Ubuntu – Logitech K360 keyboard types extra characters on certain keys like the ‘n’ key

14.04keyboardkeyboard-layoutlogitechlogitech-unifying

Whenq I turnqed my computer onq today, the keyboard started typinqg extra characters like inq this messed up senqtenqce. The only way to get rid of the extra characters is to highlight them and press delete on the keyboard because pressing backspace just types a backslash which it then deletes. The keys affected are below:

  • Pressing 'n' types 'nq', as does pressing 'q'
  • Pressing backspace types a backslash, which is then "backspaced"
  • Pressing 'b' moves the cursor back to the beginning of the text field.
  • Pressing 'z' types '\z', as does pressing '\'
  • Pressing '.' on the numpad types '<.'

I am using Xubuntu 13.10, the default drivers, the "Logitech Generic Keyboard" layout, and Solaar to pair the keyboard with my Unifying Receiver. The extra characters are also typed in the grub console. It also took me about 20 minutes to type this. UPDATE: tried swapping the unifying receivers that came with the mouse I have and the keyboard, did nothing to help.

Best Answer

If you have lent your computer to a friend, or if someone else got in the neighborhood of your computer, then I would look at the calendar and ask him/her for help.

Debugging tools:

  • Open a terminal, type the xev command and press Enter. Now see if you still see multiple characters when typing the command.
  • In the terminal, list all files in your home folder sorted by modification time. If your .bashrc got modified lately, then that would be a good candidate file to check out. The command is: ls -latr (newest file on the bottom). You could also check this in the graphical file browser, ensure that you configure it to show hidden files and sort by time too.
  • For hardware modifications: plug the device and receiver in a second computer and see if it is also affected by this.
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