Linux – Fix Autorepeat Not Working on Keyboard

keyboardlinuxlinux-kernel

On my laptop, turning on autorepeat (xset r on) does not work. When checking the output of xev, it seems that the reason why autorepeat fails is because another key is being pressed intermittently (although I am not pressing anything), which cancels autorepeating the currently held down key. When no keys are being pressed, the following events are recorded repeating consistently:

KeyPress event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1652400, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1652400, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

It seems that a key with keycode 221 is being pressed, even when it is not.

Thus, is it possible to completely disable a keycode such that xorg does not recieve the keypress signal from that keycode at all? Or, is it possible to make keys autorepeat when held down, regardless of whether another key is pressed?


Update:

After running sudo evtest, it appears that when the hidden output is coming from

/dev/input/event11 PEAQ WMI hotkeys

No other input device seems to send events when nothing is pressed.
Autorepeat works when checking keyboard events in evtest.


The full output of xev running for a couple seconds when nothing is pressed:

Outer window is 0x1200001, inner window is 0x1200002

PropertyNotify event, serial 8, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    atom 0x27 (WM_NAME), time 1651733, state PropertyNewValue

PropertyNotify event, serial 9, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    atom 0x22 (WM_COMMAND), time 1651733, state PropertyNewValue

PropertyNotify event, serial 10, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    atom 0x28 (WM_NORMAL_HINTS), time 1651733, state PropertyNewValue

CreateNotify event, serial 11, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    parent 0x1200001, window 0x1200002, (10,10), width 50, height 50
border_width 4, override NO

PropertyNotify event, serial 14, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    atom 0x15c (WM_PROTOCOLS), time 1651734, state PropertyNewValue

MapNotify event, serial 15, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    event 0x1200001, window 0x1200002, override NO

ReparentNotify event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    event 0x1200001, window 0x1200001, parent 0x4000d5,
    (0,0), override NO

ConfigureNotify event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    event 0x1200001, window 0x1200001, (2,0), width 952, height 1033,
    border_width 2, above 0x0, override NO

PropertyNotify event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    atom 0x15e (WM_STATE), time 1651735, state PropertyNewValue

MapNotify event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    event 0x1200001, window 0x1200001, override NO

VisibilityNotify event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    state VisibilityUnobscured

Expose event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    (0,0), width 952, height 10, count 3

Expose event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    (0,10), width 10, height 58, count 2

Expose event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    (68,10), width 884, height 58, count 1

Expose event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    (0,68), width 952, height 965, count 0

ConfigureNotify event, serial 28, synthetic YES, window 0x1200001,
    event 0x1200001, window 0x1200001, (962,18), width 952, height 1033,
    border_width 2, above 0x0, override NO

FocusIn event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    mode NotifyNormal, detail NotifyNonlinear

KeymapNotify event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  4294967236 0   0   0   16  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   

PropertyNotify event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    atom 0x14f (_NET_WM_DESKTOP), time 1651736, state PropertyNewValue

KeyRelease event, serial 30, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1651775, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 36 (keysym 0xff0d, Return), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (0d) "
"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

MappingNotify event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    request MappingKeyboard, first_keycode 8, count 248

KeyPress event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1652400, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1652400, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1653200, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1653200, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1654000, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1654000, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

MappingNotify event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    request MappingKeyboard, first_keycode 8, count 248

KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1654760, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x0, keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

MappingNotify event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    request MappingKeyboard, first_keycode 8, count 248

KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1654800, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x40, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    root 0x123, subw 0x0, time 1654800, (-509,794), root:(455,814),
    state 0x40, keycode 221 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

MappingNotify event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    request MappingKeyboard, first_keycode 8, count 248

FocusOut event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x1200001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyAncestor

ClientMessage event, serial 37, synthetic YES, window 0x1200001,
    message_type 0x15c (WM_PROTOCOLS), format 32, message 0x15d (WM_DELETE_WINDOW)

Best Answer

It seems this is a bug introduced with kernel 4.13, as per Redhat bugzilla bug #1497861.

I found out that unloading the peaq_wmi module also serves as a workaround; it seems that someone already submitted a patch to fix the issue though.

(To unload the peaq_wmi module one can issue the command sudo modprobe -r peaq_wmi.)