Random CTRL Key Activation

[lgoudikian · Accepted solution]

Yes, when I do a pinch zoom, the CTRL activates.  I know this for sure in two ways: one is that on the touchpad settings you can check a box that says "show the cursor location when you hit CTRL" or something like that and when you hit CTRL a circle appears over your cursor.  So the circle appears every time I pinch zoom.  Every time.  I also know it is happening because if I pinch zoom and hit a key it behaves like I hit CTRL-key.  So pinch zoom and "t" brings up a new tab for instance.  There is no doubt that there is a flaw in the synaptics driver but I tried the HP chat and they want to do a full restore on my computer which is a waste of time and effort.  I reloaded the newest driver from HP site and no help (I already had the newest driver anyway.)

So here is my workaround: disable pinch-zoom and use CTRL + "plus key" or CTRL + "minus key" to zoom in or out.  It works fine and no more unexpected things happening. 

-LG

[gbeals]

I can't reproduce the behavior with the simultaneous pinching and typing a key to get the CTRL result, but I've disabled pinch zoom and will see if my problem has gone away. Thanks for the suggestion.

[MikeMcMillan]

We have this problem with the Probook 6565b, but have only noticed it when using Citrix applications. Thankfully, my co-worker came across this forum and we tried disabling gestures. Sure enough, that "fixed" the problem. I could easily recreate the problem by simply typing gibberish with one hand and doing a pinch-to-zoom on the touchpad with the other hand. More often than not, all my Citrix apps would then think I was holding down CTRL. No local apps are affected for us, just Citrix ones.

Thanks for the tip! Stupid gestures anyway...it constantly thinks I'm using 2 fingers when I'm most certainly using 1 finger, so disabling them is probably best for everyone (I guess HP failed at copying Apple with this model, I wonder if the Envy laptop is better).

[mmcbs]

The deactivation of pinch zoom solved this problem for me (HP Pavilion g series). Wish I had seen this forum before spending an hour with phone support who advised me to reload the keyboard driver. Someone needs to tell them about this "undocumented feature" of the keypad.