Keyboard freaks out - "freezes" button

Question

I use the Apple Wireless keyboard (without numpad, think that it's called the V3) together with my XP SP3 computer. It works pretty well, besides for this really annoying issue, which I do not know how to recreate. I've tried to google for a solution before posting here, but didn't find any.

From time to time, the FN button "locks" (equal to the Windows flag button) which means that by pressing the L button once and only, I toggle a WIN+L command - logging me out. Same thing goes for all other normal WIN+* combinations.

Super annoying, really. I do not know what to do to get out of this strange mode besides pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL which seems to work, but it would be handy to know why it's occuring.

Thanks a lot!

Update: Sticky keys and all other strange XP "enhancers of usability" are turned off - problem still occuring.

Answer 1

First I would advice to clean well and carefully the keyboard. I don't know this keyboard and whether it's possible for some sticky dirt to introduce itself below the key.

The thread Fn key stuck offers the following solutions:

1. Hold down the FN key and hit the SCROLL key (found next to the F12 button) will undo the "stuck" state
2. F12 with the Scroll key toggles the FN lock on and off
3. Create and use a new user account

Much more information about the Fn key is available in this article:
Mystery of the Fn key - A guide to remapping the Fn key in Windows
and a mechanism is discussed that allows using AutoHotKey to remap it to anything else and with any desired functionality.

A free project called UAWKS was based on the above article :

Unofficial Apple Wireless Keyboard Support (UAWKS) is a small package that allows Windows users to make full use of Apple's uber-sexy bluetooth keyboard. Most importantly, it provides support for essential keys that don't work out of the box.

The article Small tool to manage the Apple keyboard fn key describes :

Until Apple is releasing a fix and because this is annoying me, I decided to take some time and code a small tool that has the only purpose of locking the state of the fn key.

This tool allows several mechanisms to toggle the state of the Fn key.

Answer 2

This is Windows problem and has easy fix.

This is relatively common problem and I have seen it with any keyboard and any Windows computer. Moreover, it can appear with any keyboard lock, i.e. Ctrl, Shift, Alt, Win or others, if you create them (as advanced user. Yes, from some viewpoint, new ones can be added, I am using this). It is rather a software (operating system in this case) than a hardware problem and it has two solutions:

1. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del, then Esc (to return back).
   Why this works: State of all pressed keys is reset when entering this screen.

2. Pressing the lock key which caused the problem. In your case, it is Win key. If you have two (left and right) and you don't know which one is stuck, then don't think, just press both.
   Why this works: Any press of a key sends KeyDown and KeyUp events. But sometimes, KeyUp is not registered by some layer of the operating system and the rest of the OS still assumes you are holding it down. By pressing the physical key again, the operating system receives both events anew. KeyUp says the hey has been released so things return to normal after depessing the key. I tested it many times, it works.

This has nothing to do with cleaning the keyboard etc.