{"id":876,"date":"2018-11-01T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=876"},"modified":"2018-10-29T13:17:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T17:17:42","slug":"a-reader-asks-my-new-keyboard-keeps-on-typing-the-same-letter-how-can-i-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/01\/a-reader-asks-my-new-keyboard-keeps-on-typing-the-same-letter-how-can-i-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: My new keyboard keeps on typing the same letter. How can I fix it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s still an issue. How can I fix this?<\/strong> (via Quora)<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

A: I assume you mean it\u2019s doing something like thisssssssssssssss? I think we can fix that! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Your initial test proved it\u2019s not a physically<\/em> stuck key: You tested the keyboard on a different PC, and it worked OK.<\/p>\n

(BTW, if it had been a physically sticky key, it could have been easily fixed. See this<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I suspect you have a bad electrical connection; or perhaps a malfunction in the keyboard driver. You can address both issues at once:<\/p>\n

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\u2019s any physical damage to the cords\/connectors, stop and get replacements before you go on.<\/p>\n

When you’re ready, plug everything back together in different sockets<\/em><\/span><\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

Turn your PC on: It\u2019ll wake up and notice that your plug-in peripherals are in different USB addresses; it\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

I’m betting it’ll work now. But if not, try replacing the software drivers: Visit the keyboard maker\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

If the keyboard still stuttttttttttttttters after all that, then I\u2019m stumped. You may need an exorcist!<\/p>\n

Permalink: https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-e8<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

\n

Want free notification of new content like this? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to ask Fred a question? Here’s how<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reply to this item via the Comment box below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s still an issue. How can I fix this? (via Quora) A: I assume you mean it\u2019s doing something like thisssssssssssssss? I think we can fix that! …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-science-and-tech","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-e8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1624,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/10\/a-reader-asks-some-of-the-keys-of-my-laptop-wont-trigger-is-my-keyboard-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":876,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: “Some of the keys of my laptop won\u2019t trigger. Is my keyboard broken?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-10","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, by definition: It\u2019s not working, so it\u2019s broken! :) I think you\u2019re really asking if it can be repaired. If you can remove the keyboard, it\u2019s quite possible that you can indeed correct what\u2019s wrong. You\u2019ll have to poke around your laptop, carefully removing fasteners, to see how it\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc"","block_context":{"text":"Misc","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/misc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":431,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/20\/a-reader-asks-i-spilled-yogurt-on-my-keyboard-now-some-keys-are-stuck-how-do-i-fix-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":876,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: I spilled yogurt on my keyboard. Now some keys are stuck. How do I fix it?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-09-20","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: I spilled yogurt on my keyboard. Now some keys are stuck. How do I fix it? (via Quora) A: Wash it! Yes, you can wash almost any electronic device, provided the device is unpowered and you only use distilled water, which is almost totally nonconductive. There's no guarantee it'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2100,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/21\/a-readers-asks-why-is-there-not-a-key-on-the-keyboard-for-the-cent-sign-nor-for-the-degree-sign-for-temperature\/","url_meta":{"origin":876,"position":2},"title":"A readers asks: “Why is there not a key on the keyboard for the cent sign nor for the degree sign for temperature?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Keyboards are ultimately a trade-off between the number of letters and numbers in common use in the language being supported, and the size of human hands and fingertips. Ideally, you want the most-commonly used letters, numbers, and symbols to be immediately visible and accessible; but not have so many keys\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1523,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/02\/a-reader-asks-pressing-a-key-or-clicking-a-mouse-button-sends-what-type-of-signal-to-the-cpu\/","url_meta":{"origin":876,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “Pressing a key or clicking a mouse button sends what type of signal to the CPU?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-02","format":false,"excerpt":"In the most conceptual sense, a click or keypress briefly completes an electrical circuit. The part of the computer that handles the keyboard sees this as a zero value changing to a one; the computer then initiates whatever sequence of events it's been programmed to follow to interpret the keypress,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc"","block_context":{"text":"Misc","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/misc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2422,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/20\/a-reader-asks-my-laptop-isnt-working-how-can-i-recover-my-data-from-the-hard-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":876,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “My laptop isn’t working. How can I recover my data from the hard drive?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-20","format":false,"excerpt":"If the actual laptop is broken --- destroyed screen, liquid on the keyboard, or some such --- there's a good chance the drive itself is OK. If that's the case, you can physically salvage the drive and use another PC to recover the drive's data. First, unplug the laptop and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ide-to-usb.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ide-to-usb.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ide-to-usb.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":427,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/19\/a-reader-asks-how-many-keyboard-keys-are-being-pressed-at-the-same-time-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":876,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: How many keyboard keys are being pressed at the same time, in the world?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-09-19","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: How many keyboard keys are pressed at the same second in the world?\u00a0 (via Quora) A: A very rough guess: humans currently generate 416 million keystrokes per second. Here\u2019s the (admittedly shaky) logic --- feel free to adjust up or down as you wish: Assuming you mean physical keyboards\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}