Typing problem

I'm currious, is anyone using a keyboard hot key program? I'm running Keyboard Maestro.

-Bmer
G5 Owners Support Group
Join Us @ G5support.com

There are a couple of threads on macnn related to this:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167783

and

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=163956

As you can see, PowerBooks and eMacs are having the same issue, with multiple OS revisions.

My Mum, in the UK, has this problem with her new eMac on 10.3.4. For her it seems mostly to be those keys on the left side of the keyboard.

She has very few third-party applications installed and zero customization. Word vX and a few card & mahjonng games is about it.

Unfortunatly, I believe this isn't a font issue after all. The problem is slightly erratic and comes and goes. The problem is most noticeable when I am typing fast, which may explain the erratic experience and allso may explain why some users never or seldom experience it.

I don't think it is anything physically wrong with the keyboard as such, since the problem exists also on my blluetooth keyboard and a broad range of different machines. I believe it is either driver related or related to firmware, input timing or something like that. I still dont get it. How can one fast key press be interpreted as two?

It never happens when I type on PCs. This is an isolated Macintosh problem. I first experienced the bug when upgrading to 10.2 if I recall correctly. The problem is so severe that it effectively prevents me from doing my work. I spend a huge amount of time correcting the errors and any creative thought process is disturbed and destroyed completely. It brings me to the edge of despair.

The issue should be brought to Apples attention. It affects quite a lot of people as the numerous discussions on different mac forums show. The severity of the problem is huge, as those of you who have experienced it certainly can witness.

Still hope wwe can solve this one. Btw: I only have the clean 10.3.5 and office 2004 installled. The problem existed even after a clean install on a pristine user account without any additional software.

Sophus

I never had this problem on my eMac. When I got the G5, I just cloned my system over with Carbon Copy Cloner. I figured the problem was the keyboard, so I tried another brand new one. Same problem. Some keys I have to hit twice to get to work. a, x, z and w are notorious.

BTW...my Tactile Pro keyboard just arrived. I will play with it and post back tomorrow. Stay tuned!

-Bmer
G5 Owners Support Group
Join Us @ G5support.com

Hi all,
I don't know how useful this can be but I found an article about making the keyboard respond more slowly.
At least it's something different than the usual Keyboard & Mouse system pref and it could be worth reading.
Hope this helps :-))
Hartz

I experimentedd with the settings mentioned in the Universal Access preference. It does seem to be a work around to a degree. You can see that there is at least one occcureence of repeats in this post. I have had far fewer key repeats in Word than in mail and in this forum. I have been updating Apple on this issue for several weeks and they have assigned a case number. However, I am not sure they are all that "tuned in" to the problem. The support tech that talked with me claimed to have heard or read nothing on the matter.

Well, fixing my duplicate fonts seemed to help a bit, but it didn't completely fix the duplicate letter problem, since I'm still getting them once in a while, mostly when I'm typing fast (I'm not a really fast typist, but sometimes I get on a roll and do ok). At least it's more manageable now, but I'd still like it to be fixed completely. It'd be interesting to see if a non-Apple keyboard makes a difference.

One guy at MacNN forums can confirm that the problem is present allsso in console mode (no GUI), where no fonts other than the system font is loaded.

But boooted upp in console mode, I guess the keyboard driver is loaded, right?

Since the problem shows on all sorts of Macs and with both notebook keyboards, Applle bluetooth keyboardss and the USB Apple Pro keyboard, I figure that the driver is all they have in common. I don't believe that there kan be something physically wrong with all these different keyboards.

I believe the keyboard driver is a kernel driver, or kernel extension, namely the driver "AppleADBKeyboard, version 2.3.7f3", which shows up as loaded and active. Does any of you guys reading this have any knowledge about how a keyboard driver works? Could it bbe possible that there is something wrong in the timing and sensing/interpreting of keystrokes?

If you have any clues, please let me know.

Thanks!

Well, the one thing that could make a difference would be installing the shareware program "USB Overdrive". It's mainly intended for mice and joysticks, but since the typical keyboard is USB maybe it would affect that too. It can be run in nag-ware mode for free if you just want to try it, and it includes an uninstaller. Most people that use it really like it.

Well, I gave up and callled Apple support today. The tech guy was hellpfull and polite and walked through all the steps I had already tried; playing with key repeate, Universal access, boooting in to OF, Boooting in to console mode and a bunch other stuff. The problem did not show up in OF, but was present in all other situations.

Of course the tech guy had no solution. I was the passsed onn to a senior teech guy. He did not have anything to add. He called me back later and askked if I stilll experienced the problemm. I was at work then where I use a nootebook PC. Of course I had no problem with that 😉

He promised to call later after having checked out somee more info.

This bug puzzles me. I just can't find any logic pattern to it nor a plausibe explanation. As some of you have noted, the problleem seeems to be very sporadic. Sometimes it is barely noticablle, and then, thhe next 30 minutes alll **** breaks loose and four out of five wwords contain double letters. (As you can seee it is quite bbad just now).

BTW. I donn't have a G5, but I joined this discussion since the isssue is not confined to G5s as you alll know by now. It is very good to know that it's not just me, which I believed for a lonng time.

If I get any news worthh reporting, I'll let you know.

(Again, sorry about the typos, but I just can't bring myself to fix it without getting a nervous breakdown)

Anyone have any good news to report? The Tactile Pro keyboard I bought done the same thing. 😟 I went and wiped one of my drives and installed a fresh OS. I could not get it to act up! 😉 Has to be software related in my case. Anyone using Spell Catcher?

-Bmer
G5 Owners Support Group
Join Us @ G5support.com

Good news? Unfortunately not.
As mentioned, I have been in touch with Apple and the tech guy made me do a lot of tests. So far I have not experienced the problem in Open Firmware but that's it. I have the problem in single user mode and of course in OSX Aqua. I sent the report gathered by the Apple tech app to Apple. Have not heard from them since. I guess that it is easy for Apple service techs to write off the problem as user errror, although I had the feeling that they took my complaint seriously. I have noot heard from them since tuesday or wednesday last week. If I don't hear from them during this week, I will call them again.

What I find strange about this problem is that it seems erratic. Sometimes it is really bad, but the next day I hardly notice iit. What gives??

Anyway, I will report back as soon as I hear something/find a solution.
I trust you all will do the same.

BTW, I don't use spell catcher.

I too am having the same problem. It is erratic but is a real pain when trying to compose a quick note or a long thought process that gets completely interrupted. now I just type and go back over things to correct them.

Will post back if I find a solution but just wanted to show that the problem is widespread.

I just got my machine back from a week in the shop to replace the logic board. I was having GUI freezes related to sleep and USB control issues. While working with Apple and the repair tech at my authorized service center, I pointed out that the typing problem persisted even though the GUI freezes seem to be corrected. Apple has "bundled" my typing problem into the larger case involving the USB issues and freezes. I hope this message is coherent - I've been correcting repeating characters as I go and I lose my train of thought. Anyway - Apple is going to start with replacing the keyboard. I'll post updates as things develop. I am going to stay on top of this until it is resolved completely.

Andy H