Comma Key Problem (Need some Help Guys)

planetnine

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2008
31
0
18,530
Problem: When i press the (comma) key i get the letter "b" instead. If i SHIFT comma i get B.

System:

Vista 64 bit Ultimate
q9550 @ 3.6GHz
8 GB Ram

Built new PC about 1 1/2 months ago. Problem started happening about 3 weeks ago but i guess i didnt pay much attention to it. I thought it was the keyboard and i was going to get a new one anyways. I dont think i have done anything out of the realm of normal during that time. Nothing strange installed that i know of. Infact my add/remove programs has 8 things in it.


I know your wondering why isnt this under the keyboard thread but its not a keyboard problem. It is happening on 3 Keyboards i have tested with. 2 USB and 1 PS/2 Keyboard.

It happens in windows. It happens in Games. It happens in safe mode or safe mode with command prompt.
Keyboard and regional settings are all set to English (United States). I reset them all to English (Canada) and the Keyboard to US International. Rebooted and still had the same problem. Set it back to standard and the problem still exists.

I created another user profile and still has the same issue.

I have AVG fully updated and windows fully updated and both update and scan at night. No viruses or spyware that i know of. I havent scanned for spyware in a while though.

I am kind of at a loss at this point. I am not having any other system issues. Temperatures running at around 48-50C. Every other key works.

Example:

`1234567890-=
qwertyuiop[]\
asdfghjkl;'
zxcvbnmb./

2 b's on that last line. See next to the period? ALL COMMAS > bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb


Anyone every hear of anything like this? Im not sure what else to try and the only thing i havent done is boot off a floppy right into DOS and try it because i dont have a Floppy drive. I guess i can make a bootable CD but havent gone to those lengths yet.


Any help would be grateful.
 

btk1w1

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2008
744
0
19,060
It sounds like the comma key may have been remapped.

I you are comfortable going into the registry have as look here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout

There should only be one entry, default with value not set.

Please note you need to be looking at keyboard layout, not [strike]keyboard layouts[/strike]

If you have an entry there that looks similar to this:

"Scancode Map" "REG_BINARY" "00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 3a 00 3A 00 46 00 00 00 00 00"

then keyboard mappping has taken place.
 

planetnine

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2008
31
0
18,530
Hi btk1w1

I opened my registry and strangely enough it opened right up to the keyboard layout key. This only happens if something was recently changed or that was the place i was at when i closed the registry so something must have been changed because i have not gone in the registry that i know of since i built this PC.

The Scancode Map Reg_Binary reads this:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 5B E0 00 00 5C E0 00 00 00 00

So what does this mean and how do i go about fixing it? If i delete this will windows recreate it?


thank you for the help!


 

btk1w1

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2008
744
0
19,060
Go back into the registry and in the left pane right click "Keyboard Layout" and "export". Name it KBChange and save it to your desktop.

Be sure to export "Keyboard Layout" not "Keyboard Layouts"

This is your backup of the registry change if anything goes awry.

By default there should only be the default entry in there so right click "Scancode Map" and hit delete.

Close the registry and reboot your pc.

Post back and let us know if this fixes the problem.
 

btk1w1

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2008
744
0
19,060
After reading a little online the binary code you have listed seems to make reference to disabling the windows logo key on the keyboard.

Gamers do this so the game isn't interrupted by it being knocked during game play.

If you have in fact disabled the windows logo key and that is the only entry under keyboard layouts the problem with your comma key may lay elsewhere.
 

pat mcgroin

Distinguished
Nov 21, 2007
1,687
0
19,960
after the above post if you do in fact find the trouble lies some where else try this.
It is perfectly safe.
Its one of two things and either way this will fix it.
Goto device manager and goto keyboards and delete the keyboard .

1 it could be a corrupt driver from a aftermarket keyboard (one with extra features)

2 corrupt MSOFT driver and windows will automatically install a keyboard driver at boot if there isnt one. The same works with mice and floppies . It goes back to the early days of windows where the most basic systems get detected by default if there is no registry entry