Member Avatar for lewashby

I noticed when I first got my new Toshiba Satellite that there was some strange behavior with it's keyboard. When typing in a text document, the cursor would just jump to a random position in the text document, and no it wasn't be accidentally touching the touch pad. Then one day I went to login to my Windows vista account and noticed that when I typed the numbers for my password it would insert two characters instead of one. I don't know what other characters it would insert of course because they are hidden. This problem is also affecting my Linux Ununtu. When I go to login, I have to use the num-lock pad on the right or else I can't type in the correct characters. And what's worse, even when I press the letter "e" in Ubuntu, it doesn't type "e", but instead tries to take a screen shot. But a capital "E" works just fine. Does anyone know what's going on? I really don't want to wait two months for my computer to be sent off fixed and then returned by Toshiba. Thanks for any and all responses.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Seten

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described symptoms (random cursor jumps, duplicated characters in Vista, Ubuntu showing wrong characters and e triggering a screenshot while E works). correctly raised hardware/BIOS possibilities. The next step is to isolate whether the kernel/firmware is seeing the wrong key events (hardware) or the desktop/driver is remapping them (software).

Run low-level tests under Linux (Live USB if preferred) to capture raw events:

xinput list
xinput test <id>

xev

# kernel-level (replace eventX with the correct device)
sudo evtest /dev/input/eventX

# or, on libinput systems
sudo libinput debug-events

Interpretation: if evtest or libinput shows KEY_PRINT (or another wrong KEY_*) when pressing the physical e, the keyboard matrix is miswired/shorting and is a hardware fault. If xev shows keysym = e but the desktop takes a screenshot, check DE keyboard shortcut settings.

Windows checks that don't require opening the case: use Notepad and the On-Screen Keyboard (osk) to see what actually registers; disable Sticky/Filter Keys in Ease of Access; test typing in the BIOS/UEFI setup screen (if the same problems appear there it points to hardware); uninstall the keyboard in Device Manager and reboot to force driver re-detection.

If kernel-level tools prove incorrect scancodes, prepare for repair: back up important data, record a short video showing the behavior (BIOS, Live USB, Windows login) as evidence, and avoid opening the laptop if it’s under warranty. Temporary workarounds include using an on-screen or external keyboard or remapping offending scancodes in X, but those are stopgaps — wrong scancodes at kernel level mean the keyboard itself needs replacement.

Member Avatar for Seten

It looks like the keyboard has a malfunction. If you are sure that no liquid was spilled on the keyboard I recommend to send it to Toshiba for repair. Try to update the bios with the newest version.
It could be a wrong bios or wrong(bad) keyboard(device).

Questions that should be checked:
Is it always doing it with any OS and in bios? (HW or OS)
Is it doing also with an ordinary keyboard plugged in? (bios interpretation of keys)
Are there any other keys affected?
Is it getting worser? (if yes, then liquid is involved)

Before sending try, to make some evidence like photos of the keyboard, so that Toshiba couldn't say that it was damaged or spilled with liquid. Basically they would change the keyboard for a new one.
But telling them how it acts can help then identify if it is only the keyboard. This way they would have to check too, if it is doing with a new keyboard prior sending it back as repaired.

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