All keyboard input results in "beeping"

[Brad Figg]

This problem happens on Oneiric, running either Unity or Unity 2d. I have not determined what starts the condition but at some point typing on the keyboard causes the pc speaker to 'beep' on keydown and again on debounce. For example, if one wanted to type "exit" in a terminal window, you'd navigate to the window with the mouse, hold the "e" key down until you hear two beeps. One beep happens on initial key down. You'd do this for each letter you type until you have typed in the desired text. This also happens on all key modifiers.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-8.11-generic 3.0.1
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-8-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
BootLog:
 udevd[376]: error: runtime directory '/run/udev' not writable, for now falling back to '/dev/.udev'

 fsck from util-linux 2.19.1
 /dev/sda5: clean, 144103/3604480 files, 894641/14404096 blocks
Date: Tue Aug 16 17:56:54 2011
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: oneiric
DistroVariant: ubuntu
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Alpha amd64 (20110628)
MachineType: LENOVO 2777MSU
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-8-generic root=UUID=e2c40577-af20-4019-9416-aec2ab905753 ro crashkernel=384M-2G:64M,2G-:128M quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/21/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6EET44WW (3.04 )
dmi.board.name: 2777MSU
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6EET44WW(3.04):bd08/21/2009:svnLENOVO:pn2777MSU:pvrThinkPadX301:rvnLENOVO:rn2777MSU:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2777MSU
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X301
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.5.0-0ubuntu5
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.26-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu13
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20110811.g93fc084-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Heya Brad,

I assume this is a regression you are seeing only recently? Looks like you upgrade daily, do you know which day it first started happening?

Looking through the log for the past several days, it looks like you haven't had X updates since the 13th, nor really any updates to any package that I'd think could cause this. I've uploaded a reformatted view of the last couple days for you to peruse in case it sparks any ideas.

I don't know what might be causing this, but can speculate on a few hypotheses you could test:

a. Accessibility feature. I think there's some option you can switch on to make the keys make noise for accessibility purposes. no idea where that's set, but maybe it got inadvertently switched on for you somehow?

b. Hardware quirk. Googling around, it appears there have been hw-specific issues where pressing several keys simultaneously causes it to start beeping. Presumably a system restart would reset the keyboard. There may also be hardware diagnostic tools available to help. See also http://trevornashkeller.com/misc/my-thinkpad-keyboard-beeps-bug-made-me-think/

c. Stuck key causing keyboard buffer limit to be hit. On a normal system if I hold down a key during boot, it'll fill the keyboard buffer and start beeping. Same thing can happen if a key is stuck. Swapping out the keyboard (or maybe plugging in an external keyboard on a laptop?) might reveal something. Even if a key is not physically stuck, it could be stuck or shorted in the electronics.

d. BIOS setting. I've heard of systems with a 'Keyboard Click' option. Never actually seen it in the wild, but it could cause this if for instance your BIOS got set to defaults or something.

Well hope the above is some use, and not just blather. Let me know how it goes.

[Lennart Weller (lhw)]

As my bug report was marked duplicate I answer here instead. Actually this should be filed against nautilus. After trying to determine the origin of this bug it seems to be the in folder search feature of nautilus. Which also appears on the desktop in unity/unity2D on some occasions and is problematic as you can't release focus from the search field without clicking somewhere else on the desktop which again is impossible with fullscreen applications like mplayer.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Lennart, aha, very interesting. I'll send it to nautilus for them to review, although I wonder if it might be due to some alteration made for unity so perhaps it ultimately belongs there.

I'm still guessing you and brad are seeing the same issue since both your reports came in at roughly the same time and seem to be describing the same behavior. If you disagree please un-dupe the bugs and/or refile them to the right packages accordingly.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report, nautilus doesn't do "beeping", it would rather be an accessiblity feature, does doing "nautilus --quit" workaround the issue? does it happen in a guest session?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for nautilus (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]