BUG?: Remote Desktop Keyboard Mapping Error

[Mason Guy]

As best I can figure it, it appears that a recent update
has messed up Remote Desktop. I've had it working
successfully for a while and only have experienced issues
in the last couple of days after updating.

The problem is hard to describe, but has to do with a
Shift Key being tied to the Arrow Keys. NumLock also has
some influence. Also dos windows seem unaffected and the
remote computer that I'm connecting to is also fine.
Connections are on a local lan so theres not a proxy or
vpn translation in between.

A tour of the problem.
1)Remotely Connect (Numlock is on)
2)Open Notepad
3)Type some characters
4)Pressing the left arrow key highlights what was just
typed one char per press (just as if the shift key was
being held down even though its not).
5)Pressing the shift key has no effect. Shift key works
fine for capital letters, etc. No other keys seem
impacted.
6)Press NumLock to turn it off
7)Pressing the arrow keys now moves the cursor as expected
8)Pressing the Shift key to highlight things does not
work.
9) Pressing NumLock again returns to the previous
behavior.
10) Minimizing Remote Desktop, all is ok and works
normally as expected.
11)Taking control away from a remote user (i.e. logging
into the remote compute "locally". Everything is fine.

Nothing seems to fix this. Reboot, reinstall keyboard
driver, etc., on both local and remote systems.

Again, this behavor seems to have appeared sometime in
the last week.

Any ideas? This is the strangest one I've ever seen...

Mason

 

[Mason Guy]

I've root caused the behavior. It is related to an ATI
Radeon update of their control panel app.

A system restore to a few months ago shows no signs of
the previously mentioned problem. Installing Catalyst
3.2 drivers and apps works ok.

Installing Catalyst 3.4 drivers works ok. However,
installing the ATI control panel BREAKS RDT as previously
stated! (control-panel-7-88-030430m-008946c-efg.exe is
the culpret)

Re-installing the 3.2 control panel caused the problem to
go away. Re-installing the 3.4 caused the problem to
reappear.

Going directly from 3.2 to the 3.5 control panel also
breaks Remote Desktop (the 3.5 wdm/radeon drivers are ok -
just the control panel causes the problem).

Same goes for directly going from control panel 3.2 to
3.6.

Note, its not the drivers (radeon or wdm) or the media
apps that is causing the problem. Only the control panel
from Catalyst 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6.

I've filled a trouble ticket with ATI.

Mason

 

[Brian Vernaci]

I'm having the same exact problem. It just started happening in the
past couple of days after an update.

 

[Todd Lewis]

Mason,

I know that you've already determined the root cause of this problem, but I
do have one little ray of hope for those people who are experiencing this
problem, and who are unwilling or unable to roll back the ATI drivers: with
the NumLock key turned off, you are correct that using shift+arrow keys does
not highlight characters in a document, as you would expect. However, with
the NumLock key turned off, the keypad arrows are now active, and using
shift + num_pad arrows does work.

Small workaround until ATI fixes their control panel applet. Thanks again
for your posts regarding this problem.

 

[Guest]

Just to further verify this, I have this problem with Radeon 7500 and
Catalyst 3.6 drivers.

Hmm, I was thinking about upgrading to a Ti-4400 anyway...

 

[Guest]

One other thought - you may not need the Control Panel applet at all.
I thought I did because on of my monitors reports DCC info incorrectly
and I need the Control Panel to override that info, but I found that
once I had overridden it I could remove the CP applet and everything
still works fine. (And now I can type over RDC without swearing!)