[Must-fix] Keyboard occasionally endlessly repeating keys

[Must-fix] Keyboard occasionally endlessly repeating keys

[Jörn Engel]

Hi!

After having upgraded my notebook to 2.5.72, I noticed a rare problem,
that occurs about twice a day, maybe more.  After pressing a key, it
gets repeated endlessly until the next key is pressed.  When typing
fast, it is quite possible to cover up a couple of these, as the
repeats appear to happen at the set keyboard rates.  Problem never
occured with any 2.4 kernel.

I remember having read about this problem on the list before, but
didn't search my archive yet.  Also, I consider this to be a show
stopper, as the bug is already nasty when hitting 'q' inside mutt once
and might have worse effects with other programs.  YMMV.

Jörn

-- 
Rules of Optimization:
Rule 1: Don't do it.
Rule 2 (for experts only): Don't do it yet.
-- M.A. Jackson 

Re: [Must-fix] Keyboard occasionally endlessly repeating keys

[Vojtech Pavlik]

On Fri, Jun 20, 2003 at 10:24:44PM +0200, Jörn Engel wrote:

> After having upgraded my notebook to 2.5.72, I noticed a rare problem,
> that occurs about twice a day, maybe more.  After pressing a key, it
> gets repeated endlessly until the next key is pressed.  When typing
> fast, it is quite possible to cover up a couple of these, as the
> repeats appear to happen at the set keyboard rates.  Problem never
> occured with any 2.4 kernel.
> 
> I remember having read about this problem on the list before, but
> didn't search my archive yet.  Also, I consider this to be a show
> stopper, as the bug is already nasty when hitting 'q' inside mutt once
> and might have worse effects with other programs.  YMMV.

Yes, I know about the problem. I wasn't able to pin it down yet, though.
It looks like the keyboard might just 'forget' to send a key release.
This is not a problem on 2.4, since 2.4 uses the keyboard hardware
autorepeat. 2.5 does autorepeat in software and if the keyboard doesn't
send the release, well ...

But it might be a software problem, too. If you want to help, you can
run with I8042_DEBUG_IO enabled all the time and send me the log from
around the point in time when it happened.

-- 
Vojtech Pavlik
SuSE Labs, SuSE CR

Re: [Must-fix] Keyboard occasionally endlessly repeating keys

[john stultz]

On Fri, 2003-06-20 at 13:24, Jörn Engel wrote:
> After having upgraded my notebook to 2.5.72, I noticed a rare problem,
> that occurs about twice a day, maybe more.  After pressing a key, it
> gets repeated endlessly until the next key is pressed.  When typing
> fast, it is quite possible to cover up a couple of these, as the
> repeats appear to happen at the set keyboard rates.  Problem never
> occured with any 2.4 kernel.


Assuming you're still seeing this, does booting w/ "clock=pit" resolve
the problem? If so could you send me more info about the system? (is
speed step enabled, etc?)

thanks
-john

Re: [Must-fix] Keyboard occasionally endlessly repeating keys

[Jörn Engel]

On Tue, 24 June 2003 15:58:04 -0700, john stultz wrote:
> On Fri, 2003-06-20 at 13:24, Jörn Engel wrote:
> > After having upgraded my notebook to 2.5.72, I noticed a rare problem,
> > that occurs about twice a day, maybe more.  After pressing a key, it
> > gets repeated endlessly until the next key is pressed.  When typing
> > fast, it is quite possible to cover up a couple of these, as the
> > repeats appear to happen at the set keyboard rates.  Problem never
> > occured with any 2.4 kernel.
> 
> Assuming you're still seeing this, does booting w/ "clock=pit" resolve
> the problem? If so could you send me more info about the system? (is
> speed step enabled, etc?)

Problem appears to be from hardware, Vojtech Pavlik helped me a bit to
track it down.  Hardware occasionally doesn't send the key release
signal after a key pressed signel.

System is IBM Thinkpad R30, CPU permanently running on low speed
(700MHz), no speed step (unsupported chipset).

Should I still test w/ clock=pit?

Jörn

-- 
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we
are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
-- Theodore Roosevelt, Kansas City Star, 1918

Re: [Must-fix] Keyboard occasionally endlessly repeating keys

[john stultz]

On Wed, 2003-06-25 at 02:07, Jörn Engel wrote:
> On Tue, 24 June 2003 15:58:04 -0700, john stultz wrote:
> > Assuming you're still seeing this, does booting w/ "clock=pit" resolve
> > the problem? If so could you send me more info about the system? (is
> > speed step enabled, etc?)
> 
> Problem appears to be from hardware, Vojtech Pavlik helped me a bit to
> track it down.  Hardware occasionally doesn't send the key release
> signal after a key pressed signel.
> 
> System is IBM Thinkpad R30, CPU permanently running on low speed
> (700MHz), no speed step (unsupported chipset).
> 
> Should I still test w/ clock=pit?

Not if its resolved for you. I was just seeing a number of time related
keyboard problems on laptops (kbd repeat rates too fast)and wanted to
see if you were affected as well. 

thanks
-john

Re: [Must-fix] Keyboard occasionally endlessly repeating keys

[Jörn Engel]

On Wed, 25 June 2003 10:52:37 -0700, john stultz wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-06-25 at 02:07, Jörn Engel wrote:
> > 
> > Should I still test w/ clock=pit?
> 
> Not if its resolved for you. I was just seeing a number of time related
> keyboard problems on laptops (kbd repeat rates too fast)and wanted to
> see if you were affected as well. 

Not resolved, but understood.  The hardware is broken, no doubt about
it.  2.5 should be able to deal with the broken hardware just as good
as 2.4 was, but Vojtech appears to be working on it.  Until then I
have to live with my problem. :(

Jörn

-- 
When in doubt, use brute force.
-- Ken Thompson