keyboard failure that doesn't seem to be hardware

[Geoffrey Leach]

On 10/10/2012 06:35:58 PM, Kevin Fenzi wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:05:07 -0700
> Paul Allen Newell <pnewell at cs.cmu.edu> wrote:
> 
> > Given the fact that I was able to type once I selected New login on
> > the "locked screen" dialog and, at the splash for which user to log
> > in as, the keyboard works, I figured the keyboard was not the
> problem.
> 
> When this happens, can you try holding down the shift key for say
> 15-20seconds? Do you see a notice then about 'slow keys' being
> disabled
> and it starts working again?

This would appear to be an instance of a fairly well documented 
problem. Bugzilla # 816764. If holding down the shift key does not 
work, try toggling Slow Keys in Settings->Accessibility. I've found 
that toggle followed by the shift key usually works. But, alas, YMMV.