Solved: Random CTRL Key Activation - HP Support Community

gbeals · ‎04-26-2011

When I'm typing in a document, for no apparent reason, the computer responds as though I pressed the CTRL key. For example, if I type a "B" the letter doesn't appear but all subsequent letters are bold. I have a new HP Pavilion dv5 running Windows 7 Home Premium. Am I somehow dragging a finger across the touch pad without realizing it, or is my laptop possessed? Please help.

lgoudikian · ‎08-05-2011

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

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Vidya · ‎04-26-2011

I think the ctrl key is a bit sticky. Clean it. Refer the link for steps:

http://www.computercleaningguide.com/laptop.htm

I am an HP employee.

Regards,
Vidya

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gbeals · ‎04-26-2011

This happens without me touching the CTRL key. My fingers don't touch the CTRL key, but the computer acts as though I did.

Vidya · ‎04-26-2011

Try increasing the Palm check to maximum as shown in the figure below...you can go there Start -> Control Panel -> Mouse

I am an HP employee.

Regards,
Vidya

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gbeals · ‎04-26-2011

I have Synaptics ClickPad V7.4 (no PalmCheck). Can contact with the touch pad be construed as pressing the ctrl key?

Vidya · ‎04-26-2011

To confirm whether the issue is with touchpad or not, please disable the touchpad and type the document. Let us isolate the issue.

I am an HP employee.

Regards,
Vidya

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gbeals · ‎04-27-2011

I'll give it a try for a couple of days. Is there any reason to believe that inadvertant contact with the touch pad can result in a CTRL sequence?

Vidya · ‎04-27-2011

I saw a few users having problems when playing games which needed both keyboard and touchpad. Please try and let me know for next steps of troubleshooting.

I am an HP employee.

Regards,
Vidya

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lgoudikian · ‎08-04-2011

Same issue. Win 7, HP g7. The problem seems to be the touchpad driver. i do these steps:

1. Hit the Ctrl key (on purpose) and on the screen, at the position of the cursor, a circle appears, shrinks, and disappears. This happens every time I hit the Ctrl key and it is probably normal behavior.

2. With the touch pad set for two finger zoom, place two fingers on the touch pad and move them apart or together slightly. The normal zoom arrows will appear which is fine but also that circle from step 1 appears. The ctrl key has been "hit". Why is that? This seems like a problem.

So it you are typing, say, in Firefox and the ctrl key gets "hit" and you type a "t", a new tab opens up. Two fingers on the touchpad should not be causing a ctrl key to seem to be hit.

-LG

gbeals · ‎08-05-2011

So it sounds like there may be a connection between the touchpad and the ctrl key. I'm not sure what I'm doing when the problem occurs, but I don't think I'm dragging two fingers across the touchpad. I'm going to use a mouse and disable the touchpad for awhile and see if the problem goes away. I'd still like someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Random CTRL Key Activation

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