Q: My new keyboard keeps on typing the same letter. I tried it on another PC, but there, it worked fine. I also tried formatting my PC, but it’s still an issue. How can I fix this? (via Quora)
A: I assume you mean it’s doing something like thisssssssssssssss? I think we can fix that!
Your initial test proved it’s not a physically stuck key: You tested the keyboard on a different PC, and it worked OK.
(BTW, if it had been a physically sticky key, it could have been easily fixed. See this.)
I suspect you have a bad electrical connection; or perhaps a malfunction in the keyboard driver. You can address both issues at once:
Assuming yours is a USB-based keyboard: turn off the PC and unplug all your USB devices. Check all plugs and sockets to make sure they’re clean and unobstructed. Yours is a new keyboard, but there could be manufacturing defects, so check the cords for cracked insulation or exposed wires, etc., especially at the point where the cords experience maximum flexure, where they connect to their terminators. If there’s any physical damage to the cords/connectors, stop and get replacements before you go on.
When you’re ready, plug everything back together in different sockets than before. In other words, if your keyboard used to be in USB socket #1, move it to #2 or #3 or whatever — just not back in #1.
Turn your PC on: It’ll wake up and notice that your plug-in peripherals are in different USB addresses; it’ll spend a moment reconfiguring the USB subsystem (reconfiguring drivers and refreshing settings that may previously have been scrambled). When everything’s back up, test the keyboard again.
I’m betting it’ll work now. But if not, try replacing the software drivers: Visit the keyboard maker’s web site, and check the support pages for drivers that best suit your exact PC/OS/keyboard setup. Install the new drivers, and see what happens.
If the keyboard still stuttttttttttttttters after all that, then I’m stumped. You may need an exorcist!
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This was a new one on me. I recently purchased a new wireless keyboard. After a while, it acted as though one key was continuously pushed. I tried everything–drivers, settings–nothing worked.
Eventually I ran across my old wireless keyboard–I had set it on the desk across the room, then someone had set a book on it. I had neglected to take out the batteries so it was sending keyboard presses to my machine just as the new keyboard was trying to do. Two batteries retrieved and problem solved!
For a while there, you must have been suspecting poltergiest!