Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!hao.hao.ucar.edu!murphy
From: murphy@hao.hao.ucar.edu (Graham Murphy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Help!  More Keyboard Madness!!  Viral witch hunt time?
Message-ID: <9348@ncar.ucar.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 90 07:24:50 GMT
References: <27156.275546dd@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <4996@bwdls58.UUCP>
Sender: news@ncar.ucar.edu
Organization: High Altitude Observatory/NCAR, Boulder CO
Lines: 45

In article <4996@bwdls58.UUCP> wheeler@bwdls58.UUCP (Cheryl Wheeler) writes:
>In article <27156.275546dd@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>, mlab2@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
>> Get this...
>> 
>> Suddenly, the Mac thinks the Shift key is down.  KeyCaps will confirm this. 
>> But IT'S NOT DOWN.
>> 
>> Suddenly, the Mac thinks the Option key is down.  It's not, but KeyCaps agrees.
>
>Sounds like you have Easy Access installed without realizing it. When you

Alternatively, if you _don't_ have Easy Access installed, you might
have the same problem with static electricity that I have.
The Colorado climate with 30% humidity causes chaos with my
keyboard---particularly at this time of the year. It's driving
me sufficiently crazy that I'm buying an anti-static mat in the hope
of reducing the problem.

Symptoms: after moving my feet on the carpet too much, or returning to
the desk, or playing with my dog, I suddenly find one or more of 
the modifier keys appear down, i.e. caps-lock, shift, control, option.
(It's really fun to get close to the keyboard and watch the
caps lock come on without touching the keyboard :-(
This effect can occur when I'm as far away as 30cm (12in) from the
keyboard.

Cures: nothing obvious. I wrote a routine that sits in the background
and detects the condition. When it finds it, the ADB is clobbered with
an ADBreinit, which generally clears the problem. However the option
key is often stickier. This requires one of those nasty solutions
you should never use: disconnecting and reconnecting the keyboard---forcing
a power-up reset of the ADB. This occasionally can (a) crash the machine 
or (b) and more common, freeze the mouse. Usually the frozen mouse is
cleared with the routine mentioned before, so I'm not forced to
continually reboot the machine.

Does this sound familiar? For your sake, I hope not :-)

Graham Murphy


High Altitude Observatory
National Center for Atmospheric Research
P.O. Box 3000, Boulder CO 80307-3000. Ph:(303)497-1565; Fax:(303)497-1137.
INTERNET: murphy@hao.UCAR.EDU; Solar PO: GMurphy@SOLAR