Some keys sometimes not working. Is it only a hardware issue?
by dilbert_uk from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5AH4G)
On an Acer laptop running Debian 10.4, occasionally a few keys stop working. It is a few keys stopping to work for weeks, others for days or hours, or only for a few minutes.
The laptop is five years old and I tried to clean the keys underneath with an air duster but this doesn't help. It could be a mechanical problem in conjunction with corrosion, I assume. No key so far stopped working for ever.
The only thing, I don't understand is this:
Often, only capital letters don't work. That means, shift + r doesn't work ten times in a row, but r as minor letter works, all the time.
What also works, is caps lock + r, all the time, producing a capital R.
Why does work, the r key only, caps lock + r, too, but shift + r not? The shift key itself is working with all others key, instead. All the time.
Can someone explain please, why this should not be a software issue? I have no idea of what piece of software could be responsible for that, but it sounds rather strange to me.
All this behaviour seems to be independent form any application and I am using the command line program xev to test the keystrokes.
The laptop is five years old and I tried to clean the keys underneath with an air duster but this doesn't help. It could be a mechanical problem in conjunction with corrosion, I assume. No key so far stopped working for ever.
The only thing, I don't understand is this:
Often, only capital letters don't work. That means, shift + r doesn't work ten times in a row, but r as minor letter works, all the time.
What also works, is caps lock + r, all the time, producing a capital R.
Why does work, the r key only, caps lock + r, too, but shift + r not? The shift key itself is working with all others key, instead. All the time.
Can someone explain please, why this should not be a software issue? I have no idea of what piece of software could be responsible for that, but it sounds rather strange to me.
All this behaviour seems to be independent form any application and I am using the command line program xev to test the keystrokes.