Slow keyboard response

spiderplant · 14-02-2005, 20:55

I've recently reinstalled everything on my laptop following a hard disc swap. It's running XP SP2. Now when I'm typing, it frequently responds very slowly - often about 1 character a second, but sometimes it goes to sleep for several seconds. But if I paste a block of text, that works instantly.

TaskManager shows that the CPU is not busy whilst it is going slow. And the problem happens whether or not the network is connected.

I've got all critical XP patches applied and have checked for spyware and viruses.

I have Google Desktop running, but I still get the problem if I suspend indexing.

Any suggestions?

nffc · 14-02-2005, 21:26

Overheating?

15-02-2005, 02:45

Daft question, maybe, but have you checked the settings for the keyboard auto-repeat delay and rate in the control panel?

I had a problem like this which was caused by those settings somehow getting set to maximum!

spiderplant · 15-02-2005, 10:51

Neither overheating nor keyboard settings.

When typing into text fields (like I am at the mo), the echo of characters lags way behind. But otherwise the PC is behaving as it should.

nffc · 15-02-2005, 10:58

Probably a rogue process- try a diagnostic startup in msconfig and see if it works then.

If it does then re-enable them one-by-one after reboots until the problem reappears. And that will be your culprit.

If it's not solved it post back

with a system spec

Gareth · 15-02-2005, 11:56

I know you said you've checked for spyware, but I remember slow typing in text fields being a symptom of infection by CWS (coolwebsearch), which is often missed by Spybot & others.

I'd try the cwshredder tool to see if that brings anything back... should only take 30 secs to verify.

Padawan · 15-02-2005, 12:06

This may be a windows feature called "Sticky Keys" that you have accidentally turned on. If so it can be switched on/off by clicking the shift key 5 times.

spiderplant · 15-02-2005, 22:14

Problem solved - thanks nffc! I didn't know about msconfig.

Turned out to be a process called TpKmapMn. It's simulates ThinkPad-specific keys on separate keyboards. I don't need that, so in the bin it goes.