[hardy] Key repeat gets randomly turned off.

Bug #272293 reported by Nat Tuck
96
This bug affects 16 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ubuntu
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Periodically, as I'm doing some work or other, key repeat stops working. Keys don't repeat when held down until I go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard and uncheck then recheck the "Keys Repeat" checkbox.

I'm running up to date Ubuntu Hardy with the Nvidia blob and desktop effects disabled.

This happens to me a couple times per day, usually when I'm running vim in a gnome-terminal.

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Jacob Peddicord (jpeddicord) wrote :

Just now happened to me for the first time in Intrepid. Odd.

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fab-furnari (fab-furnari) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Unfortunately we can't fix it, , because your description didn't include enough information.

How many chars you can type before key repeat stops?
This error is encountered in vim only or in other apps?

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Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus) wrote :

Once key repeat is disabled by this bug, it is disabled for all applications in that X session until I go back to the preferences dialog. Every time this has happened to me today (5 or 6 times), I've noticed it in vim in a gnome-terminal window - but that could be because that's what I've been working with all day and that's where I use key repeat.

Number of key strokes doesn't appear to be a factor here. I almost wonder if there's a "disable key repeat" key binding in X or the window manager that I'm typing by mistake.

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fab-furnari (fab-furnari) wrote :

Can you paste your /etc/X11/xorg.conf content?

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Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus) wrote :

Attached is my xorg.conf

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Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus) wrote :

So it's not vim. On the off chance it was, I switched to emacs22-gtk and I'm still getting the same problems. I also discovered "xset r on", which does wonders for me not having to click on menus to get key repeat back (and demonstrates that key repeat really is an X thing rather than a gnome thing or something).

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fab-furnari (fab-furnari) wrote :

Probably the problem is generated by your nvidia blob. If someone else present the same bug with your same settings we can modify the status to confirmed and the right package.

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fab-furnari (fab-furnari) wrote :

can you paste the result of a
dpkg -l | grep nvidia

Thanks

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fab-furnari (fab-furnari) wrote :

For Jacob Peddicord: have you too Nvidia Graphic Card? Can you paste your xorg.conf?

Thanks in advance,

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Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus) wrote :

After playing with this a bit more, there's some chance that this may simply be user error on my part. I'll have to play with it a bit more to be sure - hopefully I'll have time this next week.

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dazzag (dazzag) wrote :

Happened for me also with
$ uname -a
Linux hostname 2.6.22-15-generic #1 SMP Wed Aug 20 18:39:13 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia
ii nvidia-kernel-common 20051028+1ubuntu7 NVIDIA binary kernel module common files

"Keys Repeat" checkbox was checked and yet repeat keys was not working. I have never changed this setting. After unchecking and checking, repeat keys now works once more.

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Nat Tuck (nat-ferrus) wrote :

I was apparently running some software that messed with this directly, and since I fixed that I haven't seen the problem again. So... my report of this bug was just me being dumb.

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George (georgekaz) wrote :

Same thing happened to me. I couldn't hold down backspace in Terminal and get it to repeat. Went to Prefs->Keyboard and unchecked/checked the repeat option. Back to Terminal and it worked. My Ubuntu box is a synergy client of an XP box. Have no other issues with it though. I also have an Nvidia graphics card.

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Nirav Patel (nrpatel) wrote :

I too am I having this problem, on Intrepid without Nvidia. It is also a Synergy client of an XP computer. This is almost certainly a Synergy bug, as it only happens some time after starting synergyc. Though, killing synergyc does not make it work again. I need to uncheck/check the box or do 'xset r on'.

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MikeMan (michaelsbaxter) wrote :

Having the same problem in Hardy. I haven't installed any specialty software or done anything that messes directly with the keyboard. About every two or three hours, the key repeat dies. It seems associated with inactivity, and doesn't matter what application I'm running in or out of a terminal.
I'm on a Dell Dimension 3000
$ lspci
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
xorg.conf attached.
$ uname -a
Linux HostName 2.6.24-21-generic #1 SMP Tue Oct 21 23:43:45 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

I didn't have this problem before the last kernel update, so I'm wondering if this has something to do with that. When I get some time I'll reboot in the previous kernel, 2.6.24.20-generic and see if the problem is present there as well.

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Phil Lord (phillip-lord) wrote :

I'm also getting this. For me, it's completely repeatable and associated with synergy.

I am using interpid as a synergy client. The keyboard repeat works fine using the interpid machines attached keyboard. Bring the pointer from the synergy server onto the screen, however, and the keyboard repeat stops working.

The keyboard options dialogue shows keyboard repeat is on, regardless.

I am also using nvidia drivers, with twinview.

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jpfle (jpfle) wrote :

I have this annoying bug too. The "keys repeat" stops working (it seems to stop randomly) even if the "keys repeat" checkbox stays checked. More info:

- Ubuntu 8.10

- Gnome 2.24.1

- I don't have synergy installed

- I don't have any desktop effects activated

- I don't use NVidia proprietary driver

$ lspci | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro] (rev 15)

$ uname -r
2.6.27-9-generic

$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia
ii nvidia-173-modaliases 173.14.12-1-0ubuntu4 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-177-modaliases 177.82-0ubuntu0.1 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-71-modaliases 71.86.04-0ubuntu10 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-96-modaliases 96.43.09-0ubuntu1 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-common 0.2.4 Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers
rc nvidia-glx-legacy 71.86.04+2.6.24.14-21.51 NVIDIA binary XFree86 4.x/X.Org 'legacy' dri
ii nvidia-kernel-common 20051028+1+nmu2ubuntu2 NVIDIA binary kernel module common files

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jpfle (jpfle) wrote :

I've found a way to always reproduce this bug. I hope that it will help to fix it. Here are the steps:

1) Install (if it's not) the package snes9express
2) Launch snes9express
3) Choose a ROM file and run it (click on the "Power" button)
4) The game window opens. Close it (click on the X)

"keys repeat" is no longer working.

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John Harris (johnwh) wrote :

I have this problem in Jaunty, and it seemed to start when I installed snes9express.

I have found that I can get key repeat working again by unchecking then rechecking the enable repeat checkbox under the Keyboard system preference applet.

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inshion (axblunt) wrote :

I have the same problem. It seems happened after synergy installed.
attach is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

inshion@inshion-laptop:~$ lspci | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72M [Quadro NVS 110M/GeForce Go 7300] (rev a1)
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$ lspci | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72M [Quadro NVS 110M/GeForce Go 7300] (rev a1)
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$ uname -r
2.6.28-15-generic
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia
ii nvidia-173-modaliases 173.14.16-0ubuntu1 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-180-kernel-source 180.44-0ubuntu1 NVIDIA binary kernel module source
ii nvidia-180-libvdpau 180.44-0ubuntu1 Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix
ii nvidia-180-modaliases 180.44-0ubuntu1 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-71-modaliases 71.86.08-0ubuntu1 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-96-modaliases 96.43.10-0ubuntu1 Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org drive
ii nvidia-common 0.2.11 Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers
ii nvidia-glx-180 180.44-0ubuntu1 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver
ii nvidia-settings 180.25-0ubuntu1 Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driv
inshion@inshion-laptop:~$

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Christian Kaiser (78luphr0rnk2nuqimstywepozxn9kl19tqh0tx66b5dki1xxsh-phn5hh065-a811i2i3ytqlsztthjth0svbccw8inm65tmkqp9sarr553jq53) wrote :

I face the same problem.

$ uname -r
3.0.0-12-generic-pae

$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia
ii nvidia-common 1:0.2.35 Find obsolete NVIDIA drivers
ii nvidia-current 280.13-0ubuntu6 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii nvidia-settings 280.13-0ubuntu2 Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

This helps for a time (some seconds).
$ xset r on

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Jean-Christophe Baptiste (jc-baptiste) wrote :

Same problem here. I noticed that switching to a TTY also restore the correct behavior.

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Reinis Ivanovs (dabas) wrote :

This bug still exists in 11.10, and the fix (going into Keyboard and toggling the repeat checkbox) still works.

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Andrew Pavlov (andrew-pavlov) wrote :

Comfirming this bug. Im using 13.04 and it happens randomly once per few days. And that I have no idea how to reproduce it makes it even more annoying.

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Michal Hradis (michal-hradis) wrote :

I'm experiencing exactly the same bug. I noticed it first while working via x11vnc.

lspci | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 [GeForce GTX 680] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)

uname -r
3.13.0-29-generic

dpkg -l | grep nvidia
ii nvidia-libopencl1-331-updates 331.38-0ubuntu7 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL Driver and ICD Loader library

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Steve Sims (steve-sims-au) wrote :

FWIW, this just happened to me too, on 16.04.2. It does this once every few weeks, trigger unknown. Fixed by toggling repeat setting off/on. Guess I would rate this as a minor annoyance only.

I also have Nvidia so this could be the common factor:

ECS$ lspci | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM107GLM [Quadro M1000M] (rev a2)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation Device 0fbc (rev a1)
ECS$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia
ii nvidia-367 367.57-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA binary driver - version 367.57
ii nvidia-opencl-icd-367 367.57-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
ii nvidia-prime 0.8.2 amd64 Tools to enable NVIDIA's Prime
ii nvidia-settings 361.42-0ubuntu1 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

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Mike S (macroft) wrote :

Happening to me using 16.04
Usually notice it has turned off while in VScode or bash, or while typing a comment into a bug report about the issue.
I have noticed it turn of mid typing; use arrow key to move over (working), go to delete (not working)

uname -a
Linux **** 4.15.0-106-generic #107~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 4 15:40:05 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lspci | grep -i nvidia
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK110 [GeForce GTX 780] (rev a1)
05:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK110 HDMI Audio (rev a1)

If anyone has figured out a hack/workaround for this thing that is apparently never going to be fixed, I would appreciate hearing about it.

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Riccardo La Marca (riky92) wrote :

This bug is still present in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Desktop 64-bit, after 12 years.

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amk (9-launchpad-mikus-sk) wrote (last edit ):

I am also experiencing it in 20.04, but I do not think it is a match with this bug. I have never noticed it on 16.04 on the same HW for 5 years. Since upgrade it happens from time to time. NVidia binary drivers in use, both before and now.

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