Windows 10 on Macbook Pro not responsive to keyboard input

Question

I have a 2016 15-inch Macbook Pro, on which I installed Windows 10 via Boot Camp. But it's often slow to respond to my keystrokes. There's a slight delay before what I type shows up on screen, barely noticeable, but I find myself slowing down for the OS. I don't think this problem is limited to just one app. Rebooting into macOS makes it responsive, so it's not a hardware problem.

I've rebooted the machine, applied all available updates via both Apple Software Update and Microsoft Store, but the problem still occurs.

Has anyone else encountered this? How do I debug and fix this, before I give up and delete the Windows partition?

Solution 1

I don't have a test system set up to verify my answer. But with the little experience I have with this configuration I experienced the drivers being sort of touchy. But unlike in you're case for me they stopped working at all. Researching that on the web, I found out that people are going through the Boot Camp assistant to get the latest keyboard drivers, that sees to solve similar issues in several cases.

So the solution (that might work) would be to boot into macOS. Then start the boot camp assistant and download the latest drivers storing them in a way they will be accessible from Windows. Boot into Windows and run the downloaded installation program. Most likely a reboot will be required.

I'm wondering if that solves you're problem. Again sorry, I can not verify my answer.

Solution 2

Sometimes a USB port can just stop working when you upgrade to a new version of Windows. Usually it’s because of a driver problem. You should always check for this problem first.

Fortunately it’s easy to test: simply unplug the keyboard from the USB port and plug in another USB device – like a mouse or an external hard-drive. If that device doesn’t work either, the USB port itself is the problem, and you should skip straight to Method 4. If the device you just plugged in does work, then continue to Method 2.

Have installed your keyboard driver in win10? If not, I recommend you use the software Driver Easy to install driver.
1) Download and install Driver Easy.

2) Run Driver Easy and click Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.

3) Click the Update button next to the flagged keyboard (or USB device) to automatically download and install the correct version of it (you can do this with the FREE version).

Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system (this requires the Pro version – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All).

Comments

[harrymc]

Try this: Check in Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Make the keyboard easier to use. Under "Make it easier to type", uncheck "Turn on Filter Keys" if it's on.

[harrymc]

If the keyboard is on Bluetooth see this article. See also this article.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

It's the keyboard built in to the laptop. And it's not a dust problem as the second link says, because that affects macOS as well.

[harrymc]

What is your driver for the keyboard?

[apocalysque]

When you say "unresponsive" do you mean that it completely doesn't work? Or do you mean that it intermittently or consistently is slow to respond to keyboard input? I'm asking because the nature of the problem can help indicate where the problem lies. If the keyboard doesn't work at all I would look in one direction, and if it works but with issues, then I would look in another direction. I think I have the same MBP as you that I could test with.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

@apocalysque It's always slightly slow. Can't keep up with my typing. I find my typing speed slowing down slightly to match.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Thanks, but this is about the built-in keyboard.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Boot Camp Assistant in macOS does not have an update function. Apple Software Update in Windows has all updates applied. Thanks for your help.

[Albin]

@VaddadiKartick Interessting, thanks for the feedback! Here's one of the pages that described the solution I was suggesting. Did I understood it wrong or was the update function discontinued?

[Kartick Vaddadi]

support.apple.com/en-in/HT208495 says that it's installed automatically, which did happen the first time I booted into Windows. None of the symptoms that page describes like trackpad not working are happening. Seems more like a Windows issue than an Apple one.

[Albin]

@VaddadiKartick but on other pages the symptoms similar to your's were shown, I just can't find the urls again. Anyway I would still try to do it manually just in case it works. Or was the update function discontinued, you weren't clear on that.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

There's a Windows app called Apple Software Update. It says that there are no new updates. I'll try it again in any case, thanks.

[Albin]

I don't think you are suppose to run the update within windows. I think you are suppose to search/download the update from within macOS. However according to you're new comment that only you're typing is slower, I'm not sure anymore this will solve you're problem. I assumed the input does not work at all... at this point I would do more research what causes the problem.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Apple has a software update program for both macOS and Windows. I ran both, and the system is updated according to both.

[Albin]

@VaddadiKartick ok, thx. Could you describe the delay a little more? Does it make a difference if you use another application. Does restarting windows help (without going back into the macOS)? Does it happen with an external keybord as well? Are other input devices behaving strange as well? How long is the delay (e.g. how often to you have to press a key to reach one a delay of one second?)

[Albin]

@VaddadiKartick PS. not assigning the bounty kind of takes away the incentive to continue to work on the problem especially if it becomes more time intensive

[Kartick Vaddadi]

It gave me just a day to assign the bounty. That's too short a time. By the time I came here to auto-assign, a day and a few hours after, it got auto-assigned. I was happy you got 75 points for your effort. I tried to change it to the entire 150, but it wouldn't let me. If you want to improve this system, give feedback to Stack Exchange on meta.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Like many techies, I'm a fast typist. But when I use Windows on that laptop, I find myself slowing down slightly to let the system keep up with me. It's so subtle I noticed it only after the fact that I had gotten into this habit. Rebooting doesn't help. Let me try with the external keyboard next week when I get my laptop back from Apple. I don't have to hold any key down longer. Rather it's as if there's a fraction of a second delay for each character to appear onscreen after pressing the key. So if I type "hello", h appears only after I type e, or at the same time, rather than before.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

It's not confined to a single application. That was the first thing I checked. I appreciate your continued help on this. I upvoted your answer for this.

[Albin]

@VaddadiKartick so continuously pressing (and releasing) one key in notepad fills the keyboardbuffer so the character continues to be "appear" even you stopped typing? PS. the bounty system is working fine, you can assign the bounty whenever you want, you don't have to do it within the 24h grace period.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

It turned out the keyboard was physically damaged. The keyboard seems to work better in Windows once it was repaired. Is it as good as in macOS? I don't know, and in any case, I deleted the Windows partition. Thanks.