My apologies for raising this again - I just wondered if anyone had any
new ideas (as to the cause; I have a cure, see below).
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd behaviour may manifest itself too, but I cannot be sure enough to describe.)
It's _not_ hardware: (a) it happens on both the laptop's own keyboard
and the external one I use most of the time, and (b) I can't see how it
can be hardware if the cure below cures it.
The cure - thanks to someone here who suggested it - is to
Ctrl-Alt-Delete and select Switch user; since I am the only user, that
comes back within a few seconds, _usually_ leaving all windows open as
they were, even things I'm in the middle of, such as composing an
email/post, though I _usually_ don't rely on that, if only because Thunderbird has a tendency to return in a postage-stamp-sized window if disturbed.
I don't know what causes it! I think the commonest time I'm _aware_ of
it having happened is when I finish an email or post, and do Ctrl-enter (Thunderbird's keyboard shortcut for send) to send it (since my hands
are on the keyboard anyway, that's easier than mousing to the Send
button). Nothing happens - so I use the _right_ Ctrl key (or the mouse),
and the message posts. A second one is where I do a Ctrl-C to copy
something and Ctrl-V to paste; usually I get nothing, sometimes I get a
v instead of the copied text. Again, using the _right_ Ctrl key with C
and V then still works.
Any thoughts? I can live with it (obviously I am doing), but it'd be
good to stop it, or at least know what the cause is!
I don't _think_ it's any of the keyboard-interceptors I have - e. g. clipdiary, AllChars - because of the sudden and apparently random way it happens; I actually very rarely use either of those - certainly I
haven't done so the last few hundred times it has happened. (I _think_
it has still happened when neither is running.)
My apologies for raising this again - I just wondered if anyone had any
new ideas (as to the cause; I have a cure, see below).
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd behaviour may manifest itself too, but I cannot be sure enough to describe.) ....
The cure - thanks to someone here who suggested it - is to
Ctrl-Alt-Delete and select Switch user; since I am the only user, that
On Sat, 7/18/2026 10:38 AM, J. P. Gilliver wrote:[]
My apologies for raising this again - I just wondered if anyone had any
new ideas (as to the cause; I have a cure, see below).
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd
"Every time the Number Seven bus rolls over my foot,
I get this strange pain in my foot."
How many keyboard interceptors does the audience have
(people with working ctrl-L and ctrl-R) ?
And how many keyboard interceptors does John have ?
If you pull your foot back from the curbing and
let the Number Seven bus pass without rolling over
your foot, maybe the key would start working ?
I have *never* had a ctrl-L or ctrl-R failure.
If you happen to have multiple SSDs, maybe you could
do a clean install of an OS on your "scratch SSD", then
go off and test the ctrl key issue ?
Paul
I have *never* had a ctrl-L or ctrl-R failure.
Yes, it's a weird one!
My apologies for raising this again - I just wondered if anyone had any
new ideas (as to the cause; I have a cure, see below).
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd behaviour may manifest itself too, but I cannot be sure enough to describe.)
It's _not_ hardware: (a) it happens on both the laptop's own keyboard
and the external one I use most of the time, and (b) I can't see how it
can be hardware if the cure below cures it.
The cure - thanks to someone here who suggested it - is to
Ctrl-Alt-Delete and select Switch user; since I am the only user, that
comes back within a few seconds, _usually_ leaving all windows open as
they were, even things I'm in the middle of, such as composing an
email/post, though I _usually_ don't rely on that, if only because Thunderbird has a tendency to return in a postage-stamp-sized window if disturbed.
I don't know what causes it! I think the commonest time I'm _aware_ of
it having happened is when I finish an email or post, and do Ctrl-enter (Thunderbird's keyboard shortcut for send) to send it (since my hands
are on the keyboard anyway, that's easier than mousing to the Send
button). Nothing happens - so I use the _right_ Ctrl key (or the mouse),
and the message posts. A second one is where I do a Ctrl-C to copy
something and Ctrl-V to paste; usually I get nothing, sometimes I get a
v instead of the copied text. Again, using the _right_ Ctrl key with C
and V then still works.
Any thoughts? I can live with it (obviously I am doing), but it'd be
good to stop it, or at least know what the cause is!
I don't _think_ it's any of the keyboard-interceptors I have - e. g. clipdiary, AllChars - because of the sudden and apparently random way it happens; I actually very rarely use either of those - certainly I
haven't done so the last few hundred times it has happened. (I _think_
it has still happened when neither is running.)
On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 15:38:20 +0100, J. P. Gilliver wrote:[]
My apologies for raising this again - I just wondered if anyone had any
new ideas (as to the cause; I have a cure, see below).
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd
Considering that, two separate physical keyboards are all affected, it's got to be a problem caused by software.
You already checked all of your softwares which you think may have affect keyboards, but those are just softwares which you personally know.
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd >behaviour may manifest itself too, but I cannot be sure enough to describe.)
In article <113g34s$3j5bp$6@dont-email.me>, G6JPG@255soft.uk says...
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd
behaviour may manifest itself too, but I cannot be sure enough to describe.) >>
A couple of easy things I'd suggest for odd, possibly driver-related
issues:
First run a DISM scan of the component store, and if ok, then run SFC.==========
I'll post the code of a script I use myself to do this at the end of
this post. Once the DISM command has finished, if it says "the
component store is repairable" you need to repeate the command,
substituting /ScanHealth with /RestoreHealth, which takes longer, and appears to hang (it doesn't) at about 63%. The SFC scan checks the
system files of the running system against the (now verified) component store copies and fixes errors.
Then go into Device manager; right-click each item shown under
"Keyboard" and pick "uninstall device". The either reboot, or (still in
Device Manager) pick Action > Scan for hardware changes.
Windows will re-install the devices using the same drivers.
About ten minutes on all but the slowest systems, and low-risk. Good
luck.
Here's the script (starts with "@echo off"): Save as a text file, then change the .txt extension to .cmd and run-as-administrator (it'll scold
you if you don't). The two command windows change background colour
when finished. Check the output of both.
#####################
@echo off
echo Administrative permissions required.
echo Detecting permissions...
net session >nul 2>&1
if %errorLevel% == 0 (
echo Success: Administrative permissions confirmed.
) else (
color 4F
echo.
echo ### Failure: Current permissions inadequate:
echo ### Right-click the file and pick 'Run as administrator'
echo ### Exiting...
echo.
pause
exit
)
REM ### NEXT LINE MUST BE SINGLE LINE ###
title "DISM" & dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth & color 1F &
title "DISM-DONE" & start "SFC" cmd /K "sfc /scannow & color 5F & title SFC-DONE"
echo.
echo "Check status messages. Ready to exit"
pause
exit
On 2026/7/19 15:56:35, Philip Herlihy wrote:
In article <113g34s$3j5bp$6@dont-email.me>, G6JPG@255soft.uk says...==========
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd >>> behaviour may manifest itself too, but I cannot be sure enough to describe.)
A couple of easy things I'd suggest for odd, possibly driver-related
issues:
First run a DISM scan of the component store, and if ok, then run SFC.==========
I'll post the code of a script I use myself to do this at the end of
this post. Once the DISM command has finished, if it says "the
component store is repairable" you need to repeate the command,
substituting /ScanHealth with /RestoreHealth, which takes longer, and
appears to hang (it doesn't) at about 63%. The SFC scan checks the
system files of the running system against the (now verified) component
store copies and fixes errors.
I take it the batch file below does what's between the ========== lines?
Running Herlihy.cmd (as administrator) now, anyway. I have one window -
white text on black, titled Administrator "DISM" - running at the
moment; it's nearly 75% done at the first progress bar. (Now nearly 80.)
I take it that the line(s) that MUST BE SINGLE LINE are the ones
starting title. (Now past 90%.)
It got to 100.0%, and said
===
No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.
'SFC-DONE"' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
"Check status messages. Ready to exit"
Press any key to continue . . .
===
and turned blue. (Oh, I see, the SFC-DONE was supposed to be part of
that line too. [Should it have had an open quote character?]) A >white-on-black window titled "SFC sfc /scannow" has appeared, and says
it's 66% complete. Now 80. 95. 100. Now changed to white-on-purple, and >showing
===
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully
repaired them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at >windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For
offline
In article <113j8ck$jcit$1@dont-email.me>, G6JPG@255soft.uk says...
I was puzzled by the error message you got about "SFC-DONE" but I think
On 2026/7/19 15:56:35, Philip Herlihy wrote:
In article <113g34s$3j5bp$6@dont-email.me>, G6JPG@255soft.uk says...
My keyboard system sometimes throws a minor wobbly - the most obvious
symptom being that the _left_ control key stops working. (Some other odd []
you may have not quite got everything on one line!
REM ### NEXT LINE MUST BE SINGLE LINE ###
title "DISM" & dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth & color 1F &
title "DISM-DONE" & start "SFC" cmd /K "sfc /scannow & color 5F & title SFC-DONE"
All that stuff needs to be on one line, with a space where your
newsreader puts a newline. If you're not familiar with it, the '&' character directs the command interpreter to run commands consecutively,
title "SFC-DONE" - which simply changes the title of the command window
to the text specified. It's a way of keeping an eye on processes which
can be quite lengthy on slow machines, tempting you to minimise the
window. That title shows up on the taskbar icon.
conclusion. SFC fixed things (I never bother to drill down and see
what) and there's a chance it'll have fixed your keyboard issue - I find
it quite often fixes "odd behaviour". It's a useful maintenance run
that I tend to use once a month on my machines, and it's suprising how
often SFC does find things to fix.
You now know that your component store is up to date with no integrity violations (for now) so since SFC did find issues, it's a precaution to
run it again, though I seldom see anything other than a clean bill of
health the second time. If you want to be sure, just open an elevated terminal window and run:
SFC /scannow
If you want the visual cues to completion, you could make that:
SFC /scannow & title "DONE" & color 5F
Now and then a run of the line below won't do any harm either:
chkdsk C: /scan
That can run while you carry on working. If it finds any problems, run: chkdsk C: /spotfix
... which will ask you to reboot, then very quickly fix the errors that
the /scan found. If you're going to run this as well as my script (once you've corrected that stray newline!) run the chkdsk first.
HTH
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