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Stuck Shift, Ctrl and Alt Keys - Type Cover Keyboard

kozak79

Active Member
Hey, I have a Surface Pro 2 256GB with Type Cover Keyboard and when I'm using some applications, mainly Photoshop CS6, randomly, Shift, Ctrl or Alt will get stuck on. To reset it I have to just press them a bunch of times. It's not mechanical, as the keys mechanically don't get stuck, seems to be a software/driver thing.

Anyone experience this? I searched google and it appears to be a problem going back to the original Surface Pro when using the Type Cover with a Mouse (Bluetooth or wired). I've not found a solution when searching, has anyone been able to solve this?
 

jrapdx

Member
Hey, I have a Surface Pro 2 256GB with Type Cover Keyboard and when I'm using some applications, mainly Photoshop CS6, randomly, Shift, Ctrl or Alt will get stuck on. To reset it I have to just press them a bunch of times. It's not mechanical, as the keys mechanically don't get stuck, seems to be a software/driver thing.

Anyone experience this? I searched google and it appears to be a problem going back to the original Surface Pro when using the Type Cover with a Mouse (Bluetooth or wired). I've not found a solution when searching, has anyone been able to solve this?

My oh my, a sore subject indeed. Just a few minutes ago, typing in a comment on this very forum, all of a sudden the cursor disappears, though I can still enter characters, hard to tell where that will happen. Now I'm not the world's best typist, well, actually I'm lousy at it. But such events don't help my productivity a bit. And it's not rare either.

Of course, it's possible the keyboard could have a mechanical issue. Even if the key moves up/down when pushed doesn't mean the electrical contact is activated, or the contact stops when the key rebounds. That's not very likely, but I have experienced it before with keyboards.

OTOH there have been complaints about keyboard glitches with the SP2, possibly associated with driver/FW bugs. What to do? Sometimes when the keyboard acts funky, putting the SP2 to sleep for a second will help. Switching to another window, or waiting a few seconds for the keyboard to "revive" weirdly works once in a while. You might try a different keyboard to see if the problem lies in the original keyboard or affects any keyboard employed.

But it's been largely a mystery to me. There may be a brilliant idea out there about resolving SP2/keyboard issues, but I've haven't encountered it yet.
 

Ruffles

Active Member
I've had this happen using CS6 as well. It caught me by surprise as I've never had it in other applications. Sorry I don't have a solution. I'm just glad it wasn't my imagination :).
 

habitats

New Member
This happens here as well.

Surface Pro 2, Type Cover 2.

I use a BlueTooth mouse with my surface (Microsoft Sculp). May or may be related.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

habitats

New Member
This is still a major issue and is definitely not related to either Adobe CS6 or my Sculp mouse. It happens regardless.

No one else experiencing this?
 

Dayton

Member
Alt key sticks on my Type Cover 2, notice this when a double-click doesn't result in an open but instead properties display.
 

drolem

Active Member
I don't remember those modifier keys getting stuck, but I've seen regular keys getting stuck, and <Enter> not working until a restart. (detach/attach wouldn't fix it) So I strongly suspect that it's a driver issue.
 

GoodBytes

Well-Known Member
I don't use Photoshop or any art software. I recall happening twice to me. Same with the track pad stop working.
The track pad was an easy fix, close the cover (even if you set Windows to not go to sleep when you do this), wait a few seconds, open it up, voila it works. I think it's the accelerometer getting confused. Those with a Wii or PlayStation Move knows this, happens rarely, but happens. Accelerometers aren't reliable. They probably confuses the drivers by reporting wrong information or too fast or something, which make the track pad disable but not the keyboard (driver bug). By closing the keyboard and waiting a few second, it seams to recalibrate the accelerometer, the same way you position the Wiimote on a table for a few seconds on a table, and everything works perfectly after that. That would be my guess.

As for the key pressed, I think it happened on rare occasion after I quit from Civ 5, despite not using the keyboard in the game due to multi-touch control support.
 

chrisleung

Member
This stuck-ctrl/alt/shift issue exists for me on the Surface Pro with Type Cover 1 and Surface Pro 2 with Type Cover 2. Very annoying.
 

Philtastic

Active Member
I used to have this problem but, for some reason, I don't seem to be having it now. Recently, I was noticing it a lot while playing Diablo 3 - my shift key would get stuck and I'd end up punching air instead of moving. I don't remember if there was a recent update that I installed but, for the last couple of days, I haven't had this happen.
 

magoonix

New Member
I'm experiencing the same problem with my weekold system.
Has anyone been in contact with M$ about this, are they looking into this?
 
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