Weird keyboard issue

[harm_less]

Over the last few days I've had a strange thing happen to inputs from my laptop's keyboard inputs.

It seems to happen when I've been inputting text on forums (including this one) and in my daily word games. The letters displayed bear no relationship whatsoever to what I've typed. I have discovered though that if I move to an Excel spreadsheet I have open the problem doesn't occur there, and then when I go back to the website I had been experiencing the issue it has corrected itself, as though by inputting spreadsheet text teaches the keyboard to work properly again.

Any suggestions as to what might be happening? I haven't bothered doing a restart as the solution I've discovered is so easy to do compared to closing down completely and then I don't know if this infrequent issue has actually gone away for what may be some hours.

[Wainuitech]

Couple of things to try 1st. From the descriptions its only on web sites, first make sure the location, time and date are correct.

More likely temp files. Clean out all temp internet files, use something like ccleaner but be careful if you install it, make sure you select the customize install, and deny  it wanting to install Avast AV, or any other software.
Note: If the computer hasn't been cleaned for a while, it may take out hundreds of MB's if not GB's of junk.

A more "gentle" approach, which doesn't get all the temp files is --- On Search type in Disk  open Disk cleanup, click OK  -- Bottom left  Clean up System Files -- Select the lot, may take a while, then reboot -- See if problem is still there.

[king1]

with websites you can do a CTRL F5 on any page to force the page to reload completely, unlike the reload button on the browser that only reloads content that has changed...

It would be cool to see an example of the output and what was input, quite likely there will be a relationship or pattern to it...

[harm_less]

Couple of things to try 1st. From the descriptions its only on web sites, first make sure the location, time and date are correct.

More likely temp files. Clean out all temp internet files, use something like ccleaner but be careful if you install it, make sure you select the customize install, and deny  it wanting to install Avast AV, or any other software.
Note: If the computer hasn't been cleaned for a while, it may take out hundreds of MB's if not GB's of junk.

A more "gentle" approach, which doesn't get all the temp files is --- On Search type in Disk  open Disk cleanup, click OK  -- Bottom left  Clean up System Files -- Select the lot, may take a while, then reboot -- See if problem is still there.

I've got CCleaner onboard but a while since I've used it to do a purge. 4.5GB of junk now gone so will be interesting to see if the problem reoccurs. If so I'll see if I can get a screen shot of the gibberish it generates, and what I've typed to get that.

Thanks for your help. Hopefully it will solve the problem.

[harm_less]

with websites you can do a CTRL F5 on any page to force the page to reload completely, unlike the reload button on the browser that only reloads content that has changed...

It would be cool to see an example of the output and what was input, quite likely there will be a relationship or pattern to it...

Rw torr yrooptttd rdrttd Oytr tr rt puroowp wa oyp dtffpetry to rrerprd



So it's happening again. This is an example of the gibberish it causes. 



There you go before and after 'curing' it by inputting into an Excel cell. (Note Shift key still gives capitalisation but full stops became 'd's.)

Also the issue came up while doing a word game and for whatever reason just started between one line and the next when inputting guesses, and it then kept happening above.

[king1]

well that is weird, only thing I notice is that with the exception of a solitary 'a' the output all seems to be characters from the top row of the keyboard...

Hardware faults tend to be permanent and not fixable by methods such as pasting into excel - would be interesting to see if pasting into Notepad has the same effect, ie is it the paste action or the Excel program...

Check the keyboard language in use, should be English US or English NZ or similar (under language/regional settings somewhere)
see if it happens with an external USB keyboard
Run the Keyboard Troubleshooter (start typing 'keyboard' in start menu)
reinstall the keyboard driver in device manager (maybe have a USB keyboard on hand just in case)

HTH

[Wainuitech]

One way to find out if its software or Hardware.

BUT 1st do you have Windows 11 Home or Pro ?

[harm_less]

One way to find out if its software or Hardware.

BUT 1st do you have Windows 11 Home or Pro ?

Windows 10 Version 22H2

---

well that is weird, only thing I notice is that with the exception of a solitary 'a' the output all seems to be characters from the top row of the keyboard...

Hardware faults tend to be permanent and not fixable by methods such as pasting into excel - would be interesting to see if pasting into Notepad has the same effect, ie is it the paste action or the Excel program...

Check the keyboard language in use, should be English US or English NZ or similar (under language/regional settings somewhere)
see if it happens with an external USB keyboard
Run the Keyboard Troubleshooter (start typing 'keyboard' in start menu)
reinstall the keyboard driver in device manager (maybe have a USB keyboard on hand just in case)

HTH

Thanks, I'll check those suggestions out next time it happens. Keyboard setting English (New Zealand) US keyboard.

Just to clarify I'm not pasting into Excel, just inputting text directly into an Excel page I have open works fine and when I go back to the site where the issue was occurring the problem has corrected itself.

[Wainuitech]

[quote="Wainuitech" pid="48886" dateline="1697430479"]
One way to find out if its software or Hardware.

BUT 1st do you have Windows 11 Home or Pro ?

Windows 10 Version 22H2

---

OK but still didn't say Home or Professional. Theres a reason for asking

[king1]

maybe also try a different browser for awhile eg edge or chrome - just in case it is a browser problem...

[harm_less]

One way to find out if its software or Hardware.

BUT 1st do you have Windows 11 Home or Pro ?

Windows 10 Version 22H2

---

OK but still didn't say Home or Professional. Theres a reason for asking

I assume Home. How to ascertain?

[king1]

right click the start menu -> system

under windows specifications or similar , if it just says windows 10 without the PRO it is probably home

[harm_less]

right click the start menu -> system

under windows specifications or similar , if it just says windows 10 without the PRO it is probably home

Windows 10 Pro

I also just had the issue crop up again in a word game. Transferred the URL over to Edge and problem wasn't present, and also had cured the problem when I went back to the page in Firefox. (Same result as inputting into Excel).

[king1]

right click the start menu -> system

under windows specifications or similar , if it just says windows 10 without the PRO it is probably home

Windows 10 Pro

I also just had the issue crop up again in a word game. Transferred the URL over to Edge and problem wasn't present, and also had cured the problem when I went back to the page in Firefox. (Same result as inputting into Excel).

try Firefox in safe mode for awhile
settings -> help
troubleshooting mode

If its ok then it would suggest an extension causing the problem...

[king1]

also a reference here
https://support.mozilla.org/mk/questions/1216256

To Zonealarm keylogger? anything like that running in your security/extensions

[Mzee]

I had this happen in a Dell laptop. Turned out to be set to the wrong keyboard, can't remember which one. Set it to US Keyboard and it was back to normal. The effect that the spread sheet has on it is very strange!

[Wainuitech]

Going back to #7, the reason for asking if you had Pro or Home was, if pro you can open Windows Sandbox  and see if the same thing happens in that ( its a clean version of Windows) . You can install FF if that's what you are using. Sandbox is a temp OS, (VM) that can be used for testing purposes. If it doesn't play up in sandbox, while not 100% accurate, but its more than likely the browser you are using (as described by only plays up in FF)

If interested in Sandbox, heres a couple of reasonably good videos on how to operate it  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de7TkgwxzW8  or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRxbBCGQPR0

Its good for testing software without screwing up your actual system. When it closes it wipes out everything you have done in Sandbox. good or bad

In the 1st video they mention its completely separate from the Main PC systems, which is true, but you can create a link to a Another PC / Server etc on your LAN ( or host) and that will work fine.

It can be installed on Windows Home, by running a script.