Keyboard won't type upper-case characters?

English Hardware
1

Hi all!

Since yesterday I have been having a strange and fairly aggravating keyboard problem.

For some reason I am sometimes unable to type upper-case characters. My shift key doesn’t behave normally. If I type shift-C, for example, nothing happens; if I try it several times, sometimes the character will eventually appear, sometimes preceded by a ) character. What’s worse, some key combinations, such as shift-I, kill the brightness on the screen. After this happens a couple of times, the mouse freezes, and only a reboot will restore it. This does not seem to be remedied by logging out of the session (either gnome or KDE) and into another session. The problem seems to affect both desktop environments.

This problem seems to be intermittent. For example, it seems to be working normally now, but about five minutes ago GNOME gave me a bug reporting window on boot and informed me that the keyboard-switcher panel applet had crashed.

I have tried exciting to a console with ctrl-alt-F1 while my keyboard is behaving in this way, and have found that my keyboard does not work correctly in the console either.

I would normally use several keyboard layouts as I need to write in several languages, but I have turned them all off and reset the keyboard control panels to defaults in both environments, and I am still experiencing the problem.

Here is what my /etc/X11/xorg.conf says:

Section “InputDevice”
Driver “kbd”
Identifier “Keyboard[0]”
Option “Protocol” “Standard”
Option “XkbLayout” “us”
Option “XkbModel” “microsoftpro”
Option “XkbRules” “xfree86”
EndSection

…and the computer, by the way, is a Lenovo Ideapad S10e.
I wasn’t playing with the xorg.conf to cause this yesterday, but I did modify the keyboard layout switcher settings in KDE 4.1 to add a layout. Either way I have now reset that a couple of times but the unwelcome problem, while it has appeared to go away a time or two, keeps coming back one or two boots later.

Any thoughts?

thanks to all
a

2

> Any thoughts?

sure sounds a lot like a hardware problem…sticky keys…dirt in the
keyboard…failed/failing keyboard controller on the
motherboard…something like that…

try plugging in a keyboard (can you) and see if the problem goes away
(if it does, it is an onboard keyboard/motherboard problem)…

try operating from a Live CD, does the problem remain (if not, then
you have NOT cleaned out any setup problems you may have introduced
during setting up various keyboard layouts)

check Lenovo forums for similar problem reports from other
users…maybe it is a warranty covered problem

–
primary

3

I haven’t got an external keyboard here, but I can try to find one elsewhere and will give that a try. No CD-ROM drive, but I can boot from a USB stick and see what results that gives.

In the meanwhile, I seem to have caused an ancillary problem: reconfiguring the keyboard with sax2 seems to temporarily fix the problem. However, after doing this I moved up to an xsession with the command “init 5”, then went to shut down from the Ghome desktop environment. I was prompted about what to do with a session logged in under my username (presumably the init 3 console session) and told it to kill that. Now when I try to boot the computer, the xsession puts me in a terminal window but does not start the desktop environment (any of them).
How can I fix that? As soon as I can get it at least booting again I can take the computer somewhere and monkey with external keyboards.

Thanks again

4

I can confirm that it’s not a hardware problem. Keyboard functions normally when I boot from a Boot Puppy external USB stick.

I am now in a condition where I cannot boot to the desktop either. Any help appreciated.

5

> take the computer somewhere and monkey with

i’m going to guess that you have (how do i say this nicely?) monkeyed
with it enough to inadvertently introduce sufficient undocumented
variables as to ensure the inevitability of the impossibility of an
acceptable regeneration of the system.

and, it is far beyond my ability to trouble shoot and guide the repair
from here…

perhaps someone smarter than me comes along and guide you.

do you have the original installation medium and a safe complete
backup, or a partial backup containing any personal data you may have
created or collected?

do you have saved somewhere the original of these files?
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
/etc/passwd
/etc/sysconfig/displaymanager
/etc/sysconfig/keyboard

–
secondary

6

Actually I believe I have fixed the problem.

All I had to do was to change the model variable in the xorg.conf to

Option “XkbModel” “pc105”

and as far as I can tell so far it works now. Fingers crossed. I have no idea why the keyboard model would have been set to Microsoft Pro in the first place, which was clearly the wrong type of keyboard. Looks to me like sax2 did it.

I am sorry to have occasioned so much frustration on your part, but in the absence of timely expert guidance or a resident expert here, naturally I had no choice but to go about solving the problem in the best way I know how (blustering as that may be), as I do need to be using the computer on a daily basis.

At least I am grateful to have enough control of the variables to have seen my way through this one, though I don’t pretend to be an expert, and there is only one way to gain expertise. For me there is one lingering question, though: I still don’t understand why the xsession was dropping me to an xterm window rather than starting the desktop. That also appears to have been an error in xorg.conf introduced by sax2, which restoring a backup of xorg.conf (yes, I did have one) appears to have fixed.

Thank you, at any rate, for your help! Long live free software.

a

7

> Actually I believe I have fixed the problem - Fingers crossed.

GREAT!!

> All I had to do was to change the model variable in the xorg.conf to
>
> Option “XkbModel” “pc105”

GREAT, i like courage.

> and as far as I can tell so far it works now. Fingers crossed. I have
> no idea why the kayboard model would have been set to Microsoft Pro in
> the first place, which was clearly the wrong model of keyboard. Looks to
> me like sax 2 did it.

i’ve installed openSUSE on several different boxes with a variety of
different keyboards…and, the install script OFTEN incorrectly picks
the keys as a M$, but it always seems to work…

> I am sorry to have occasioned so much frustration on your part,

whoa, the only frustration i had was knowing how difficult it could be
on your end…and, the helpless feeling i would get here if i tried to
guess my way thought it from afar…

> but in
> the absence of timely expert guidance or a resident expert here, of
> course I had to choice but to go about solving the problem in the best
> way I know how (blustering as that may be),

understand, that is the way i ‘administer’ mine also…

> since I do need to be using
> the computer on a daily basis and forging ahead.

just always make and prepare for going back to where you
started…and, your machine will be a trustworthy friend…

> At least I am grateful
> to have enough control of the variables to have seen my way thruogh this
> one, though I do not pretend to be an expert. For me there is a
> lingering question, as I still don’t understand why the xsession was
> dropping me to an xterm window rather than starting the desktop.

well…if the XWindows can’t run correctly it can’t show you the
desktop (that is, without X there can be NO graphical desktop with
buttons and etc)

so, if it tried to draw a desktop enviroment it might present a screen
which is somewhere between totally and mostly unusable…that is, if
it tried to give you a screen and and only gave you one where you
could not find a way to shutdown, then your only option would be what?
hit the power switch and risk scrambling some disk data…

BUT, if an error occurs in processing (for example) xorg.conf and it
‘gracefully’ fails to a terminal (where you can issue a ‘halt’ and do
a controlled shutdown, OR find and fix the xorg.conf problem [maybe as
EASY as copying the old xorg.conf over the new one]…THEN, that would
be the BEST thing to do, right??

> That
> also appears to have been a a fult introduced by sax2, which restoring a
> backup of xorg.conf (yes, I did have one) appears to have fixed.

well, sax2 built the initial xorg.conf also, so sometimes it works
GREAT and sometimes the variables are so complex (multiple keyboards
with multiple languages?) that it gets something wrong…

> Thank you, at any rate, for your help!

no thanks required…i think you should thank yourself for having the
courage and willingness to keep trying (and, not just come back here
to “bump” your question)…

> Long live free software.

right on.

–
secondary

8

I’m glad to hear all this, because I am still experiencing the problem and still need your help.

Same symptoms as before: shift key doesn’t work, shift+I in particular often causes screen brightness to black out, many key combinations are unpredictable, mouse sometimes freezes up. The problem is intermittent but present in both desktop environments. Gnome keyboard layout switcher sometimes crashes on boot giving me a bug reporting dialog. Have tried several keyboard models in xorg.conf and the keyboard configuration controls in both desktop environments, including pc104 and pc105, and have tried eliminating all alternate keyboard layouts and layout-switching key combinations; this seems to fix the problem temporarily, but it comes back after a couple reboots.

I will check again to ensure that it is not a hardware problem, but I would be very grateful for any advice you can offer, since this is a quite serious problem at present!

a

9

Further update: The problem is also occurring when booted from external Boot Puppy USB, so it does appear to be a hardware problem after all. Machine is under warranty, so I am contacting Lenovo

10

> I will check again to ensure that it is not a hardware problem, but I
> would be very grateful for any advice you can offer, since this is a
> quite serious problem at present!

tell me the result of booting from a live CD (SUSE, or any other) or
DVD (i’d pick Knoppix) and run either for SEVERAL hours, or days–run
until you experience the same keyboard problem OR decide it is NOT a
hardware problem…browse, post via webmail, etc etc etc…even (at
least with Knoppix) change keyboard setups using Knoppix’s easy
keyboard switcher and use some different languages…

BUT, do NOT get Knoppix version 6, instead use 5.1 as it is MUCH
better suited to this task…

–
tertiary

11

> does appear to be a hardware problem after all.

after all???

“hardware problem” was in the FIRST seven words i wrote to you.

–
tertiary

12

Hi there

Were you able to solve this issue as I am having the same problems on the same PC, the Lenovo s10e. It is extremely aggravating and this is my second attempt to write this as the first resulted in a seized cursor, and needed to be rebooted. I’m now able to use the shift keys correctly but I know this will be temporary as it has happened so often. Any help appreciated.

13

Hello!

If you truly want to confirm whether it is hardware or software, just reboot and hit F2 or F12 or whatever your computer tells you to use to enter your Bios settings. Within the Bios try to type upper and lower case. If it won’t work correctly there, then it won’t work anywhere. Even if it’s intermittent in Bios you know it’s a hardware issue.

I hope that helps. Good luck.