I don’t really know what to say other than that, it’s just driving me crazy. Basicly, I can’t type anything while I listen to anything on the computer, because every time I hit the left SHIFT key, it mutes and un-mutes my computer.
What in the world would cause this, and what can I do to fix it? Please, keep in mind that I know nothing at all about specifics about computers, so please go into some sort of detail if you have an idea, heh.
I’m on Windows XP by the way, in case you need that information.
Sounds like the Pepsi Syndrome. Have you spilled anything near the keyboard lately, or is it unusually humid where you are? A little moisture can change the codes being sent by a key. I spilled some water in my keyboard once, and one of the keys started printing the time & date! It was fine after it dried out though, so try propping it up in front of a fan overnight.
No, my keyboard is perfectly fine, as I take VERY good care of it, so it can’t be anything like that. Also, yes it is muting my computer. I press it, the mute box is checked, press it again and it goes away. Also, the word mute pops up when I press it, lol.
I’m thinking it might be something called a Hot Key, where somehow that key has been programmed to mute my computer. I have no idea about that though, it’s just what someone mentioned to me a while ago.
Yes, you definitely have “hotkey” software loaded, such as that made by Netropa that comes with a lot of low end keyboards that have programmable buttons on them.
Run your mouse cursor across the icons in your system tray (lower right by the time display). If any of them popup text indicating this kind of software, right-click the icon and chose Exit or Close, then open up the Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs and look for an entry similar to the name you found on the icon in the system tray. Then uninstall it.
If you don’t have an icon in the tray, post here and we can try to walk you through a registry edit that will surely stop the program from loading.
I chatted with Brentlumkin through Yahoo a few days ago and talked him through uninstalling the software. He reinstalled it fresh but the same thing kept happening. The keyboard is a Gateway Millenium Keyboard and looks like this. The problem is that the software Gateway provides only allows you to configure the top row of special buttons; you aren’t given the option of mapping anything else. The buttons arranged at the edge of the gray semi-circle are hard-coded to do one thing, such as mute, volume up/down, etc.
If anyone else has one of these keyboards (and the Millenium Keyboard software installed) and knows if there are registry or ini file tweaks that can change the mappings of any other buttons, please share. Otherwise I am assuming that the keyboard has a short or some other thing wrong with it that makes the left shift key send out the same scan code (in addition to shift) as the special mute button at the top of the keyboard.