USB Keyboard Problem 5160

S

slynch

Bit poster
Since upgrading to B5160, I am having all sorts of problems with my keyboard.
I am running on a 17" MacBook Pro OS 10.4.10
If I am connected to an external USB Keyboard, I have to enable the USB keyboard under Parallels and disable it on the Mac side before it becomes fully functional under Parallels. For example if I do not enable it under the USB devices menu, my TAB key will not function properly. If I am in a WP document and press the TAB key, the key focus jumps to the task bar and does not set a TAB in the document. Other times, I will hit a key on the keyboard and It performs a wierd Windows function like "Lock Computer" or Search. This is inconsistent but frequent. Very strange. It is as if I is reading a modifyier key along with the key that I press.
I can live with this, reluctantly, when connected to an external keyboard because I can disable it on the mac side. The problem is when I am working away from my desk and only have the internal keyboard. There is no way that I can disable this on the Mac side as it makes the computer completely non functioning. I have to put up with very quirky keyboard functionality and the TAB key just does not work (and it is important to me).

Help. This was not the case in the previous release. I am thinking I have to roll back.
 
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Dear all,

Thank you for your reports. We are trying to troubleshoot the issue.
There might be an Apple(Command) key "sticking effect", which is a known bug we are fixing.
After pressing Apple in Mac while your PD is running in Coherence mode the key turns out to be "stuck". This is a rare issue but it happens sometimes. So pressing Tab you get Command-Tab and so on.
If this looks like the problem you are encountering, please send me the details as PM. All information is very important for us.
We are really sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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Nope, that's not it. After a fresh restart of my Mac, and without having touched the keyboard at all (including the command key), the tab key is still misbehaving.
 
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I'm not sure exactly what you want me to check, but here's a screenshot of the "Keyboard" pane of PD's preferences panel:
http://www.tropicalwebworks.com/keyboard.pdf

You'll notice I have CMD/CTRL swapped -- I've tried it with no remapping, and I get the same tab key problem.

I don't know what Mac keyboard settings you want me to check. It's the standard US English, nothing special. I use TypeIt4Me so I have Assistive Devices enabled in the Universal Access PrefPane.

Could you perhaps just tell me what you want me to check, or give me a clue as to what page of the 263-page user guide the "check keyboard settings" instruction is on? I really don't know what you're looking for here.
 
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sonjay, thank you for the information you've given.
Please try to turn off Universal Access functions for a while. Will this change something?

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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The problem with the keyboard doesn't seem to be related to using coherence mode. As I wrote previously, the keyboard isn't working under Linux correctly either.
I just tried to disable Universal Access. Doesn't change things. The problem is still there.
 
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Well, unlike Sven, in my case, disabling Assistive Devices in Universal Access does fix the problem. But only after disabling UA and then restarting the computer. Merely unchecking Assistive Devices didn't make any difference, until after I rebooted the computer.

Unfortunately, disabling UA is not a solution, as I depend heavily on TypeIt4Me. I hope this is something that can be fixed.
 
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I just figured out that disabling Assitice Devices in Universal Access does fix the problem for me, too. As sonjay reported, a restart seems to be necessary.

However, just as sonjay, I'm also a user of TypeIt4Me so disabling UA isn't an acceptable solution.
 
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Help!!!

The problem seems to come and go for no reason. is there a memory setting that maybe we should be looking at to modify?

While try ing to type in commands into Autocad 2008, I get all sorts of windoze pop up screens. Things I did not know windows had. what is narrator any way? and can I turn it off.

Is there a way to tell windoze to ignore and stop the shortcut key thingy.
 
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Further information:

As KrP pointed out, it's not just the tab key. Windows are popping up all over as if I'm holding down a modifier key. If I try to type "o" for example, the "Open file" dialog pops up, and if I try to type a "p" the "Print" dialog pops up. The tab key is perhaps only the most noticeably annoying (at least to me), but it's a bunch of keys that have unwanted effects.

Also, in re-reading the first post of the thread, slynch seems to have hit upon a key factor. Further testing has shown that if I specifically connect the keyboard under PD (thus disabling it on the Mac side), then I can type in Windows programs without any of this happening (even with Assistive Devices enabled on the Mac side).
 
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The tab key behavior did go away after a full restart of the computer with Assistive Devices disabled. Turning that feature back on and then restarting Parallels without a restart did not cause the problem to return. I haven't yet tried to reboot again.
 
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Dear all,

Thank you very much for providing us with the details and for investigating the problem.
I've made a full report on it for our QA team. We are working hard to fix the issue in future updates. Please sorry for these troubles.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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Hello sonjay,

QA team has reproduced the issue you described. You get it with Typeit4you installed. Our developers have started working on this. The problem will be eliminated in one of updates coming soon. Thank you for keeping your eye on the matter.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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