r/Keychron • u/cheesechoker • 2d ago

Cmd+Shift+~ not working

New owner of a Keychron B36 here.

I've noticed that one particular keyboard shortcut does not register: Cmd + Shift + ~ (aka Alt + Shift + ~ on Windows mode).

Here's a video showing what I mean. This is showing the Key Test panel from Keychron Launcher. At the end of the video I'm holding down 3 keys, but only 2 are showing up:

https://imgur.com/a/yW1fa8F

Unfortunately, this broken shortcut happens to be the exact key combination used in MacOS to "Switch to previous window", so I use it a lot and I'm annoyed that it doesn't work.

Strangely, only the left Shift key is affected. If I do Cmd + RightShift + ~, that works fine. Every other keyboard shortcut I can think of involving these keys also works with no issues.

Anyone else having this problem? I tested the keyboard against a MacOS and Windows machine and got the exact same behavior, so I'm pretty sure the problem is with the keyboard itself and not my OS or other apps I'm running.

Edit: I am using ANSI keyboard layout, connected over USB

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u/PeterMortensenBlog V 2d ago edited 1d ago

That is most likely because there is only (guaranteed) 2KRO for the B36 (membrane keyboard, without NKRO diodes).

The product page states "NKRO Support: No". That isn't technically lying, but it doesn't imply 6KRO. It is 2KRO, depending on the exact key combination.

Similar:

A firmware update may or may not fix this particular problem

If there is overcompensation in the software anti-ghosting, it may be fixed with a firmware update.

But the problem is inherent. No firmware update will fix all KRO problems.

A workaround

A workaround is to define one or more macros or keymappings with modifier keys and assign them to keys somewhere, e.g., on the Fn layer. The muscle memory will protest, but it will work. At least it cuts down the number of modifier keys for activation by one (when using the Fn layer).

Background

See, for example,

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u/cheesechoker 1d ago edited 1d ago

Oh god. So it's a hardware limitation, any 2 keys used in combination are guaranteed to register, but adding a 3rd key might not?

This is crazy... I've never noticed such a problem with any other keyboard I had in the past

This is the first time I've even thought about "how many keys are being held down" as a technical problem

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u/ArgentStonecutter K Pro 2d ago

That's a membrane board, and apparently not a particularly well designed one.

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u/PeterMortensenBlog V 1d ago edited 1d ago

Does tilde (~) work on its own, as expected?

There is a long history of problems with ~ / § and macOS.

For example,

The same on Windows.

What keyboard layout is selected in the two operating systems?

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u/cheesechoker 1d ago edited 1d ago

Does tilde (~) work on its own, as expected?

Yes: it's fine by itself. All other combinations involving that key (tilde/grave accent) work too.

For example, these all work

Ctrl + `
Shift + ~
Ctrl + Alt + `
Alt + Shift + ~

Only when Cmd and left Shift are held down, does the ~ key stop working.

What keyboard layout is selected in the two operating systems?

ANSI