I always accepted this ‘random lag’ as a normal part of wireless life since it didn’t matter the hardware, pc, or distro it would be there on occasion.
Whether this ‘acceptance’ on my part was reasonable or not, I don’t know. Once I went back to wired/usb I no longer had these headaches.

the journalctl command above will be revealing methinks.

[jj@jj-systemproductname ~]$ sudo journalctl -f
juuni 02 18:43:42 jj-systemproductname kernel: pcieport 0000:00:1c.6: PCIe Bus Error: severity=Correctable, type=Physical Layer, (Receiver ID)
juuni 02 18:43:42 jj-systemproductname kernel: pcieport 0000:00:1c.6:   device [8086:a296] error status/mask=00000001/00002000
juuni 02 18:43:42 jj-systemproductname kernel: pcieport 0000:00:1c.6:    [ 0] RxErr                  (First)
juuni 02 18:45:34 jj-systemproductname rtkit-daemon[1161]: Supervising 8 threads of 5 processes of 1 users.
juuni 02 18:45:34 jj-systemproductname rtkit-daemon[1161]: Supervising 8 threads of 5 processes of 1 users.
juuni 02 18:46:15 jj-systemproductname sudo[346119]:       jj : TTY=pts/1 ; PWD=/home/jj ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/journalctl f
juuni 02 18:46:15 jj-systemproductname sudo[346119]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by jj(uid=1000)
juuni 02 18:46:15 jj-systemproductname sudo[346119]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
juuni 02 18:46:31 jj-systemproductname sudo[346367]:       jj : TTY=pts/1 ; PWD=/home/jj ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/journalctl -f
juuni 02 18:46:31 jj-systemproductname sudo[346367]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by jj(uid=1000)