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When I press the ` (backtick) key, I have to hold it down for about a second before it inputs the character. When it starts inputting, it will input a stream (like ```````).

How can this be fixed?

It is not a dead key. I am using the 'US' layout. Pressing the key twice does nothing, I have to press and hold to insert the backtick symbol. This doesn't happen for any other key. There are no settings enabled in Ease of Access → Make the keyboard easier to use.

The key works perfectly fine in Ubuntu 13.10 (I'm dual-booting), so it's unlikely to be a hardware issue.

I'm currently using the 'US' keyboard layout, switching to 'United Kingdom' makes the key work normally, however that's not an option as other keys are changed as well. The key also works normally on the login (Welcome) screen.

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14
  • Bad contact, dirt? Try wiggling the key and cleaning your keyboard.
    – Jan Doggen
    Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 11:14
  • 1
    @JanDoggen: The key works fine in Ubuntu on the same computer, it's unlikely that that's the case.
    – kiri
    Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 11:15
  • 2
    What happens if you type the key normally and then just sit back and wait for a second? Or if you type the key and then type some other key (e.g., space, period, an alphanumeric)?
    – Scott - Слава Україні
    Commented Feb 11, 2014 at 1:00
  • 1
    Another idea: As a test, try opening the on-screen keyboard (run, osk). Now try pressing that key on the osk with the mouse and see if it behaves the same.
    – nitro2k01
    Commented Feb 12, 2014 at 11:36
  • 1
    Yet another question. How is the keyboard connected to the computer? USB? PS2? Something else?
    – nitro2k01
    Commented Feb 12, 2014 at 11:48

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

This was happening for me as well, and I fixed it doing the following (was led to this solution by user9999999's suggestion in the op comments.

  1. Click Start, type "ïntl.cpl",
  2. Go to "Keyboard and Languages" tab,
  3. Click "Change Keyboards" button
  4. Click "Advanced Key Settings" tab
  5. In the "Hot keys for input languages" for the action "Between Input Languages" and click "Change Key Sequence" button below
  6. Remove or replace the "grave accent" mark as its trigger with a different one.
  7. Click "ok" a couple of times to save and exit the dialog.
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2
  • 2
    Thank you - this helped me too! First time using a laptop with an EU keyboard and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why this was happening.
    – gillespieza
    Commented Jul 9, 2020 at 9:19
  • I almost thinking buying a new keyboard for my laptop, what a mess for windows :/ Thank you!
    – Benyamin Limanto
    Commented Aug 30, 2022 at 2:48
0

The US keyboard doesn't in general behave in such way. Have you installed some "helpful" keyboard software?

One way to find out is to boot in Safe mode and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't, then the cause is indeed some installed product.

You could use Autoruns to turn off suspicious startups until you find the one doing that.

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4
  • How would I use X-Mouse button control as a replacement keyboard?
    – kiri
    Commented Feb 10, 2014 at 8:10
  • Not as replacement keyboard, but as a replacement keyboard software (if you have one installed, do you?).
    – harrymc
    Commented Feb 10, 2014 at 9:40
  • No, I don't have any keyboard software that I'm aware of (should I need one?)
    – kiri
    Commented Feb 10, 2014 at 11:18
  • Not really. Does my suggestion of Safe mode boot give any results?
    – harrymc
    Commented Feb 10, 2014 at 12:29

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