Shift key stops working in certain configuration

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in compiz.

I have the same bug on hardy nvidia driver version 177.68

Same bug on X61 Tablet with
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
if that is important. Is there any progress on this issue?

Running Hardy & this bug just happened to me:

Switching from 'compiz' to 'metacity' fixed it, Instantly!

Before things went wrong (the shift key problem) I had installed brightside.
Changed the setting in 'Compiz Fusion Icon/settings manager/Effects/paint fire on screen' I enabled it and chose the shift key ...Change from meta to fusion ...Reload windows manager & @@@@@@@ .....re-tried to enable the 'fire effect' with the shift key enabled and cannot use any shifted characters ... switching back....NO, no need to swicth to metacity ...Just disable the fire effect. @@@@@@

Advice for now don't use the shift key with effects and this has to be a bug in compiz.

Ctrl+Shift, - Ctrl Hi !

I have exactly the same problem, I have installed compiz two days ago in my ubuntu hardy heron 8.04 in a dell latitude d630, and since then my shift key does no longer work.

Pressing the ctrl+shift keys at the same time and then releasing ctrl key while holding down the shift key pressed does work, then I can type capital letters when compiz is active...but this requires quite Some brain trainning ! e.g. it is also needed to write all the shift characters in the keyboard such as the question marks !

If I switch the window manager to metacity the problem dissapears, but happens again as soon as I switch back to compiz. I have searched for compiz plugins which might have some binding using the shift key, but I did not find anything.

Thanks.

I had exactly the same problem, but I managed to fix it by:

Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. click Preferences in the left pane, then click on 'Reset to defaults'. After that shift works instantly, and changing settings for various plugins works fine too.

Hi Lee ! hi folks !

Lee is absolutely right: just resetting the desktop settings fixed the
problem.

So we have a nice workaround, and now I can use compiz without playing brain
trainning meanwhile.

Thanks a lot !

2008/11/7 Lee <email address hidden>

> I had exactly the same problem, but I managed to fix it by:
>
> Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. click Preferences in the
> left pane, then click on 'Reset to defaults'. After that shift works
> instantly, and changing settings for various plugins works fine too.
>
> --
> Shift key not working with compiz as active window manager.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/246081
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Compiz: New
> Status in "compiz" source package in Ubuntu: New
>
> Bug description:
> As long as the Compiz window manager is active the shift key does not work
> the way it should.
> Disabling compiz and selecting Metacity also makes the shift key work
> again.
> Could be that i am posting a duplicate bugreport but i was unable to find
> the one i found a couple of weeks ago.
>
> I am fairly new to linux and therefor i dont know how to produce handy
> terminal output,
> if anyone could explain to me how to produce usefull information i would be
> happy to do so.
>
> I am currently running the following:
>
> compiz 0.7.4
>
> Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy)
> Kernel: 2.6.24-19-generic i686 GNU/Linux
>
> Renderer: GeForce Go 7300/PCI/SSE2
> Driver Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 169.12
>
> And really usefull... and i think this should point in the direction of a
> solution.
> I found a workaround when searching google for this problem some time ago.
>
> If i press CTLR followed by the shift key and keep the shift key down i can
> use it the normal way.
>

--
Eduardo Sanchez Suarez
Dpt Astrofisica Molecular e Infrarroja - Instituto de Estructura de la
Materia

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)

c/ Serrano, 113 bis - 28006 Madrid - España
Tel: +34.915.616.800 x 3215
Fax: +34.915.645.557
Web: www.damir.iem.csic.es

Hello All:

This continue to happen in Intrepid (8.10). Here is the work around in a more descriptive way:

1. Go the System > Preferences > CompizConfig Settings Manager. If you don't have CompizConfig Settings Manager installed, you do so by opening a terminal and typing "sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager".
2. Launch the CompizConfig Settings Manager. On the left column there is a "Preferences" button. Click it.
3.Click on the "Reset to Defaults"

That is it. You are done :)

Unfortunately, the bug continues.

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Could you please try the same with Jaunty? Thanks in advance.

I am totally new to ubuntu. I'm unable to use my @ key, but other shift key characters are ok. Please help.

Hi Jak,

the workaround given by Anmar worked perfectly, at least in my case where
the shit key was not working. Have you tried it ? Maybe by setting the
default preferences in the CompizConfig you will make all your keys work.

1. Go the System > Preferences > CompizConfig Settings Manager. If you
don't have CompizConfig Settings Manager installed, you do so by opening a
terminal and typing "sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager"
2. Launch the CompizConfig Settings Manager. On the left column there is a
"Preferences" button. Click it.
3.Click on the "Reset to Defaults"

For me, it seems that some of the keys or key combinations are "stolen" by
listeners of some compiz plugins.

cheers

2009/4/27 jakradice <email address hidden>

> I am totally new to ubuntu. I'm unable to use my @ key, but other shift
> key characters are ok. Please help.
>
> --
> Shift key not working with compiz as active window manager.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/246081
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Compiz: Invalid
> Status in “compiz” source package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> As long as the Compiz window manager is active the shift key does not work
> the way it should.
> Disabling compiz and selecting Metacity also makes the shift key work
> again.
> Could be that i am posting a duplicate bugreport but i was unable to find
> the one i found a couple of weeks ago.
>
> I am fairly new to linux and therefor i dont know how to produce handy
> terminal output,
> if anyone could explain to me how to produce usefull information i would be
> happy to do so.
>
> I am currently running the following:
>
> compiz 0.7.4
>
> Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy)
> Kernel: 2.6.24-19-generic i686 GNU/Linux
>
> Renderer: GeForce Go 7300/PCI/SSE2
> Driver Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 169.12
>
> And really usefull... and i think this should point in the direction of a
> solution.
> I found a workaround when searching google for this problem some time ago.
>
> If i press CTLR followed by the shift key and keep the shift key down i can
> use it the normal way.
>

--
Eduardo Sanchez Suarez
Departamento de Astrofisica Molecular e Infrarroja
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
Laboratorio de Astrofisica Espacial y Fisica Fundamental (LAEFF)
Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (INTA)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
---
Post address:
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
P.O. Box 78 Tel: 34 91 813 1472
Tel2: 34 91 813 1138
28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid - Spain
---
Office room: no. B029A at ESAC Herschel-B Building
---
email: <email address hidden>
email2: <email address hidden>
---
Web: www.damir.iem.csic.es

I can confirm this bug with ubuntu 9.04 and compiz 0.8.2-0ubuntu8.

This is still happening in in ubuntu 9.04 with compiz 0.8.2. Is there any resolution on the expected fix date for this bug?
The whole keyboard behaves differently. 'Delete' button emulates 'Backspace', 'End' button emulates '9' so on and so forth. I think this is a critical bug as it can affect the logins.

this bug still happening in ubuntu 9.10 beta after when i upgrade today. i have 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) and the package version is Version: 1:0.8.3+git20091005-0ubuntu5.

when i change to metacity, shift key works fine.

Same bug - Sony Viao FZ410E - any level of desktop effects breaks shift key after Karmic upgrade. Reset to Default workaround works. No Desktop effects works.

Same here on Acer Aspire One 150L with Intel 945 GME Graphics; Ubuntu 9.10 32-Bit. Switching to Metacity will fix it.

I can't believe this is "importance low". Linux newbies who cannot even type a capital Letter on their computer will surely return to windows asap...

btw: this does not affect a live session, although keyboard preferences and desktop effect settings are exactly the same...

The bug is marked as low priority because it does not affect many people and is apparently a configuration issue.

Hi,
I can't see why this bug is marked low. I'm not sure how you (Travis) know that it affects only few people.
The standard configuration of Ubuntu 9.10 leads to a not working desktop. Easy to fix bugs that make the desktop unusable and that persist for several releases should be marked critical or something.

I'm not sure how you know that it affects more people or how you think it is easy to fix. Have you seen a fix mentioned at all in this bug report that wasn't "toss out your broken configuration and use the one we setup for you at install time"?

You are right, I know neither.
My situation was the following:
A fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10 with a home partition from a former installation, but with ~/.config*, ~/.gnome*, ~/.compiz* completetly removed.
From this installation, when activating "normal" desktop effects, the shift key stopped working.
The solution of installing compizconfig-settings-manager and pressing "Reset to defaults" worked, but was complicated by the fact that I could not get administrator rights, because my password does include capital letters, for which I need the shift key...

So my conclusion was:
It is a configuration issue as you said, but one that comes from the standard Ubuntu configuration and not one that comes from a user messing around. With that in mind I thought that it should be easy (compared to other bugs) to fix.
And I also thought that not being able to insert text with your keybord is a major problem for users.

So if I really have messed up the configuration myself then it is off cause not easy to fix :-) and does not deserve a higher priority.

Compiz (and most GNOME) settings are stored in gconf which is ~/.gconf so some configuration was carried over to your clean install if you did not remove it. The reset to defaults button resets compiz settings in that directory to the ones that Ubuntu ships with.

It would be nice to get a copy of the ~/.gconf/apps/compiz directory from someone who is currently having this issue as I could then compare the settings in there to the defaults and see what was changed that caused this to happen. It might still be a bug in compiz (you set something to Ctrl-Shift-P and it just reads Shift) but if one of the key bindings is set to Shift it's 1) a configuration problem caused by the user and 2) a problem that ccsm let you set something to just Shift. Unless of course someone used something other than ccsm to change the setting.

I think you're on the wrong track here.
I had this problem with a fresh install of ubuntu 9.10 on a new HD. I had definitely never touched any desktop effect settings. It is somehow related to compiz, but I don't see how it could have anything to do with key bindings, since I have never used or changed any.

I experienced this problem with a new 9.10 install (nvidia 173) where I had moved my home directory over. In case this actually is relevant, I have attached my .gconf/apps/compiz directory.

When I enable effects, the both shift keys stop working; when pressed, i.e. gnome terminal shows a hollow cursor as if focus has been lost. When released, the cursor becomes solid again. As soon as effects are disabled, the shift key works normally again.

I had apparently the same problem with 9.10 on two separate computers I just bought from System76. If I pressed shift or had CapsLock set and typed in THIS IS A TEST what was displayed was THISISATEST with no spaces. ITWASVERYANNOYING.

problem statement: no space when shift or caps lock is pressed (capitals)
solution: Hebrew language installation caused the fault. I have English, Greek, and Hebrew installed. Hebrew only caused the problem. The solution was to change the setting for
Keyboard Preferences --> Layouts --> Layout Options --> Using space key to input non-breakable space character
from "Default"
to "Usual space at any level"