Chording feature randomly stops working.

[Adrianrff]

XMBC Version: 2.19.2
Windows Version: 10
Mouse Information (brand/model): Logitech M720 Triathlon, connected via Bluetooth to this PC.
Relevant Computer Information (CPU, RAM etc): Intel Core i7-8550U; 12 GB ram
Did the problem occur after an upgrade of XMBC? (If so, from what version?): No
Did the problem occur after a Windows update/upgrade? (If so, from what version?): No
How long have you used XMBC?: 8 years?
What language and keyboard layout do you use in Windows?: English(US) and Spanish (International), respectively.

Clear description of the problem - try and include as much information as possible, including what button and mappings you are having problems with (if applicable).:

Hello!

I'm having trouble with the chording feature in XMBC: it suddenly and randomly stops working. I need to reboot the PC in order to fix it. The issue is that, when this happens, the default button behavior triggers as soon as I press the button, it's as if there is no chording configured.

I have Logitech options installed, as well as Logitech Flow. I use this same mouse in my Desktop PC through the reciever and in this laptop though Bluetooth. Are there any known issues if with Logitech options running alongside XMBC?

I'm attaching my XMBC profile. Logitech Options is in its default state for all buttons, except for the tiny button in the lower half of the mouse (thumb), which is not configurable through XMBC.

Please do let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks in advance.

[phil]

There is no attachment

But really... reboot the PC to fix it?!?

I know turning it off and on again fixes everything in IT but have you actually tried simply exiting and restarting XMBC? Or even more simply, just disabling and re-enabling XMBC? That should have the same effect as rebooting but much easier/quicker (and if it does NOT fix it then that would suggest the problem was elsewhere and not in XMBC!)

I have a M720 on my laptop (using bluetooth) and occasional on other computers with the adapter too - But I removed Logitech options and I'm not sure what Flow is???!

[Adrianrff]

Thanks.

I guess I should've clarified that rebooting is the ONLY way to fix the problem. Of course I tried closing/re-opening XMBC and disabling/re-enabling it but it did not work. I even updated to the latest version after posting to no avail.

I just ended the Logitech Overlay task and every process associated with Logitech in the Task Manager. It did not work at first, but a few moments later the mouse became disonnected, and upon reconnection XMBC started working normally again. Note though that before doing this I had manually disconnected the mouse without closing Logitech, but reconnecting it did not solve the problem.

All this seems to (inconcluvely) suggest that LO is the culprit, but the fact that Iv'e been using both softwares simultaneously for months is confusing.

The profile should be uploaded now. Flow is like a plugin or an add-on for LO that allows you to share the clipboard among connected (to the M720) computers.

[phil]

That certainly is odd... I wonder if its something silly like the battery running low on the mouse (I only say that because my battery ran out for the first time the other day and the mouse was doing strange things when that happened).

I'll check your profile, but I suspect it wont give away much!

[Adrianrff]

Logitech Options reads the battery level at 2/3. It makes sense because I changed it over a month and. I use this mouse a lot, but I don't think the battery is depleted already, I'll try chaning it anyway and get back to you.

The mouse HAS been disconnecting randomly and momentarily in the last few days, but it reconnects quickly and usually works normally.

Something I also see frequently is that the button used for chording gets stuck (I know because the green dot indicator by the mouse pointer is constantly visible). This is is quickly solved by pressing the button again, but I thought I should point that out since it may be related. Note that this has been happening before I got the M720 and installed Logitech Options.

[Adrianrff]

OK, so this has happened again twice. I have the propblem right now and I think I may have identified something that triggers this issue: putting the laptop in airplane mode. I pressed that key accidentally twice today, and in both occasions XMBC started behaving like this when I turned it back off. Closing and re-opening XMBC has no effect, the problem remains.

I record a video so you can see a few things. For example, when this happens, the XMBC shows a blue highlight over the button action list instead of a yellow one. The chording settings simply stop working.
https://youtu.be/x2AQ942A3qM

Is there something we can do to try to figure this one out? It's really frustrating

Thanks.

EDIT: Disconnecting the mouse from Windows and reconnecting it does work.

[phil]

Airplane mode - will disconnect the bluetooth device... perhaps mid click - that could cause problems (as XMBC will have seen the click, but not the release maybe). But unless your clicking the airplane mode button with the button that runs the chord, I don't see how that would cause the chord to stick.

The blue highlight indicates that a chord is still active - so XMBC thinks the button that initiated chording was pressed, but has not yet been released (thus the chord is still active).

However, if closing and reopening (presume you mean properly exit rather than just closing the settings window and reopening it?) that suggests something else entirely - because when you start XMBC, its state will be reset - no chords active...

Disconnecting the mouse from windows fixes it... Interesting. Does cycling the active connection make any difference (or power cycling the mouse itself)? If that does not help, but disconnecting in Windows does - then I'm starting to suspect its a windows/driver problem - and there will be nothing I can do about that in XMBC .

As to what to try - I don't really know - I've not experienced this problem which makes it tricky to help diagnose (or debug if indeed it is an XMBC problem). I will have to try on my desktop (where I can run XMBC under the debugger) with my Bluetooth mouse and see if I can reproduce it (I didn't have much luck on the laptop). But I will need to find a Bluetooth adapter first. I have one around here somewhere!

[Adrianrff]

Turning airplane mode on and off will trigger the issue consistently, regardless of if a button was pressed or not. Just tested it a few times. Turning bluetooth off and on does not solve the problem, but disconnecting the mouse does. Cycling through the other receivers (this is a M720, remember) doesn't help, nor does power cycling the mouse.

I'm going to use the receiver of my previous Logitech mouse instead of Bluetooth—which is rather unreliable, I find— and sacrificie a USB port. Changing the type of connectioon fixed it, i guess that's equivalent to disconnecting the mouse, but this has never happened in my PC, which is connected to the same M720 via receiver, so maybe the connection type has something to do?

[phil]

OK I have purchased a new USB BT dongle (couldn't find my one) and it has arrived now (thanks amazon prime ).
I have linked my M720 to the desktop using bluetooth.
NOTE: I didn't install the logitech options software.

But so far, I can not reproduce this problem with your profile and by using turing on/off airplane mode. It will not get into the state that you are seeing.

I will try a few more times but in the meantime, can I ask that you turn on debug logging (OK/Apply that) then...

• Make it go wrong again (turn on airplane mode) - make a note of the time (hh:mm:ss if possible).
• Then turn off airplance mode (again, make a note of the time)
• Then press a few buttons to make the blue highlights appear (like in your video).

Then send me a copy of the log file - upload it here or via PM (or by email).

Debug logging is on the Settings -> Updates and Logging tab (you can also get to the log file there). Debug logging will automatically be runed off when restarting XMBC but you can turn it off manually before sending me a copy of the log.

Thanks,
Phil

[Adrianrff]

Will do. I'll let you know on Monday.

[Adrianrff]

XMouseButtonControl.zip

OK I have purchased a new USB BT dongle (couldn't find my one) and it has arrived now (thanks amazon prime ).
I have linked my M720 to the desktop using bluetooth.
NOTE: I didn't install the logitech options software.

But so far, I can not reproduce this problem with your profile and by using turing on/off airplane mode. It will not get into the state that you are seeing.

I will try a few more times but in the meantime, can I ask that you turn on debug logging (OK/Apply that) then...

• Make it go wrong again (turn on airplane mode) - make a note of the time (hh:mm:ss if possible).
• Then turn off airplance mode (again, make a note of the time)
• Then press a few buttons to make the blue highlights appear (like in your video).

Then send me a copy of the log file - upload it here or via PM (or by email).

Debug logging is on the Settings -> Updates and Logging tab (you can also get to the log file there). Debug logging will automatically be runed off when restarting XMBC but you can turn it off manually before sending me a copy of the log.

Thanks,
Phil

Hello, Phil. I did what you asked and have the logs.

I turned airplane mode on (10:03:24), waited a few seconds and then turned it off again (10:03:31). The mouse when into the problematic state and then I pressed a few clics.


EDIT: I had done the same thing a couple of minutes earlier, but I wasn't sure if had applied the changes (debug log) en XMBC, so I did it again. Maybe that works too.

EDIT2: I went ahead and created a new log. 10:37:30 airplane mode off; 10:37:53 airplane mode on.

Let me know if that works.

[phil]

Well that's a very interesting log file....
Lots to go on in there - primarily your 4th and 5th buttons seem to be INJECTED input (that means another process has simulated them, rather than coming direct from the device itself). I suspect this may well be the Logitech software at play - at least that's my suspicion because I don't see that without the Logitech options installed - I guess I will *have* to install it and see if I get the same....

I suspect this may be causing the problem. The weird thing, it seems to be sending TWO WM_XBUTTONDOWN button down messages and then TWO WM_XBUTTONUP messages. Again, chances are this is the actual cause of the problem - you should receive a WM_XBUTTONDOWN directly after another WM_XBUTTONDOWN message - its as if the button had been pressed down twice and then released twice (physically not possible - but anything is possible with injected input). This is almost certainly confusing XMBC and causing the trouble!

What is not clear is why this is happening only after airplane more is toggled - but it looks like that's an external factor influencing the external injector (Logitech options?).

It would be useful to see some log when it is WORKING too - just to compare the messages (are they still injected? are they still doubled?).

Regards,
Phil

[Adrianrff]

...

It would be useful to see some log when it is WORKING too - just to compare the messages (are they still injected? are they still doubled?).

Regards,
Phil

Attached, Phil.

I think the culprit is Logitech, too. As soon as I have some time, I'll try uninstalling or killing Logitech services and test again. I'll let you know.

EDIT: I'm not sure if this will help, but I went into Logitech options and set the action of the 4th button to none. It doesn't work at all, so I guess this means that logitech is controlling mouse inputs "first"? That may very well be non-sense to you, but I thought I'd share that, just in case.

Also, I'm noticing something strage: If I the cursor is over an app that has a window profile set up and I click the 5th button, it'll highlight in blue in XMBC, but the chording works normally. However, if the default profile is active, it'll highlight yellow. Is that relevant at all?

EDIT2: Nevermind that last bit, I'm looking at the default profile instead of the active window profile when I click, that's why it's blue.

[phil]

EDIT: I'm not sure if this will help, but I went into Logitech options and set the action of the 4th button to none. It doesn't work at all, so I guess this means that logitech is controlling mouse inputs "first"? That may very well be non-sense to you, but I thought I'd share that, just in case.

Yes if logitech is remapping the button then it may well be doing so by injecting it. My logitech G9 works differently but it stores the configuration on the device itself (you can cycle through 3 different profiles on the device). That means that the device itself is responsible for sending the 4/5th button message - thus its not "injected" by software. The 720 does not have that onboard profile ability so the options software will almost certainly be doing the work - and perhaps using SendInput to inject the button message.

In the latest log (where it was working), it is still injecting the messages, but only once for down and once for up. It looks to me like the double down and up messages are whats causing the problem.

I will at some point (maybe the weekend) install Options and see if that causes the problem here. If it does, it will allow me to try and implement a fix in XMBC itself (in simple terms, to ignore the duplicate down/up messages - but I fear it wont be that simple in reality!).

[Adrianrff]

Ok, Phil. Let me know if you need me to try something on my end.