Logitech wireless keyboard stops working after random intervals of time

Question

I have a Logitech keyboard K830 which used to work perfectly with Linux (Ubuntu 16.4 long term) but started malfunctioning after an update around September 2017.

I always used the keyboard through the universal receiver which plugs to the USB port. I also use a Logitech mouse through its universal receiver, and the mouse does not show any problems.

The keyboard starts working fine when i plug the receiver and turn it on, but after a variable amount of time it seems to lose connection to the receiver. A combination of re-plugging the receiver and re-starting the keyboard makes the keyboard working for a new variable amount of time. The keyboard was working seamlessly with the receiver before September 2017.

When i plug the keyboard and i type lsusb, i see the keyboard listed as the following:

Bus 002 Device 098: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver

After it randomly loses connection, i don't see that line any longer.

Not sure whether this is relevant: if i type ls in /sys/bus/pci/drivers/xhci_hcd, i only see one address 0000:00:14.0, regardless of the number of USB unified receivers i have plugged.

I found a script online which is supposed to reboot all USB drivers by cycling those addresses and writing them to unbind and bind, but doing so seems not to help with this problem.

There are some questions and answers which seem similar to this problem and are related to USB autosuspend. I don't have laptop-mode installed and the problem happens also when my laptop is connected to the grid. I tried:

sudo sh -c "echo -1 > /sys/module/usbcore/parameters/autosuspend"

As suggested in the main answer here but it didn't help.

I tried with a simple USB keyboard with a cable, and it works reliably

Solution

Rearrange to minimize interference

Bus 002 Device 098

Implies that you may have a significant number of usb devices attached to your system. Try rearranging them so that the nano receivers are not near any unshielded devices that can cause interference, such as some flash drives.

It is possible that the keyboards nano receiver is the cause. If so you can use the mouses receiver.

Pair up to 6 devices to one receiver

1. Install solaar

sudo apt-get install solaar

2. unplug keyboard nano receiver and turn off the keyboard.
3. Pair keyboard to the mouses nano receiver.
   run solaar-cli pair and when prompted turn on keyboard.

Comments

[danza]

could the high number of devices have been due to the experiments i did with bind or unbind? either way, your idea of binding both pheripheral to the working receiver has worked wonders! never gave me a problem since the few days i've been trying it out. thanks a lot man, you literally saved my back as i can now use the wireless keyboard and put my laptop on the roost laptop stand for a decent posture. also, now i have one microreceiver less to keep plugged to my laptop (with the risk of damaging when carrying the laptop around) and an extra free USB slot! you rock man 🙌