Keys get "stuck" randomly and type endless line of a particular letter/command

Question

I have a strange problem in Ubuntu 18.04 (I use a DELL Latitude E5550): sometimes when I type, some keys get "stuck", meaning that when I type "i", the result is an endless line of i-s ("iiiiiiiiiiiiii"). If backspace gets stuck, entire texts I wrote are deleted. I can stop this by pressing some other button.

I had the same problem in Ubuntu 16.04 while using the same laptop. I "solved" this issue by setting the keyboard to write only one character when I press down a button. However, this possibility seems to be missing from Ubuntu 18.04.

A few days ago I ran a hardware diagnostic, which found no problems on the hardware side.

Solution

In Ubuntu 18.04 issue this command:

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard repeat
true

If the result is true then turn off keyboard repeat using this command:

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard repeat false

The other related commands you can use are:

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard delay
uint32 500
$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard repeat-interval
uint32 30

Comments

[mikewhatever]

Looks like you need to replace the keyboard.

[WinEunuuchs2Unix]

If keyboard doesn't exhibit same behavior in Windows then bug may be related to this one: askubuntu.com/questions/995819/…

[Hee Jin]

Hi Sipos, can you add the output of uname -a to your question?

[Sipos Zoltán]

I am afraid I do not understand what 'add the output of uname -a' means, sorry :(

[GUDDU KUMAR]

This really made my day! It worked on ubuntu 18.04 I run the first 2 commands and boom it worked

[Omkar Kulkarni]

This just blocks repetition of characters. It doesnt allow me to reenter same character even if I purposely want to do it without repressing the key.

[WinEunuuchs2Unix]

@OmkarKulkarni The design of this answer is to turn off keyboard repeat. You will need to search deeper for the solution to your problem or, post a new question with your particulars.