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I have an Acer Asipre S7 with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and after updating and rebooting, some unusual behavior occurs when I use the arrow keys or Delete. What seems to be the TouchPad indicator appears in the upper right, and the up and down arrows don't work, nor the delete key. The machine worked just fine last week.

Here is a screen shot when I try to delete the Code directory.

It happens when I try and up or down arrow in a text document too, although left and right work fine.

Edit: I found the Keyboard Layout chart, and the up, down and right arrows don't light up when I push them. If I hold the hey and press down the volume does go down. If I hold and press the up arrow, Chrome launches.

I have looked in the Keyboard settings, but keyboard shortcuts, and nothing looks awry. I'd really appreciate some help!

Edit 2: Just learned about keyboard-configuration, but it doesn't seem to help:

Arrow keys and delete key not working

Edit 3: Here is the content of /etv/keyboard/default

# Check /usr/share/doc/keyboard-configuration/README.Debian for
# documentation on what to do after having modified this file.

# The following variables describe your keyboard and can have the same
# values as the XkbModel, XkbLayout, XkbVariant and XkbOptions options
# in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

XKBMODEL="acer_laptop"
XKBLAYOUT="us"
XKBVARIANT=""
XKBOPTIONS=""

# If you don't want to use the XKB layout on the console, you can
# specify an alternative keymap.  Make sure it will be accessible
# before /usr is mounted.
# KMAP=/etc/console-setup/defkeymap.kmap.gz
Community
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Bill Sempf
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2 Answers2

2

Is there a (fn) key to enable/disable specific (numpad/touchpad/whatever) functionality?

Also check if your keyboard layout is still correct.

Although outdated and tl;dr maybe useful: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad/ShortcutKey

[edit]

I tried sudo showkey on my console and got this result:

11:04 $ sudo showkey 
    kb mode was ?UNKNOWN?
[ if you are trying this under X, it might not work
since the X server is also reading /dev/console ]

press any key (program terminates 10s after last keypress)...
keycode  28 release
^[[Akeycode 103 press
keycode 103 release
^[[Bkeycode 108 press
keycode 108 release

See if your keys show the same code, if not, maybe this (tl;dr) may be of some help: How can I change what keys on my keyboard do? (How can I create custom keyboard commands/shortcuts?)

[edit 2]

It seems that your binding is indeed incorrect, try this guide: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Hotkeys/Troubleshooting

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Kasper Agg
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  • There is an FN key, but I don't see how it impacts me right now. If I use it and press down arrow, the volume goes down. If I use it and press up arrow, Chrome launches (no, I am not kidding). How do I check if the keyboard layout is correct? And I am going through the other answer right now. Thanks! – Bill Sempf Feb 12 '15 at 17:00
  • In the meantime you could check System settings -> keyboard -> shortcuts (second tab). Maybe somehow your arrow keys got registered as shortcut keys. I have read something about keybindings gone haywire, but I can't seem to find the article. I'll post back if the above does not "fix" it. – Kasper Agg Feb 13 '15 at 09:45
  • Wow, that keycode is a weird program. I got TOTALLY weird numbers, 425 and 193 and such. I guess I have a lot more work to do. – Bill Sempf Feb 18 '15 at 03:12
  • What I would really like to do is just get to the core mapping files and change them. I am only going to use this machine one way. I can afford to change the whole thing. – Bill Sempf Feb 18 '15 at 03:16
  • Agree, I think this page can help: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Hotkeys/Troubleshooting – Kasper Agg Feb 18 '15 at 07:03
  • So you ready for this? I gave up. I decided to install Kali (I do security, so not a spur of the moment thing). First try failed. Went back to Ubuntu. Everything works. Arrow keys fine. Delete works. I'm clueless. I have decided I will never understand Linux. – Bill Sempf Feb 20 '15 at 04:20
  • Next time I am just going to wave a Windows disk in front of it and see if that works. – Bill Sempf Feb 20 '15 at 04:26
  • Hmm, sad we will never know how it happened. Maybe it was indeed the fear of uninstall and Ubuntu just decided to act normal again. :/ – Kasper Agg Feb 20 '15 at 06:29
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Faced same problem on my Acer desktop. It is actually hardware static energy issue. I solved my problem by shutdown the PC. Opened CPU power cable and pressed power button for 10 sec. After restart it worked fine. In case of laptop may be required to remove the battery and power adapter cord and than press start button !!!

pran
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  • You know what's funny? If I boot to BIOS, then don't change anything, save, and exit, it goes away for a while. – Bill Sempf Oct 09 '17 at 16:18