Keycode generation problem - Caps Lock+Shift+{2,w,s,x}

Hello,
I've got a problem where none of the keys in the "2" row (that is, 2, w, s, x) generate a key code when pressed at the same time as Caps Lock and Shift. Here's a sample run of showkey at the console with some comments.
keycode 58 pressed # press and hold Caps Lock
keycode 42 pressed # press and hold Left Shift
keycode 2 pressed # press 1 key, it's released in the next line
keycode 2 released
keycode 42 released # release Left Shift
keycode 58 released # release Caps Lock
keycode 58 pressed # press and hold Caps Lock
keycode 42 pressed # press and hold Left Shift
# I press and release the 2 key here, but there is no output!
keycode 42 released # release Left Shift
keycode 58 released # release Caps Lock
Oddly enough, if I use the right Shift key the 2 key does generate a key press.
You may ask, why would you press Caps Lock and Shift at the same time? I have a ThinkPad that doesn't have a Windows key, so in X I remapped Caps Lock to be the Windows key with xmodmap and then I use this remapped Caps Lock in my window manager key mappings. For example in wmii and xmonad, Caps Lock+Shift+2 should mark the focused window as having the second tag. Because of this problem, this (in general Caps Lock+Shift+{2,w,s,x}) does not work for me.
Is this a kernel bug? An Arch keyboard layout bug? A hardware bug? I should mention that I have had this problem on both of the machines where I run Arch (ThinkPad T43 and Dell Inspiron 9300.) I haven't tested this with any other distro since my distro hopping days are over.
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. I've already pulled out a good amount of hair from this one.
Regards,
j

*Bump*
It seems that I'm the only one who has ever used Caps Lock as Mod4 (Windows key) so I could have Ctrl and Alt free for my programs. That, or something is wrong with my hardware and I don't know it.
Oh well.

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Message was edited by: JimHdk

I got a external Apple Wired Keyboard (w/ NumPad), caps lock mapped to control doesn't work with tab + caps lock + shift

I got a external Apple Wired Keyboard (w/ NumPad) since I'm a developer. I have used control panel > keyboard > modifier keys to make the caps lock key the control key. I can't get it to work when I press caps lock (which maps to control) +shift + tab (which I use to change tabs backwards).
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Hi Steve, Welcome to apple discussions.
Hmm, that is a strange problem. Well, you've already done what I would suggest which is to go to the keyboard settings and click the "Restore defaults" button in the modifier keys window and try again. If that doesn't work then you can restart the computer and check. If that doesn't work you can try to reset the pram. Hold the optioncommand+PR buttons after you hear the startup chime, it should chime again, I let it chime a third time just for good measure and see if things look better.
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Caps Lock, Shift key doesn't work

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Hey reandel,
I'd check out the recommended troubleshooting steps within the following document:
One or more keys on the keyboard do not respond
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1381
Welcome to Apple Support Communities!
Best,
Delgadoh

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Hi
I would like to know . how I can activate "Caps Lock", "Shift", "Esc" keys located on the keyboard using Jbuttons. Can you write the codes to me please. I will be greatfull
Thanks
Nalin

You almost got there but it is setLockingKeyState and not setLockingState ..Never mind!!!!

[SOLVED]Switching Caps Lock with Shift_L

I have a broken left shift key, and it's a bit of a pain to type with. I often use an external keyboard, so this doesn't always bother me, but when I take my laptop with me somewhere, I would like to be able to quickly swap Caps and Left Shift. For a while, I've done that like this:
xmodmap -e "keycode 66 = Shift_L NoSymbol Shift_L"
But xmodmap is deprecated, and causing problems with qt5 applications, so I want to ditch it and do the same thing with setxbmap instead. Now, xkb is really nice, it is full of built in options for common remaps, and a quick look around shows my I can use any one of these to change how caps lock works:
grp:caps_switch Caps Lock (while pressed), Alt+Caps Lock does the original capslock action
grp:caps_toggle Caps Lock
grp:shift_caps_toggle Shift+Caps Lock
grp:shift_caps_switch Caps Lock (to first layout), Shift+Caps Lock (to last layout)
grp:alt_caps_toggle Alt+Caps Lock
lv3:caps_switch Caps Lock
lv3:caps_switch_latch Caps Lock chooses 3rd level, acts as onetime lock when pressed together with another 3rd-level-chooser
ctrl:nocaps Caps Lock as Ctrl
ctrl:swapcaps Swap Ctrl and Caps Lock
grp_led:caps Caps Lock
caps Caps Lock key behavior
caps:internal Caps Lock uses internal capitalization. Shift "pauses" Caps Lock
caps:internal_nocancel Caps Lock uses internal capitalization. Shift doesn't affect Caps Lock
caps:shift Caps Lock acts as Shift with locking. Shift "pauses" Caps Lock
caps:shift_nocancel Caps Lock acts as Shift with locking. Shift doesn't affect Caps Lock
caps:capslock Caps Lock toggles normal capitalization of alphabetic characters
caps:numlock Make Caps Lock an additional Num Lock
caps:swapescape Swap ESC and Caps Lock
caps:escape Make Caps Lock an additional ESC
caps:backspace Make Caps Lock an additional Backspace
caps:super Make Caps Lock an additional Super
caps:hyper Make Caps Lock an additional Hyper
caps:shiftlock Caps Lock toggles Shift so all keys are affected
caps:none Caps Lock is disabled
caps:ctrl_modifier Make Caps Lock an additional Control but keep the Caps_Lock keysym
compose:caps Caps Lock
compose:caps-altgr 3rd level of Caps Lock
shift:breaks_caps Shift cancels Caps Lock
shift:both_capslock Both Shift-Keys together toggle Caps Lock
shift:both_capslock_cancel Both Shift-Keys together activate Caps Lock, one Shift-Key deactivates
None of those allow me to use caps lock as a normal shift. I'm trying to figure out how to rebind caps to work as a shift, but I want to have this in a script so that my external keyboard will stick with its default behavior, and I can just type "fixshift" when I unplug it. Basically, just manually switch the two with setxkbmap the way I did with xmodmap. Out of a long while searching, and /only/ finding advice to use one of the default options, and none on making my own, I've decided to come here.
Any help, Arch-friends?
Last edited by Kebertx (2013-10-31 09:10:14)

For the record, here's my solution:
This creates a custom key symbol to swap Caps and Shift:
/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/custom
partial modifier_keys
xkb_symbols "swapcaps" {
replace key <CAPS> { [ Shift_L ] };
replace key <LFSH> { [ Caps_Lock ] };
This script prints a description of the keymap, adds the symbol to swap the two keys from that other file to the right line, and writes the new description to a temporary file... then compiles it!
/usr/local/bin/fixshift
#!/usr/bin/bash
setxkbmap -print | sed '/xkb_symbols/ { s/"/+custom(swapcaps)"/2 }' > /tmp/fixshift
xkbcomp /tmp/fixshift $DISPLAY > /dev/null 2>&1 &
Then I just set that program to run every time lightdm starts a session:
/etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
display-setup-script=/usr/local/bin/fixshift
greeter-setup-script=/usr/local/bin/fixshift
session-setup-script=/usr/local/bin/fixshift
And nothing more to it. Life is grand again.

HT1192 Caps Lock is not working in my mac, after pressing long time too.

Caps Lock is not working in my mac, after pressing long time too.Please help me to sort this problem out.

I think even in newer versions of OS X there is a slight delay; just not so pronounced. My advice to get around it would be to install PCKeyboardHack and KeyRemap4MacBook - then do a couple of things:
Change the Caps Lock key in System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier Keys to "None"
Use PCKeyboardHack to remap Caps Lock to keycode 110, the PC Application Key, which is unused on Apple keyboards.
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I'm pretty sure that should get rid of the delay, which only happens when Apple is in charge of connecting the Caps Lock key to its action.
Really, though, I would personally recommend doing some much more awesome things with your Caps Lock key; it's prime keyboard real estate, and who uses caps lock anyway, except in the darkest corners of the Internet? Personally, I've remapped Caps to be Escape (for use in my text editor) when you press it by itself quickly, but to be Cmd+Opt+Ctrl+Shift when you press it with any other key. I call it the "Hyper" key, and use it to switch applications; Hyp+S = Safari, Hyp+D = email, Hyp+F = Finder... The point is, be creative, make the Caps Lock key work for you.
Oh, and the real Escape key maps to Caps Lock, so I can use it if I want to.

Problem that starts with *apparent* sticking caps lock key

I have a mid-2009 MacBook Pro (two weeks outside of AppleCare, of course!). Last night, it appeared the caps lock key was sticking. It would type in all caps even when I hit the button and the green indicator light went off. Moments later, I noticed that the option that shows you all the windows on the same screen was suddenly going very, very slow. I tried to restart but it started in safe mode - twice. It finally started correctly on the third or fourth reboot. I hoped it was a fluke.
Unfortunately it's happening again and rebooting doesn't seem to fix it - I can't put in my password to login because it thinks I'm typing in all caps.
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This may enter the Apple Hall of Fame for stupid posts. I spent a couple hours last night restarting the computer, trying restore etc....and really doing anything I could from clinton's link in order to identify the problem. I'd even called our local store to let them know I would be there first thing in the morning (I'm boarding a plane in a few minutes and really needed my laptop for this trip).
So after doing all of those things + removing the caps lock key to see if it was somehow manually stuck, I go the store this morning. Virtual panic. I needed a presentation off the laptop for a workshop tomorrow and I hadn't backed up since I created it...
I enter the store, I begin to explain the situation in detail, I open up the laptop....
And the guy at the store says "Did you notice your shift key is stuck down?". Why No, I hadn't noticed that! With a tiny wiggle and a tap, that key popped back into place and the computer worked fine. The Safe Mode was happening because the shift key was down.

My macbook pro is stuck in caps lock, among other problems

my macbook pro (now leopard 10.6) is stuck in caps lock, no matter if the caps lock key is on or if I use shift, and windows close very slowly. I also can't erase the hard drive with my Mac OS X dvd. I can't login because my password requires numbers I can't access due to the caps lock problems, but sometimes it randomly logs me in without asking for my password.

Which version of OS X is running on the machine? When you say that the installation DVD is 'stuck' do you mean physically stuck in the machine and you cannot boot from it?
Unless your running Lion or Mountain Lion, both of which have Recovery partitions, I would think that you're simply 'stuck' if you cannot boot from the DVD. At this point, I would take the machine to an Apple Store or an AASP for a free diagnosis and repair estimate. If it turns out that you've a failed hard drive, of course, you can always replace it yourself.
Clinton

ShIft caps lock tab not workIng correctly

My keyboard has started to behave strangely.
The left shIft key dIsplays an I.
The caps lock key does nothIng and doesnt lIght up. tab does not work. If I type I and n together It becomes IN. enter key goes back to begINnINg of sentance. typINg thIs Is very dIffIcult as nothINg Is doINg what I want It too. any help would be greatly apprecIated.

Hey,
Sorry to hear about the keyboard problem.
In a post a while back had this to say. He makes a suggestion that the keyboard might need to be replaced, then the person with the question tried something else. You might take a look and see if there's something there that will help.
Thanks for coming to the forum.
Hope I helped,
GeorgeFN
I work on behalf of HP.

Shift-Caps Lock-Tab not working with remapped Caps Lock

I've remapped my Caps Lock key to Ctrl using the Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier keys dialog and in the following question when I say CTRL i mean the Caps Lock key remapped to Ctrl and Ctrl is the normal left Ctrl key.
I'm using OS X 10.9.4 and I've just bought 2 new external corded Apple keyboards and both of them are having trouble with the key combination Left Shift + CTRL + Tab. For applications where that combination should go to the previous TAB it does not work. If I use the right Shift instead it works fine, if I use the left Ctrl key instead of the remapped Caps Lock key it works great too.
The internal keyboard on the laptop works fine with Left Shift - Caps Lock - Tab.
The computers are a Macbook Air 11" Mid 2011 and a Macbook Pro 15" Mid 2010.

Hey,
Sorry to hear about the keyboard problem.
In a post a while back had this to say. He makes a suggestion that the keyboard might need to be replaced, then the person with the question tried something else. You might take a look and see if there's something there that will help.
Thanks for coming to the forum.
Hope I helped,
GeorgeFN
I work on behalf of HP.

Typing in remote Control when changing language with key combination of Alt + Shift some time change to Upper Case and Caps Lock is off

let me first say that this links dos not apply to my problem the first one is :
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverTS/thread/46b24b68-debf-466e-a780-66a3b999724c
and it dos not apply because I dont use remote app, and also i able to change settings
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverTS/thread/6a0f0eda-d3f6-4cd9-91ef-a7e0b20bc799/
this one has similar problem but he working with remote app and do not have the Upper Case and Caps Lock is off
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itproxpsp/thread/f978e234-2b3c-4780-9dda-bec52b25330d
this one using XP i have it on windows 7 connecting to remote server 2008 r2
here is the issue
my users remote control a terminal services farm, now when they changing language to English some time it change to English Upper Case and caps lock is off ! then the Alt + Shift and the go back to English lower case and if they just play with
this (i mean they just use Alt Shift over and over to try to get back to normal state when you hold shift and alt and you change to English and back to Hebrew if you hold the alt shift one more time )
i tonic some thing strange ifi hold down first the alt and then the shift this issue happen more often
i upload a video on this showing the problem live on my dropbox :
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/103434771/meditowers/IMG_0245.MOV
here is how the normal setting should be
Alt + shift need to change to lower case English
then Alt shift one more time will go back to Hebrew
now if you hit on the caps lock you will be in English all the time with Upper Case

Hi Yitzhak,
Please refer to this post:
www.davidbond.net/2012/10/rdp-shift-key-gets-stuck.html
This post includes fix to this issue at the comments.
Netanel Ben-Shushan, MCSA/E, MCTS, MCITP, Windows Expert-IT Pro MVP. IT Consultant & Trainer | Website (Hebrew): http://www.ben-shushan.net | IT Services: http://www.ben-shushan.net/services | Weblog (Hebrew): http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/netanelb
| E-mail: [email protected]

CAPS LOCK problems

Hello there!
My 2008 Mac Pro 1,1 running Mac OS X 10.6.8 is having problems with CAPS LOCK, but not necessarily the caps lock key. Every once in a while my computer will suddenly think the SHIFT key is being pressed, and there's no way to "unpress" it, so to speak. Everything I click and type is as if the shift key is being pressed, and the only way to fix this issue is to restart the computer. Even if I do that, there's a chance that the issue will return only a few minutes after I turn the machine back on.
It doesn't seem that I'm doing anything in particular to trigger this unusual behavior, and it seems to be a random occurance. I do have a theory that it has something to do with the computer being used for extended periods of time, as it seems to happen more often when I'm doing a lot of video and graphics work for hours at a time.
I did, however, add some RAM to my computer a few weeks ago, which I had ordered from crucialmemory.com.
Has anyone else experienced this problem or know what might be causing it?
Thank you in advance!

Hi Grant! Thank you for your response, but sticky keys seem to be off when this happens.
If it helps, whenever this issue occurs and I bring up the on screen keyboard, the shift keys are displayed as permanently pressed down. This also happens when I switch keyboards, so I know it's not any individual keyboard that is causing the problem.

HT203254 Caps lock and Shift Key behavior

Hi,
I am using mac from 3 years now but just notice one bug or feature in Key board.
If my caps lock is on and I type any character with Shift press I am expecting character in lower case but it is always coming up in Capital. So looks like caps lock is not changing behavior of shift key. Is this always like this or is there any configuration that I can change.
-Samar

Thanks Carson for reply.
May be I not able to explain the problem earlier. Caps Lock is working perfectly fine. As my understanding and hows the windows or linux keyboard works with this scenario I am expecting lower case character when I have Caps lock ON and I press any character with Shift Key.
Step 1 :Caps Lock On
Step 2: Shift Key + I <<You can press any character>>
Expected result Is "A" but result COMES AS "A"
-Samar

Shift, caps lock doesn't work

i just upgraded to tiger finally from panther - easy set up, nothing fancy - and my shift key no longer works, nor does my caps lock or num lock. hence i can't capitalize anything and am unable to use keyboard shortcuts in safari or anything else. the keys do work in word, excel and other office apps and so do other f keys except num lock, but that's it. i had to go under edit just to copy and paste my login since i can't even type the at symbol in my email address.
is this a setting or should i reinstall - can't even type a question mark. this didn't happen with panther, just since the upgrade.
any suggestions[question mark would go here if i could type it] please help - thanks

Hi, reese1. Welcome to the Discussions.
1. How did you install Tiger? Upgrade Install, Archive & Install, or Erase & Install?
2. I suggest you begin troubleshooting using the Procedure specified in my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ. Perform the steps therein in the order specified.
3. An errant Startup or Login Item maybe the cause, especially if you installed some third-party utility under Panther for customizing your keyboard or defining your own keyboard shortcuts. My "Troubleshooting Startup and Login Items" FAQ can help you pin that down if such an item is causing the problem.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Keycode generation problem - Caps Lock+Shift+{2,w,s,x}

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