Control key broken?

[Hrothgarr Shadetree]

Is anyone else having trouble with their control key not picking up a single item in a stack?

I just logged on my shaman to make a bunch of Blood of the Wolf potions and ARGGGHHH!!! I have to tell it "1" each time.

/whine
/whine

[Minuit]

Re: Control key broken?

It's probably just me, but quite often the "ALT" key on the right side of my keyboard will stop working, but only in EQ. Left-alt works just fine, and right-alt comes back again after I exit the game.

I'm guessing it's some kind of keyboard mapping problem but I have never bothered to try fixing it since I almost never use that key anyway.

[Nhin Impious]

Sometimes that happens if the key gets stuck.

If you have a desktop computer, you can try the following.

DO NOT TRY THE FOLLOWING ON A LAPTOP!!!

Try the key on the other side; if it works, then you have a stuck key.
Tap BRISKLY five or six times on the stuck key. Swear at it if you like. Tap it five or six times again-- and briskly means "slightly less force than you would use in getting a stuck key out of a door."
Then try the stuck key again (and hopefully now it will be unstuck).

DO NOT TRY THE PRECEDING ON A LAPTOP!!!

If no avail, reboot. If no avail, switch to your spare keyboard. You *do* have a spare, right?

Eyith

[Morani]

you might also want to try cleaning the detritus out of the keyboard. It ASTOUNDS me how much stuff gets under the keys. Just be careful to not spill stale coffee on the stuff you clean out of it...

[lonewylfe]

And don't take all the keys off the keyboard either, unless you take a picture first *oops

[Hrothgarr Shadetree]

Thank you!

I cleaned the keyboard out completely - removed *all* the keys and took an alcohol swab to my keyboard. Something I learned to do 8 years ago when I had a job that involved a computer and a telephone and *lots* of downtime.

That took care of everything and I am happily making potions, Halas 10 lb meat pies, and dwarven plate as fast as I can! [Experience? Sorry ... can't be bothered].

[Pojodan]

Hee...
I've got 4 'spare' keyboards.

By 'spare' I mean they've got at least two of the following:
a) Enough spare organic matter/hair to make a small animal stuck under the keys
b) 1 or more missing keys
c) 5 or more keys with the lettering completely rubbed off
d) goop from some spilled drink/food that makes at least one key sluggish to press

I play too many text based RP games for my own good.

[Nhin Impious]

re: spare keyboards

Upon disassembling a keyboard given to us by some friends-- we had purchased a new one when the L and O keys quit working-- I discovered the apparent reason for the malfunction, and it became a house catch-phrase.

"Oh, I see the problem-- this is a 101 key keyboard, with only 99 dead cockroaches..."

Eyith, Druid and killer of things that go "crunch" in the night

[Morani]

I cleaned the keyboard out completely - removed *all* the keys and took an alcohol swab to my keyboard. Something I learned to do 8 years ago when I had a job that involved a computer and a telephone and *lots* of downtime.

A caution here; alcohol and acetone dry out rubber. If you are cleaning the keyboard contacts under the keys and your keyboard has "rubber" pads, do NOT clean the pads with alcohol or acetone. The "rubber" hardens much faster over time and looses both it flex and spring. Just a little dish/hand soap in water will do nearly everything you need there. This is also very important to remember when cleaning the paper-feed rollers on printers. If the rubber on the feed-wheels gets hard, it will stop gripping and you will start to have problems getting your printer to feed paper correctly (either grabbing more than one sheet at a time or not grabbing the paper at all). If you DO need to use something like alcohol (lots of ink on the rollers for instance) then make sure to wash the rollers with mild detergent and water to remove the alcohol when you are done.