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The keyboard I own after a little while of use (at least a few minutes) disconnects. It will even disconnect while in use in the middle of typing and not just after being idle. It can be resolved by unplugging and plugging the device in again. The keyboard is Obins Anne Pro 2.

This does not occur with other keyboards that I own. It also does not occur with this device on a Windows laptop that I own. I emailed the keyboard manufacturer, but didn't get a response.

I have tried the following

  • Different USB cable
  • Different USB port
  • Looking in BIOS for USB power saving settings or anything that seemed usful.
  • Updating keyboard firmware through the software that ships with the keyboard.

The device shows up in lsusb as Bus 001 Device 029: ID 04d9:8009 Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.. It also still shows up after the device stops responding. dmesg | grep usb does not show anything when the device disconnects, only when the device originally connects. Here is the output when it connects:

[95862.258854] usb 1-3.3: new full-speed USB device number 28 using xhci_hcd
[95862.372211] usb 1-3.3: New USB device found, idVendor=04d9, idProduct=8009, bcdDevice= 1.00
[95862.372216] usb 1-3.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[95862.372219] usb 1-3.3: Product: USB-HID Keyboard
[95862.372222] usb 1-3.3: Manufacturer: OBINS 
[95862.372225] usb 1-3.3: SerialNumber: SN0000000001
[95862.391269] input: OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-3/1-3.3/1-3.3:1.0/0003:04D9:8009.0043/input/input96
[95862.451347] hid-generic 0003:04D9:8009.0043: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3.3/input0
[95862.452635] input: OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-3/1-3.3/1-3.3:1.1/0003:04D9:8009.0044/input/input97
[95862.453085] hid-generic 0003:04D9:8009.0044: input,hidraw3: USB HID v1.10 Device [OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3.3/input1
[95862.454297] input: OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-3/1-3.3/1-3.3:1.2/0003:04D9:8009.0045/input/input98
[95862.454692] hid-generic 0003:04D9:8009.0045: input,hidraw4: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3.3/input2
[95862.455926] input: OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-3/1-3.3/1-3.3:1.3/0003:04D9:8009.0046/input/input99
[95862.515307] hid-generic 0003:04D9:8009.0046: input,hidraw5: USB HID v1.10 Device [OBINS  USB-HID Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3.3/input3

Any advice would be appreciated.

My machine is running Ubuntu 19.10. This issue has persisted through software updates though.

  • Ubuntu 19.04 is EOL or end-of-life (http://fridge.ubuntu.com/2020/01/23/ubuntu-19-04-disco-dingo-end-of-life-reached-on-january-23-2020/) thus off-topic on this site (https://askubuntu.com/help/on-topic) unless your question is specific to help moving to a supported release of Ubuntu. Use a LTS or long-term-support release if you don't like release-upgrading every 6-9 months – guiverc Mar 22 '20 at 02:30
  • This is off-topic, but I'd check your PSU is providing the correct power sustainably and not failing. I've had devices before become 'flaky' due to PSU due to age and the power able to be provided dropping thus devices can fail to operate as designed... If this is the case, you'l have issues as you plug in more devices etc... however your release is EOL & thus off-topic here unless your question is specific to needing help moving to a supported release of Ubuntu. – guiverc Mar 22 '20 at 02:33
  • @guiverc I am now running Ubuntu 19.10. How would I determine whether this is a PSU issue? I haven't had the issue change with more / less devices and it does not exhibit the same behavior with other peripherals. – lamoreauxaj Mar 22 '20 at 04:21
  • PSU = power supply unit; ie. reading your description made me think of hardware issues rather than software configuration. I don't know your hardware, plus it's off-topic here, but it involves a multimeter & open case... Temporarily switching PSU to another one would also be a quick test of my theory.. but again off-topic. as I tend to support older hardware, i tend to read issues I regularly see.. – guiverc Mar 22 '20 at 04:28

2 Answers2

7

I have Anne Pro 2. Using it on macOS and Windows, I got no problem.

When using it on Arch Linux, it stops working after some inactivity (5 minutes). If I keep continually typing on it, it works without any problem.

Reconnecting the keyboard works. I think the issue might be with firmware + Linux driver. The problem might be related to power saving mode (inactivity triggers some logic?).


I upgraded to the latest Alpha firmware using obinskit tool. Now the problem with USB re-connection is gone. There are often other bugs related to TAP layer, but that's a different story.


I switched to the latest firmware and replaced the USB cable. All of my problems are gone. I believe the thing that helped most was replacing the cable.

CPPUIX
  • 137
Darkhan
  • 71
0

As a workaround, I found that if you turn on ObinsKit in the background, the keyboard will not disconnect anymore.

CPPUIX
  • 137
kooz
  • 1