This sounds similar to some of the user "accessibility" options when they
are activated. How they get activated is another story. I've had users call
with such problems, and found the "accessibility" options partially active,
and the user has no idea how they might have been activated. I do know that
there are some key stroke combinations (poorly or not documented) that can
cause such things to occur. The difficulty seems to be to find out what the
key sequence was that caused the problem, and enter it again to possibly
clear the option. Many of the users complaining of such problems were
"speed typists".
One (Win 98) user allowed us to install a key logger for a limited time. We
found that a key sequence was occurring that duplicated a key sequence used
"only" on keyboards that were intended for use with far eastern languages.
In fact the key sequence involved key codes that the user could not directly
type. The users keyboard was changed to a different model with different
keyboard switch action and keyboard encoder, and the problem went away. We
suspected that one or more keys pressed in some simultaneous combination or
sequence caused the key codes to be generated.
"Lactantius" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:50FA0498-D80A-4E8F-A83C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi, I have a brand new Hewlett Packard 8219 laptop that runs XP as the OS
and
> is loaded solely with Office XP and antivirus software (PCGuard).
> Intermittently and at random (say once every few hours of working ) it
seems
> as if the Control key is triggered to come on and stays on. It usually
> happens either in the middle of working on a document, or if I'm using the
> mouse or touchpad to move files from folder to folder. The same effect
occurs
> if you hold down the control key and try dragging files or text -
everything
> highlights and copies itself to the new location; if you click on program
> icons on the desktop they all highlight,
> won't "unhighlight" if you click others, and lots of programs try opening
at
> once. A few times if Word has tried to open, a message comes up saying the
> control key appears to be held down, do I want to continue? Once or twice
the
> Caps lock button has also malfunctioned at this point - when "On", all
text
> is lowercase, when "off" all text is uppercase. Sometimes if I close down
all
> programs the computer behaves itself again; often the only solution is to
> lose what I've been working on and reboot. It's then fine for perhaps a
few
> more days.
>
> The keyboard keys themselves are fine, and I've tried running a keyboard
> diagnostic program during one of these funny turns, and it reports that
the
> keys all
> work normally, INCLUDING the control keys.
>
> The store I bought it from says it's probably a software issue from
> "something you put on after purchase" - but I have very little installed
on
> the laptop - Office XP and antivirus software and I've scanned for nasties
> and there are no viruses etc. I've reinstalled the operating system twice
> already but still it persists. I googled stuck control key and it seems a
few
> people running IBMs or HPs in recent weeks have had similar problems but
no
> satisfactory solutions have been posted. A techie friend of mine suggested
> it's a hardware problem, but that doesn't explain why IBMs would also be
> affected.
>
> Has anyone else come across this problem of the computer operating system
> deciding spontaneously, intermittently and randomly to somehow
"internally"
> apply a normally-functioning control key? And what is the solution?
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