Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!csc.anu.oz.au!myb100
From: myb100@csc.anu.oz.au
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Hardware problem in Software ??
Message-ID: <1990Dec6.085439.3691@csc.anu.oz.au>
Date: 5 Dec 90 22:54:38 GMT
References: <1990Dec4.183634.3676@csc.anu.oz.au> <539@ssp9.idca.tds.philips.nl>
Organization: Computer Services, Australian National University
Lines: 65


Wow - the power of the net !

> myb100@csc.anu.oz.au (Me/I) writes:

>>Anyway, sometimes on boot-up, my 'm' and 'n' keys don't work. 'Fine' everybody
>>says - 'check your keyboard contacts'. Well, yes, that'd be my reaction too,
>>except for this: There is no way to cheat in software to get the 'n' or 'm' to
>>appear either. I used Snap to pick up a word containing an 'n', and when I
>>put it down, the 'n' was gone !!

peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) writes:
> [Noted he had the same problem, with the 'm' and 'n' keys too - but no fix]
>[Suggests something unusual in the startup-sequence... But I've had this before
>my startup-sequence had been 'modified' ]

From: xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan)
>Oh, its not all that mysterious.  The handling software for the keyboard
>thinks the left amiga key is pressed, and so it is interpreting the m and
>n keys as screen flip commands, which, with only one screen, are no-ops.

From: jap@convex.cl.msu.edu (Joe Porkka)
>	very intereting. Perhaps Intuition is confused and trapping
>	n and m because of An and Am screen flipping?

Nice suggestion - but no go. The example I gave was with VLT running on its
custom screen, WB up as usual. The 'm' and 'n' didn't work on either screen.
Amiga-M/N didn't give me screen flipping either - I could do it with the
DMouse LMB/RMB click trick though. Then again perhaps there's another
key involved, along with the left-amiga key... which blocks screen-flips ?

From: dolf@idca.tds.PHILIPS.nl (Dolf Grunbauer)
>I have (had :-) the same problem on my Amiga 500. What I read in some books
>is that during system start up the keyboard is tested and all keys are checked.
>What happened is that during booting I sometimes started typing probably too
>early (i.e. during the keyboard test) and all keys pressed down at that moment
>I could not use when the system was running. I now wait until my system has
>completely started before touching the keyboard and I have never had this
>problem again.

Hmm - I hadn't heard of that one. Well, I certainly don't touch the keyboard
until the system is ready - so it's not me typing too early. But perhaps
something is gratuitously sending 'm' and 'n' events during the startup...?
Perhaps a wobble-contact under the 'm/n' keys. At what stage is the keyboard 
tested, when the caps-lock light comes on, I imagine ? I'll keep an eye out
for that one. (Note that Peter Kittel had exactly the same problem with the
same keys)

BTW, I've had suggestions that I should take my S.Seq. apart to see if it is
one of the programs there. Somehow I have my doubts that this would be the
cause, because this problem only occurs *once* in every ~100 reboots ! (I'm
not that keen to reboot that many times in a short period of time....:-) ) and
this also happened on my A1000, which had only a normal SS, compared to
'thing' I've now got.

Anyway - Thanks for all these suggestions, both posted and E-mailed. It 
doesn't look like we've found the cause yet - although perhaps Dolf's
suggestion is on the right track...

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