shift key get stuck randomly

[Vladimir Darak]

1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System -> About Ubuntu.
Description: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Release: 10.04

2) The version of the package you are using, via 'apt-cache policy packagename' or by checking in Synaptic.
nstalled: 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 1:7.5+5ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) What you expected to happen
writing text normaly

4) What happened instead
when writing text, shift key get stuck randomly and is permanently pressed. after about 60 seconds, everything work normaly

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Jun 1 22:28:20 2010
DkmsStatus:
 vboxdrv, 3.2.0, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
 nvidia-current, 256.29, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxnetadp, 3.2.0, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
 vboxnetflt, 3.2.0, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
MachineType: BIOSTAR Group NF560-A2G
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=dcc84d97-ea1e-4835-b3cb-47febf0ebe11 ro quiet splash video=vesafb
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
dmi.bios.date: 10/09/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: NF560-A2G
dmi.board.vendor: BIOSTAR Group
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: BIOSTAR Group
dmi.chassis.version: NF560-A2G
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd10/09/2007:svnBIOSTARGroup:pnNF560-A2G:pvr1.0:rvnBIOSTARGroup:rnNF560-A2G:rvr1.0:cvnBIOSTARGroup:ct3:cvrNF560-A2G:
dmi.product.name: NF560-A2G
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: BIOSTAR Group
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: x86_64
 kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic

[Bengt Olsson (bengt-blafs)]

Have the same problem with my Thinkpad T61 and Ubuntu 9.10. The problem has been there in earlier releases too. There is a thread about this in

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1460150

[Travis Pew (travisp)]

The same problem has started happening for me since upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit from 9.10 64-bit, on both my desktop and laptop. It never happened before.

It also happens with the ctrl key, and doesn't happen when the ctrl key or shift key is pressed, but at a random time while typing.

I am able to reset it by some combination of pressing Ctrl-Alt-SysReq-R and switching to tty1 and back.

[juicemansam (juicemansam)]

I noticed this problem about a week or two ago, tops. My system is 10.04, and upgraded to it from 9.10 within the week of 10.04's launch. The problem is random and apparently non-reproducible. For me, it seem to affect the mouse's scroll button as well. Scrolling starts to act like the forward/back buttons in the web browser. When the keyboard is acting up, when typing in the search bar in Firefox, pressing the comma-key highlights what I have just typed and deletes it. This happens with both a MS wireless keyboard and mouse, and with a corded IBM keyboard and Logitech G5 mouse.

[Leo Arias (elopio)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in xserver-xorg-input-keyboard.

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport, either via the appropriate application's "Help -> Report a Problem" menu or using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Vladimir Darak (vladimir-darak)]

I want to use apport but I did not know exactly in which package is the problem

[Leo Arias (elopio)]

Don't worry. Next time you have a problem take a look at <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage>. And if you still have no idea of what's the problematic package you can ask on #ubuntu-bug or just file it to Ubuntu and wait for some triager to assign it.

Now, please take a look at <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingKeyboardDetection>. Please provide the details and files asked in "General Information" and the ones "In case some keys of your keyboard don't work (as expected)" as separate attachments.

thanks.

[Vladimir Darak (vladimir-darak)]

Thanks for your reply. In atachment are files from General information section

[Vladimir Darak (vladimir-darak)]

and here are files from "In case some keys of your keyboard don't work (as expected)" section

[Leo Arias (elopio)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and any supporting documentation. In the future, please add all the files as separate attachments and not as compressed archives.

Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as confirmed and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better!

[Travis Pew (travisp)]

I'd like to modify my above comment because I discovered that the problem, for me, stems from KeepassX. It doesn't happen randomly, but only after the use of the global auto-type shortcut in KeepassX. If others are not using KeepassX, perhaps it is caused by whatever function KeepassX uses for it's auto-type shortcut.

[PAB (ubuntu-angiebecker)]

Well, no idea, what KeepassX is... anyways.
I think the described bug happens here, too.

Btw. I found something very disturbing, which could be a related indicator, if you suffer from this bug:
I was in a text file and continously pressed 'y'.
The 'y' key which is located on my keyboard, where the american keyboard has the 'z'.
This happened:

> 0.0638 0.0000E+00 0.0000E+00
> 3.yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyzzzzzzzzzzzz3568E+02
> 7.0077E-01 5.5528E-06

You see, thaht during I hold down the 'y' key, the keymap suddenly changed (apparently).
Usually I experience the shift-key-problem, when I hold the shift-key for longer than just one single keypress.

Would be really nice, if some developer could look at this, since this gets really annoying with time.

[PAB (ubuntu-angiebecker)]

This time it happened again - now in firefox itself and not in gedit.
Again, I countinously pressed the 'y' key:

> yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You see, that it is not always at the same time or after the same amount of key hold-down time.

[PAB (ubuntu-angiebecker)]

Funny, I can do it with other keys, too! :-)

I'm on a QWERTZ keyboard:
> [...cut...]zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

The both keys right beside the 'L':
> [...cut...]öööööööööööö;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
> [...cut...]äääääääää''''''''''''''''''''

Perhaps someone can reproduce this by setting his keyboard to non-US?
Laptop is a hp Compaq 8510w with the latest (updated this week) ubuntu Lucid version.

[Tamas (tmarki)]

I'm using Debian squeeze now, and the same bug happens on the same hardware.
Note that it only happens on my desktop machine, my laptop doesn't show the symptomps (even with the same USB keyboard), though also having Ubuntu 10.04.

For me it only happens with shift, other keys seem immune to it.

[gandy (gandy92)]

I am experiencing the same annoying bug - after upgrading my desktop to Ubuntu 10.4, my shift-key gets stuck. Since I also replaced my motherboard, GFX card and CPU during the upgrade I suspected the hardware, but reinstalling the old mainboard and CPU did not fix the problem. The GFX card is the same, though (nVidia 9800GT w/ proprietary drivers). I then suspected the keyboard (an old cordless logitech with ps/2 connector) and replaced it with a new keyboard (also cordless logitech but with USB) - to no avail.
Switching to the text terminal with <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<1> and back to Xorg with <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<1>, then pressing the shift key gets the key un-stuck, but having to do this every few minutes really breaks the workflow

[Tamas (tmarki)]

Hmm, I have an nVidia 9600GT with the proprietary drivers, could that be the culprit?

[Bengt Olsson (bengt-blafs)]

Have had this on my thinkpad for several releases, now lately on my 64-bit 10.04 (earlier I used 32-bit). I don't know if this helps, but most of the times (not all) a single quick tap on the (left) shift key gets me out of the "shift key pressed state".

[gandy (gandy92)]

Sorry, short tap on the stuck shift key doesn't work for me - and the amount of time the key is actually stuck varies from a few seconds to roughly half a minute; in addition to that only the left key seems to be affected, which I use more freuqently than the right key. I just spent a few minutes trying to provoke a stuck right shift key, but it didn't happen.

On my laptop however everything works fine - in case it is related to the drivers, here's a list of involved hardware and drivers:

Desktop (shift key gets stuck)
- kernel: 2.6.32-24-generic #39-Ubuntu SMP; i686; 32bit
- gfx-card: nvidia G92 [GeForce 9800 GT]
- driver: nvidia proprietary, 195.36.24-0ubuntu1~10.04

Laptop (no stuck keys)
- kernel: 2.6.32-24-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP; i686; 32bit
- gfx-card: nvidia G98M [Quadro NVS 160M]
- driver: nvidia proprietary, 195.36.24-0ubuntu1~10.04

Since my update to 10.04 several weeks ago I updated the kernel several times on both machines (and propably also the gfx drivers) which made no difference at all.

[Tamas (tmarki)]

Single tap only works after switching to a text console and back.

It's also very hard to intentionally replicate the thing, it happens randomly while writing code which is very annoying.

I see that on both Debian and Ubuntu the driver version is 195.36.24, I will try to install a newer driver from the Nvidia site, and see if that fixes it.

[Vladimir Darak (vladimir-darak)]

I read article on ubuntuforums.org http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9775232&postcount=16 and i have tv tuner on my system. On ubuntu 9.04 all works perfect with same hardware.

[Tamas (tmarki)]

Wow, I do have a TV tuner! But how could I fix this without removing it?

[pHakE (phake)]

I have also a Tuner Card, on my laptop without this, it works perfect.

[JeongHo Park (jhpark70)]

Same here. I've got a TV tuner... So, now we have a solution?

[Tamas (tmarki)]

I'd say we have the cause, but not the solution... Somebody will have to do some digging with this info.

[gandy (gandy92)]

Same here, TV tuner card (WinTV w/ Bt848) in the affected desktop PC, no such thing in the unaffected laptop

[Tamas (tmarki)]

I'm using tvtime, and noticed that while it's running the stuck shift happens very easily.

[gandy (gandy92)]

What can I say, I also use tvtime... It's running all the time so I can't really say if the shift key also gets stuck without tvtime

[Spang (hetkot)]

my my, had a tv-tuner as well when the problems were occurring
due to change in living context, no more tv-tuner, and haven't seen the problems lately

only noticed the problems since 10.04

[Travis Pew (travisp)]

I'll add that I don't have and have never had a TV tuner, so while the cause might sometimes be the tv tuner, it's not always.

[PAB (ubuntu-angiebecker)]

Great, TV-card and tvtime installed, here too. I use the v4l drivers instead of the built-in for the TV-card.

Did anyone checked already, if tvtime needs to be running to cause the bug or if the TV-card needs to be plugged in (which would perhaps indicate if the problem is caused by the dirver or the tvtime software).

[Theatre-X (theatrex)]

I have no idea why I keep getting notifications to this bug. The bug I
originally posted is not what this one is speaking of.

On Sat, Sep 18, 2010 at 8:48 AM, PAB <email address hidden> wrote:

> Great, TV-card and tvtime installed, here too. I use the v4l drivers
> instead of the built-in for the TV-card.
>
> Did anyone checked already, if tvtime needs to be running to cause the
> bug or if the TV-card needs to be plugged in (which would perhaps
> indicate if the problem is caused by the dirver or the tvtime software).
>
> --
> shift key get stuck randomly
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/588473
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug (587987).
>
> Status in “xserver-xorg-input-keyboard” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> 1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System ->
> About Ubuntu.
> Description: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
> Release: 10.04
>
> 2) The version of the package you are using, via 'apt-cache policy
> packagename' or by checking in Synaptic.
> nstalled: 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
> Candidate: 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
> Version table:
> *** 1:7.5+5ubuntu1 0
> 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
>
> 3) What you expected to happen
> writing text normaly
>
> 4) What happened instead
> when writing text, shift key get stuck randomly and is permanently pressed.
> after about 60 seconds, everything work normaly
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
> Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
> Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
> NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
> Architecture: amd64
> Date: Tue Jun 1 22:28:20 2010
> DkmsStatus:
> vboxdrv, 3.2.0, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
> nvidia-current, 256.29, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
> vboxnetadp, 3.2.0, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
> vboxnetflt, 3.2.0, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
> MachineType: BIOSTAR Group NF560-A2G
> ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic
> root=UUID=dcc84d97-ea1e-4835-b3cb-47febf0ebe11 ro quiet splash video=vesafb
> ProcEnviron:
> LANG=en_US.utf8
> SHELL=/bin/bash
> SourcePackage: xorg
> dmi.bios.date: 10/09/2007
> dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
> dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
> dmi.board.name: NF560-A2G
> dmi.board.vendor: BIOSTAR Group
> dmi.board.version: 1.0
> dmi.chassis.type: 3
> dmi.chassis.vendor: BIOSTAR Group
> dmi.chassis.version: NF560-A2G
> dmi.modalias:
> dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd10/09/2007:svnBIOSTARGroup:pnNF560-A2G:pvr1.0:rvnBIOSTARGroup:rnNF560-A2G:rvr1.0:cvnBIOSTARGroup:ct3:cvrNF560-A2G:
> dmi.product.name: NF560-A2G
> dmi.product.version: 1.0
> dmi.sys.vendor: BIOSTAR Group
> glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
> system:
> distro: Ubuntu
> codename: lucid
> architecture: x86_64
> kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-keyboard/...

[cgarvey (cgarvey)]

I'm reluctant to post this, but it's been over 2 weeks since I've made note of when this happens, and not once in that time has it happened when TVTime was *not* running. I don't see any active development on TVTime, but the last batch of updates included screensaver-related fixes which may be the cause of this SHIFT_L problem?

I've spent over 12 hours in a session without it happening (no TVTime), yet within the hour I can repeatedly make it happen whilst running TVTime.

[Tamas (tmarki)]

Confirmed, I've been watching this too, and it only happens when tvtime is running, and then fairly often.

I did try an older version of tvtime, but maybe not old enough... I'll maybe try something older and then report back. I'd hate to leave tvtime since it's such a great tv app.

[gandy (gandy92)]

This doesn't seem to be too new, either; now that we narrowed it down to tvtime I found this:
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=E1JpSOQ-0002VO-OY%40sc8-sf-web21.sourceforge.net

[gandy (gandy92)]

I also just found this one: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=237994

Is it by any chance possible that either xorg just recently added the XTESTEXTENSION (so the relevant code actually gets compiled in) or something related to this extension behaves differently since a few months?

[cgarvey (cgarvey)]

Compiling TVTime from source (which is a chore in itself) has resolved the issue for me. No more keyboard mapping events reported by xev and no more sticky Shift_L issues. I don't know if that resolves all your reported issues, but it seems to have resolved mine.

If compiling from source have a look at dependencies at http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/tvtime (or whatever release you're using). For me, I missed libxv1 so while it would compile it would report no X support (and not run).

[Patrick (pf008)]

i am haviNg the wORst tiMe < as yoU can see< i am typiNG uppeR and loWER case leTteRs foR some rEAson< and i cant typE ceRtaiN keys at all< like the dot foR iNstance> also< scrOll is takiNg me back and foRward iN wEbpages<> and a numbeR oF otheR bugs> i only seeM to have prOblems wHen i boot uP and iT says grUb loadiNg< and theN gives me a meNu foR wHIch linux distro to boot> i doNt knoW wHy iTs eveN askiNg me that all the tiME, i have shut down and rEbooted clean buT iT keePS askiNg anyway> theRE wERE seveRal tiMEs i booted iN the PAst and the grUb loAdeR didnt display that meNu< and i didn"t have any oF these pROblems< so i think iTs soMEthiNg rElated to that> also i cant coPy and paste corrEctly oR highlight ceRtaiN thiNgs wIthoUT it highlightiNg eveRYthiNg> iTs so messed uP> a nightmarE>

[Patrick (pf008)]

lol ok never mind, for some reason, my RIGHT shift key was stuck, or at least when i hit it a few times the problem disappeared. I feel like an idiot now but I hope this helps someone else having the same problem. I didn't have that problem until I upgraded to 10.04 either ;)

[Vladimir Darak (vladimir-darak)]

confirm cgarvey solution. Compiling tvtime, fix the problem.

cd /tmp/
sudo apt-get source tvtime
cd cd tvtime-*
./configure
make
sudo make install

and Shift not stuck

[Bernd Raschke (bdraschk+launchpad)]

I've had the same infuriating problem for the last few months.

I don't use tvtime any more, but the old version of Kaffeine, 0.8.8. Recompiling it without HAVE_XTEST
it apparently works (i haven't seen the Shift_L in xev for a while). Let's hope for the best.

[Tamas (tmarki)]

Vladimir, simply recompiling tvtime under Debian still produces the error. Did you modify the source in any way?

[Vladimir Darak (vladimir-darak)]

Tamas, I does not modify the source code. Only just download source codes via apt-get source tvtime and ./configure, make, sudo make install

[Tamas (tmarki)]

That is very strange, can you explain how is that different than downloading the precompiled binary?

How did you install dependencies for the build? Maybe you are missing a dependency and thus the build leaves out something...? I find it hard to understand how can this work... I used apt-get build-dep, so it probably got everything and created a binary identical with the one in the repositories (or so would I assume).

Thanks

[Tamas (tmarki)]

I think that you were missing a build dependency (xtest), and it left out the part that was causing the trouble.
I now modified the source code, and am happy to report that I probably found the definitive solution. I'll post a followup after some testing in a few hours with the details.

[Tamas (tmarki)]

Seems to work, so here's how to reproduce. Notice that this will disable the screensaver pinging of tvtime, so the screen saver can turn on if you leave the machine. This should work in all Debian-based distros (Ubuntu included) where the shift key is stuck while watching tvtime problem happens (usually with Nvidia 9600 video cards).

First, open the terminal and type (with root user):

cd /tmp
apt-get remove tvtime
apt-get source tvtime
apt-get build-dep tvtime

This will remove the old tvtime version, then get its sources and the build dependencies into the tmp folder. You'll now need to edit a file called xcommon.c, which is in the src folder of the source package. The exact path will be based on the tvtime version in the repositories, you can do it from the terminal like:

cd tvtime-*
nano src/xcommon.c

You'll need to find this function (it's line 1103 in my version).:

void xcommon_ping_screensaver( void )
{
    struct timeval curtime;

    if( !time_initialized ) {
        gettimeofday( &last_ping_time, 0 );
        time_initialized = 1;
    }
...

Change the above to look like this:

void xcommon_ping_screensaver( void )
{
    struct timeval curtime;
    return;
    if( !time_initialized ) {
        gettimeofday( &last_ping_time, 0 );
        time_initialized = 1;
    }
...

This will effectively disable the screen saver pinging (with the shift key). Now you can build and install the application (from the source package folder):

./configure
make
make install

There, you have tvtime installed, and the shift gets stuck problem is gone too.

It's also possible to build a .deb, you need to edit the debian/changelog file and add a new entry, then execute dpkg-buildpackage from the source folder.

Here's a link to the pre-built package for Debian squeeze (should work on Ubuntu too) i386:

http://tmarki.com/tvtime_1.0.2-6.1-noscreensaver_i386.deb

I hope this helps someone.

[Aaz (aaz2009)]

ubuntu 11.04, lenovo b560
Left shift keye sometimes randomly seems to stuck. Pressing it immediately turns things back to normal.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Interesting, a lot of the comments seem to indicate that at least a large chunk of people on this bug are actually seeing bug #715242 in tvtime.

For the remainder, it's hard to guess whether they're using tvtime or what's going on.

Fwiw, we no longer use the xserver-xorg-input-keyboard driver in Ubuntu, instead we use xserver-xorg-input-evdev for keyboards.

So, if you are NOT using tvtime and still seeing shift key getting stuck, please file a NEW bug report, and file it via 'ubuntu-bug xorg'.

I will dupe this to #715242

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

For those of you who were experiencing this bug due to tvtime's behavior with regards to xscreensaver bug 715242 is tracking this issue and being fixed in Precise and will also follow the Stable Release Update process for previous releases of Ubuntu.

[Bengt Olsson (bengt-blafs)]

I'm one of the original reporters of this problem (not using tvtime). Since then I've switched to Windows 7 on that computer (Thinkpad T61). The shift key still get stuck in random occasions, and behaves as I described above! Ergo, it seems, at least in my case, that it is a real low layer (BIOS?) problem and not an Ubuntu fault.