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
    2014-02-13T18:04:23+00:00

    Microsoft, please fix this problem.  The sticky modifier keys on the Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard drives me batty!  I just want to smash this keyboard.  It would be a fine keyboard if it weren't for those sticky keys. FYI, I have the latest drivers.  The issue appears to be a software issue.  If this is some "feature", please provide a way to turn it off.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-20T01:57:23+00:00

    Control Panel\Ease of Access\Ease of Access Center\Set up Sticky Keys

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-20T02:35:24+00:00

    Control Panel\Ease of Access\Ease of Access Center\Set up Sticky Keys

    Thanks for the input, though this is not the culprit in my case. Still seems to be a hardware issue.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-02-20T06:47:25+00:00

    That's not the culprit for me either. When I said the keys stick, I was simply referring to sticky keys as an example of the behavior. Sticky keys itself is not enabled when the keyboard is exhibiting the behavior.

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