keyboard shift stopped working - old kernel, vmware

[Development discussions related to Fedora]

I have had an experience where the shift key stops working. It also 
affects the shift lock, and makes it impossible to enter a shifted password.

Machine: hp compaq nx6320 notebook.
F8>F9beta>rawhide
booting kernel-2.6.24 from F8 so that vmware-server works.
keyboard shift stops working in both vmware guest {xp} and in the host.

Is this machine just special ? Speak up if you have seen this before :)

DaveT.

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 20:58 +1000, David Timms wrote:
>  I have had an experience where the shift key stops working. It also 
>  affects the shift lock, and makes it impossible to enter a shifted password.
>  
>  Machine: hp compaq nx6320 notebook.
>  F8>F9beta>rawhide
>  booting kernel-2.6.24 from F8 so that vmware-server works.
>  keyboard shift stops working in both vmware guest {xp} and in the host.
>  
>  Is this machine just special ? Speak up if you have seen this before :) 
You're sure it isn't the actual keyboard that's failing (sticky keys or
whatever)? It can happen on old laptops. What does xev(1) say? It should
print something for every event, including pressing/releasing Shift.

poc

[Scott Robbins]

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 07:26:04AM -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
>  On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 20:58 +1000, David Timms wrote:
>  > I have had an experience where the shift key stops working. It also 
>  > affects the shift lock, and makes it impossible to enter a shifted password.
>  >  
I've had this happen sometimes in X.  It's also happened to me in
FreeBSD.  Another thing I've had happen is for the Mod4 key (the Windows
key) although being shown in xmodmap, stop working.  

It hasn't happened to me for awhile though.  I have an xmodmaprc that
reads


keycode 115 = Super_L
add Mod4 = Super_L
keycode 117 = Multi_key
keycode 50 = Shift_L

Sometimes, it seems that running xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc will fix it.  That
always fixes the Mod4, but doesn't always work with the shift.  

It's happened on more than one machine for me, but hasn't seemed Fedora
specific.  Various other flavors of Linux, as well as FreeBSD, would
also do it. 

If I got out of X, the shift key would work again, so I don't think it's
my keyboard. 



-- 
Scott Robbins
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[Development discussions related to Fedora]

Scott Robbins wrote:
>  On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 07:26:04AM -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan
> wrote:
> > On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 20:58 +1000, David Timms wrote:
> >> I have had an experience where the shift key stops working. It also 
> >> affects the shift lock, and makes it impossible to enter a shifted password.
>  I've had this happen sometimes in X.  It's also happened to
> me in
>  FreeBSD.  Another thing I've had happen is for the Mod4 key (the Windows
>  key) although being shown in xmodmap, stop working.  
>  
>  It hasn't happened to me for awhile though.  I have an xmodmaprc that
>  reads
>  
>  keycode 115 = Super_L
>  add Mod4 = Super_L
>  keycode 117 = Multi_key
>  keycode 50 = Shift_L
>  
>  Sometimes, it seems that running xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc will fix it.  That
>  always fixes the Mod4, but doesn't always work with the shift.  
>  
>  It's happened on more than one machine for me, but hasn't seemed Fedora
>  specific.  Various other flavors of Linux, as well as FreeBSD, would
>  also do it.  
This is on a laptop's builtin keyboard.
so next time I should try:
- xev, and
- xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc  next time it happens, or does that file not 
exist by default.

>  If I got out of X, the shift key would work again, so I don't
> think it's
>  my keyboard.  
Thanks, for the comments, I dislike being the only one with weird
issues.

It happened again today, possible shortly after changing from the vm 
fast switch mode back to the Fedora desktop. The unshiftedness occurs in 
both the vmware winxp guest, and in the Fedora host.
This time I tried logging out and in again {without restarting my vmware 
machine}, and it fixed the shifting for both the host and guest.

[Scott Robbins]

On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 07:27:40PM +1000, David Timms wrote:
>  Scott Robbins wrote: 

> I have an xmodmaprc that reads
>  >keycode 115 = Super_L
>  >add Mod4 = Super_L
>  >keycode 117 = Multi_key
>  >keycode 50 = Shift_L
>  >Sometimes, it seems that running xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc will fix it.  
>  
>  This is on a laptop's builtin keyboard.
>  so next time I should try:
>  - xev, and
>  - xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc  next time it happens, or does that file not exist by 
>  default. 
My apologies, you have to manually create a $HOME/.xmodmaprc file.


>  Thanks, for the comments, I dislike being the only one with weird
> issues. 
I know, on my flakey laptop, I had lots of Just Me issues.   :) (and
stil have, I guess.)


-- 
Scott Robbins
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Cordelia: And we got these free corsages.