Seems odd George... Worked fine on my system. Here's my entire /etc/rc.local file
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
#The following line is for adjusting keybd repeat rate
kbdrate -r 12 -d 500
Seems odd George... Worked fine on my system. Here's my entire /etc/rc.local file
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
#The following line is for adjusting keybd repeat rate
kbdrate -r 12 -d 500
exit 0