OnlyKey buttons not working

My onlykey works correctly only in a few USB ports and devices.

When I connect my onlykey to a usb-c adapter then connect to my phone, it works perfect everytime.

When I connect to my work Windows based laptop via a USB extension cable, it works perfect everytime.

WHen I connect to my work Windows based laptop directly to a USB port, it is hit or miss.

When the onlykey doesn’t work, it acts like the buttons are wore out. I can’t long press for second slot. and it is very difficult to enter my unlock PIN.

I am on firmware 3.0.1 but because of these problems, I can’t get it into config mode to try an upgrade to 3.0.4.

This is my 5th or 6th OnlyKey that I have purchased. everytime I have this problem and can’t figure it out I end up buying another OnlyKey. Then it works great for quite awhile but then starts to fail.

Any suggestions on what to do ?

Are you able to upgrade firmware using the USB extension cable? You mentioned that works perfectly.

Yes I updated it via a different computer using a USB adapter. Seems to always work fine when in an adapter. It’s weird.

You aren’t the only one having this problem. Mine is hit/miss on my computer these days. Sometimes the buttons work, other times they don’t. As much as I like the concept, execution is lacking. I’m not willing to purchase another one after having this for less than a year.

I’m keeping an eye on nitro key or some other option. This has become a tool that’s worse than useless, because I never know if it will work or not. Support isn’t very solid either. Plenty of folks ask questions on here that never get a response. I regret giving these guys my money.

today it takes 3 tries or more to get my PIN entered and once it is unlocked only the “A” buttons work. The key is not recognizing long presses thus I can’t get to my “B” slots. So frustrating. I love the idea of the OnlyKey but wish it would work longer than 1 year. I own 4 regular OnlyKeys and 1 OnlyKey DUO. The DUO works but then there is the problem of having to have the software installed to be able to enter the unlock PIN.

I guess after 5 tries with this product I have to quit and move on to something else.

ok … did some more testing … here are some updates.

OnlyKey Duo is not fully functional when connected to any of my Windows 11 laptops via USB-A or USB-C
• long presses are not being recognized thus I can not access my “B” keys or additional slots

OnlyKey Due works perfect on my Google Pixel. All long presses work fine and thus I can use the "B"keys and other colored slots

Tried this same round of testing with my OnlyKey Color …

Same results … key works perfectly on my phone but is not usable on Windows like it used to be.

What’s the biggest difference here? Microsoft device drivers !!

OnlyKey Support … do you know if there is a better Windows HID driver I should be using?

i had nearly the same problem - what brought me here :slightly_smiling_face: the touchpads stopped responding, or rarely responded. cleaning and using it without the rubber sleeve did not help anything. I even tried it by plugging it into a usb-powerbank - but that showed the same symptoms.

despite not having a backup I decided to reflash it with the latest firmware. not being able to punch in my pin I remembered that there was a tiny trick to flash very old versions of the only key.

so - I got me a metal paperclip and made a connection between the (1)-pad and the small copper-ring around the hole where you would normally put your key-ring. this executed some kind of complete reset and the LED turned white.

via the onlykey-app I finally was able to reflash it without entering the actual PIN. this killed all my passwords and keys, but at least I have the onlykey working again :smiling_face:

maybe this helps some of you stumbling upon this discussion… good luck! :four_leaf_clover:

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Of you guys having the problems how many have your laptop plugged in? Try unplugging it and then try. I fought like hell with this thing so many times. And now when its unplugged its worked 100% of the time AND the b slots. After all that shit. Report back your results please

Hi, mysterynumber’s solution with unplugging the laptop is the only thing that works reliably for me, too. In my case I use a docking station with my laptop for external monitors and the issue also presents when I insert the OnlyKey into one of the USB ports on the docking station. Only if I disconnect the laptop from power and disconnect the docking station from the laptop, the keys and especially long-presses are working reliably. So it appears that if any device in the chain is connected to power (dock or laptop), the keys start to fail.
I tried every possible combination of devices, cables, with or without dock - the only thing that works is the OnlyKey plugged into the laptop and the dock and power cord disconnected.
Which makes me think that this might be an electrical issue rather than a driver problem…

Dear developers - can you give any advice on this?
I love the OnlyKey for many reasons but this is a bit of a deal breaker!

I’ve had the best luck and consistent usage when I use the USB-A to C adapter that came with my Pixel. This makes me think some sort of ground issue.

I dont suspect its a “electrical” issue. The issue is intermittent, meaning at times i can have it plugged in for a week or longer sometimes and it works great. Then it will start doing it and wont for a while or sometimes just a short amount of time.

I have also found that if I unplug the power from the laptop but I am touching the cord with my foot, then I will still have the problem. To go further to this point, there are times I am not touching the cord but it is within a certain proximity to me, say less that 2 feet away, then it will not work until I move the cord. This points to having something to do with the magnetic field coming off of the cord to me. Not touching it… on the ground just by me… move the cord and it works. Too many times to be any bit of a coincidence, although it took me a while to figure out the moving the cord away from me part.

I am suspicious of the “stupid” "“devices” that they have hooked up to our power for the houses. They know that shit is vulnerable and we dont have any idea the extent of the capabilities of the devices really. I found an article one day about the people providing power offering services for various things such as detecting when your air conditioner is going out and telling you a month ahead of time when some part (idk what it was called anymore but maybe a bearing or something?) starts to grind or some shit like that so that you can replace it. I have also seen videos put out by companies talking about the profiling or people through their power usage and the devices detected to somehow help with sales, sold as a service, the video is on youtube. There are many more examples too but maybe its just me, and I make no claims or have solid evidence, just my thoughts.

Also another thing I wanted to say is that someone I know used the usb to whatever the smaller phone like adapter is with success for a long time, but then he asked me to check it out because it wasnt working for him, I unplugged the power cord, then unplugged the adapter and put it into the usb and it worked.

Hope that helps someone else. If this works for anyone or anyone else has thoughts on some of this Id like to hear it.

In response to DDays post above - I bought an USB-A-to-C adapter like you’ve suggested and it didn’t help, it even made it worse.

Regarding mymysterynumber’s comment - I live in New Zealand and power companies use things like SmartMeters here which apparently can “guess” which of your appliances run which time of the day. So yes, there are things that can possibly influence the electrical system in your houes.

But at the same time - I just moved house (only a few blocks down the road) and my work desk setup is 100% exactly the same in the new house than in the old house (monitors, docking station, laptop, cables, even the desk itself) and power suppliers in both houses are using those SmartMeters.

Yet in the old house, the OnlyKey had no issues - in the new house I can’t get it to work at all. The only reliable way of getting the OnlyKey to do long-presses is to plug it directly into my laptop and disconnect the laptop from power (have it run on battery).

I also noticed that moving the charger cord at least influences how “bad” the issue is - but it seems random and not reproducible.

The very same OnlyKey works absolutely without any problems in my office, with a different laptop and a different docking station and different monitors. So it’s really hard to isolate the problem and find the one thing that breaks it.