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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.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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.
I'll have to check as soon as I get home. I may have it installed at home.
Could you list the location of said drivers and where you installed them from?
The one with the endless name must be the one that installs automatically from WU or wherever when the receiver is plugged in. I remember that it offered to install the MKC, and I let it -- I certainly never downloaded it manually on the two 8.1 PCs that I used the keyboard with (both of which showed the "sticking" behavior). The "HID Keyboard Device" is the in-box driver; I installed it via "Update driver software", "Browse for ...", "Show me a list ...".
I have not tried reinstalling the MKC driver to see if the problem comes back then, I will do that tomorrow.
Also, ISTR that you had the problem after repeatedly pressing the modifier keys, not after holding any of them down for five seconds. To be honest, I'm not sure I did every time one of them stuck.
I did not have the problem in the two hours or so I used the keyboard after the driver change; it is of course possible that it will come back by tomorrow. I did restart the computer once, though, and that did not bring it back.
If this really is the MKC driver's fault (and it looks like your problem is not, if you do not have it installed), I'm sure there is a fascinating explanation we'll never get to hear, something about Microsoft Hardware being much more clever than the accessibility people on the Windows team and building their version of Sticky Keys directly into the driver, but then running out of time or money before they could put the UI to disable it into the MKC, or something like that.
Could you list the location of said drivers and where you installed them from?
When going to my device manager, under keyboards it shows "HID Keyboard Device" and under mouse and other pointing devices, it shows "HID-compliant mouse". I never installed the Mouse and Keyboard Center, I just plugged in the USB dongle and that was that.
Found a fix. Replace the "Microsoft USB Dual Receiver Wireless Keyboard (Mouse and Keyboard Center)" driver with the "HID Keyboard Device" driver. As far as I can tell, the keyboard behaves the same as before, including switching between the F/blue keys, and you can even still configure it up to the MKC's pitiful capabilities. The sticking, however, is gone, and the keys repeat indefinitely now.
