Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop - Sticky Key Issue

Anonymous
2013-12-05T21:55:50+00:00

Hi,

I have one of these keyboards at home and at the office, in the office I have the whole desktop including the mouse, but at home I only have the keyboard.  I upgraded from the Microsoft Ergo 4000 keyboard that I've used for many years. So far I'm enjoying the keyboard but I have an issue that I was wondering if there was a way to fix?

The one at work doesn't seem to have this problem although I use the keyboards differently, at work it's mainly for typing and coding, at home I use it for typing and gaming.

The issue:

The Shift, Alt, and Control buttons when pressed numerous times seem to stick even when they aren't being pressed.  For example if I have 3 out of 5 files I want move from one folder to another, if I push and hold control, select the files in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th position with my mouse, after I drag them to the other folder and release the control button, if I click on the 2 remaining files in the original folder, both files are selected even though I'm not holding control down so you'd expect only 1 to be selected.

Same issue happens in games where I've bound hotkeys to use modifiers such as shift, control, or alt.  If I'm alternating between 1 and shift-1, eventually just pressing 1 will result in shift-1 being registered.  I initially thought that maybe stickey keys was being turned on but I've confirmed that is not the case.

Both cases are resolved by simply pressing the button that's sticking and that fixes it, but when using multiple modifiers, it's hard to determine which one is sticking so it usually results in pressing each of the buttons, alt, control, and shift once until it's back to normal.

Additional Information:

None of these problems seem apparent on my work desktop.  I'm using windows 8.1 Pro at home and windows 7 pro at work.  At work, my receiver is plugged into a usb switch as I use it for 2 pcs, the switch is 2 ft away from my keyboard position in line of sight.

At home, the usb receiver is plugged into the back of my desktop under my desk, out of line of site? (could this be a problem?)

Any ideas you have to solve either of these issues would be most appreciated.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2014-06-12T18:57:09+00:00

I've found a solution:

Open Device Manager

Under Human Interface Devices, locate the Microsoft Hardware USB Keyboard

Right click, Properties

Power Management Tab, Uncheck allow the computer to turn off this device to save power

That fixed it for me, no need to uninstall/change drivers.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-07-17T20:24:00+00:00

    I had this issue as well.  I am on Windows8.1 with fully updated drivers.  The solution was to uncheck "Allow the computer to turn of this device to save power" in Device Manager->Human Interface Devices->Microsoft Hardware USB Keyboard->Power Management.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-17T07:31:06+00:00

    I've found the F5 key sticks, mechanically, and it is hard to tell visually.

    You just saved me from throwing my keyboard across the office.  You rock, good sir.

    Yeah, the Fn keys look like a misdesign - it'd be better if they were chiclet like the rest of the keyboard (and what's up with the Fn switch?)

    Fortunately, it's not usually a huge issue; the good still outweighs the bad.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-07-17T00:15:17+00:00

    Folks,

    I've had mine at work for about 6 months (with Wni 7 x64, first an HP laptop now a Dell).

    I've found the F5 key sticks, mechanically, and it is hard to tell visually.

    What is curious is I can go about my day without noticing for some time. The only reason I was here reading the support pages, is "shift-v" was not working (of all things). All other key combinations were, from what I could tell, just fine. Somehow F5 plus shift-v was giving Notepad, Word, and Outlook a headache.

    Other than this issue, I'm quite pleased with the keyboard. Nice and quite, and wireless too.

    Keep an eye out for your function keys sticking mechanically.

    You just saved me from throwing my keyboard across the office.  You rock, good sir.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-07-09T21:34:16+00:00

    I updated the title of the post and removed the 2nd issue of my monitors not going to sleep as I don't think it was related to the keyboard.

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