Hello, I previously created a thread about not being able to use my USB keyboard with this KVM. I recently noticed that, although my keyboard functions properly when I get into windows, my bios doesn’t detect the keyboard on boot. Is this expected when using USB passthrough with the L1 KVM switch?
that confirms that your keyboard, once it is in windows, loads a driver to make it not a real hid keyboard anymore.
the bios cant recognize keyboards without a drive either. corsair has a “bios mode” you can toggle on and off explicitly which works great.
if this is steel series you can “never” load the driver and it will “always” stay in bios mode, then it will work.
The kvm does not reset the keyboard (the usb 3 ports do a half second reset whereas the hid ports do not).
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Without the KVM the bios detects the keyboard. Is there a difference or do you think there’s a problem with my bios configuration? Again, if I need to get into bios I can always connect another keyboard - this is more for my information.
so the kvm doesnt pass through the host power reset because it can’t. in tests it caused all sorts of problems if one input is reset but the other one is totally unaware of it. Again you do get a similar reset on the usb3 ports but steelseries may be relying on a hard power reset or something weird.
if you reboot the kvm it’ll do the same, but their keyboard design seems to rely on restarting the entire usb controller to reset it back from “driver” mode to hid mode.
there isn’t really a mechanism for one input to notify another input that the protocol the device is using is switching from “hid” to “not hid” so this is the consequence. almost all vendors handle this kind of thing properly – even qmk custom firmware handles it. Sometimes there is a bad usb implementation thats sketch – early atmel avr devices violate usb spec buuuuut it mostly works anyway. So qmk running on some atmel avrs dont work. modern ones are fine, ofc, but old ones are weird. Some folks managed to figure out how to bitbang and work it out. I ramble here because I put a lot of work into testing all the edge cases but some things just aren’t implemented well outside the kvm and its a bridge too far to try to fix it on my end
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Hah, of course. I watched the youtube video on this and I understand KVMs are extremely complicated. TBH, I didn’t know how complicated they were until I started looking into them. As said, under normal workloads it works flawlessly. It’s just this steelseries keyboard that’s being a pain. I probably should have gone for something else, maybe something more reasonable, but I’m a sucker for magnets. When they advertised that each key had a magnet I was sold! lol, but after using it, I can’t really tell the difference and I feel like I’ve fallen victim to marketing.
Either way, These questions were more for my information to see if there was to get my setup to work better, but it is working as expected now. The only thing that sucks is the windows shifting as I swap between monitors. That’s diving me crazy, however, I purchased two of the DP Repeaters. Hopefully this will solve my issue by creating that repeater signal and prevent my windows from flying all over the place.
Again, this is not me trying to criticize your hard work and testing, nothing ever works as expected in production. I’m just trying to get my equipment working as best as possible by trying everything I can think of. If this is as good as it gets, I’m happy. Maybe one of these days I will upgrade my peripherals to Logitech, but that’s a different conversation altogether.
Buying a USB controller and passing through the entire controller is the best method in terms of latency and performance. This way you are by passing more of guest to kernel functions.
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no worries. and yes, seelseries seems especially problematic. Custom keyboards on qmk are fine, and corsair can work in “always hid” bios mode (or not in usb3 pords). Logitech is fine also, with a bit of cajoling.
Hey @wendell, I borrowed a friends keyboard, it was a corsair k100. This keyboard is not able to get working as either. After a while of using the KVM, because the usb unplugs and plugs back in that sound drives me crazy because it keeps beeping between the two computers. Is bios mode the only way to get a corsair working with the KVM on HID ports? Will all the higher end keyboards yield the same results?
Yes. Use the usb3 ports with the Corsair.
Once it’s out of bios mode it’s a strange not hid protocol.
If you disable nkey rollover it’ll work fine with high end custom keyboards like qmk because qmk doesnt try to do weird stuff.
Yes. Use the usb3 ports with the Corsair. It’ll work 100% but no keyboard shortcuts for the KVm.
Once it’s out of bios mode it’s a strange not hid protocol. Bios mode is normal hid.
If you disable nkey rollover it’ll work fine with high end custom keyboards like qmk because qmk doesnt try to do anything weird. So qmk can work in a hid port just fine giving both high end features and KVm keyboard shortcuts.
I couldn’t get it working with the corsair working with bios mode. Also, the fact that bios mode disables a couple of this, I didn’t want to go down that path. I did get it working with a keychron, so that’s interesting. After reading this poston super user about KVMs detecing keyboards as usb hubs, and seeing that the keychron worked, I thought maybe keyboards with integrated usb hubs are what’s giving me problems. Right now I’m using a ducky one 3. The RGB comes on, however, it’s unresponsive. I tried using hot keys, but they didn’t work. I also tried resetting the switch, but that also didn’t help.
I guess at this point I’m curious, what would the most low latency premium mechanical keyboard be for this KVM? I’m liking the cherry red switches if that matters. I was going to get another keychron, full size, but latency is a little high. Will I notice the latency when gaming? Probably not. However, if there’s a better keyboard that I can get, I’d be willing to pick one up just to get this thing working.
Also, for the ducky one, I’ve used the dip switches to disable nkey rollover. I unplugged, set the nkey rollover, pluged it back in, reset the kvm, but nothing worked.
Corsair can be in bios mode then it works in a hid port. Thsts not icue though. Usb3 mode is ocue then its not hid anymore as thats how corsair designed it
The second usb for the corsair is just passthrough to the port in the side of the keyboard. Do you use that? If so will that device work in a hid port? You can also use a $5 usb3 hub if you need more usb3 ports.
@bryyyyyyyyyyyy I went ahead and bought the KVM after reviewing this thread, before your post was made. I have all my corsair devices working (though I have given up on any interaction with the KVM except for pressing the button) and I figure I’ll share my rigging, which supports Wendell’s statement above.
I went with the 10 GB KVM, 2 Mon, 2 PC: “14-kvm-switch-dual-monitor-2computer”
I used the following hub, plugged into the USB 3 Port on the back of the KVM (the USB A Port that is blue)
“Powered USB Hub, Rosonway 10 Port” - Amazon
I used the following USB C to USB C Cables to pass through both PC’s Data connection:
Cable Matters 10 Gbps Gen 2 - Amazon
I used the following DP Cables:
Cable Matters 2-Pack 4K Displayport to Displayport 6 Feet - 4k 60Hz - Amazon
So, that is the connectors. Here is what is connected to the Hub.
Corsair K100 - No special changes made or bios mode toggles
Corsair Nightsword
Corsair ST100
Corsair MM800
Blue Yeti Microphone
I did have to make one adjustment; my Logitech C920 needed to be plugged into the USB 3 Blue port on the front of the KVM. It didn’t like the hub apparently.
All my devices work on both PCs, and I have icue running on both. icue picks up the devices and applies profiles as soon as the devices finish switching, and this rigging works better than I could have expected based on internet chatter.
For the sake of sharing, one pc is a traditional windows 10 custom build, one is a dell WD19 docking station, that I use for my work PC.
I have not tried to get the HID ports working for any purpose, it’s not relevant to my use case.
I have also not bothered to rig audio yet, but it’ll happen later. I use the output from the corsair headphone stand.
I made an account just to post this for the others who may trip over this later.
Regarding the actual topic, the Kvm keyboard passthrough, I couldn’t figure a way to get my k 100 working, but I suspect if I split the two USBs further and rigged one to the 3.0 and one to the HID port I could have gotten it working. I didn’t have the need to do that testing however due to the above. I didn’t see a BIOS mode toggle in icue for it or anything.
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Hello all,
New to the forum and very new to KVM technology. I have a similar setup that I am trying to get working properly. Here are the details:
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List item 1.4 Display Port KVM Switch - Dual Monitor - Two Computer (5 gigabit USB interface)
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List item Corsair K100 keyboard
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List item Rosonway USB 3.0 hub (10 port)
The K100 keyboard does function in the current configuration by plugging the USB hub into the blue USB port on the back of the KVM (non-HID), but I cannot seem to get the multifunction buttons (e.g., pause, play, volume scroller, volume mute, etc.) to work. AND iCUE does not recognize the keyboard.
@potatobaron3 @wendell I’m wondering if this is an issue with the data transfer rate to the individual PCs (i.e., @potatobaron3 has the exact same setup and is using iCUE without issue with the 10 gigabit version of the KVM while it is not functioning with the 5 gigabit version). Any thoughts? I’d like to get iCUE working to be able to have full keyboard functionality and would be willing to exchange my current KVM with the 10 gigabit version (and pay the difference).
Thank you in advance!
With the k95 you have to be in bios mode for shortcuts keys to work. This is hid protocol compliant mode, but that breaks icue.
The problem comes down to the hid USB standard. Corsair keyboards follow it when the keyboard is in bios mode but do not when icue loads.
Nothing can be done to make a proprietary driver work with the kvm and shortcut keys but you can use a 4 or 8 key macro keyboard that is hid compliant as a remote switcher on a hid port without any issue. Corsair built their own way of talking to machines. Aside from the obvious problems how would you even sync that when switching computers? The USB3 ports do a hard cutover connect/disconnect to make it work. The kvm can’t ever listen to what the keyboard is doing in this kind of scenario though.
It is in no way related to bandwidth. Most kvms do not work at all in any port with similar keyboards, even in bios mode.
Icue is also intolerant of some usb3 hubs. Try the keyboard in the front blue port no hub. One keyboard port is a passthrough USB port the other is for data. Make sure it’s the data one not the passthrough one in the blue port on the kvm .
Power cycle the kvm and then reboot your PC if you first plugged the k100 into a hid port as that has confused icue the kvm or both
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Hi all,
I was able to remedy this issue with some assistance from Wendell via email. I think that the keyboard may have been stuck in BIOS mode as a result of initially plugging into the HID ports on the KVM then later switching to the USB 3.0 port.
To get iCUE to recognize it, I held the ESC key and unplugged the USB hub from the back of the KVM then plugged it back it and released the key after they keyboard booted up. Now, it works flawlessly. All of the multifunction (e.g., pause, play, volume scroller, etc.) work as they should, and it shows up in iCUE.
Thank you everyone. I hope that this helps if anyone else is experiencing similar issues.
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I’m going to add this to the KVM FAQ. sigh Corsair weirdness
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