Keys to the city

February 12, 2009 7:03 PM

Help me fix a keyboard/key problem with my Vista laptop.

Background. I previously had XP installed but had to move back to Vista (long story).

Since then I have noticed a few little idiosyncrasies with my keyboard that have finally gotten the better of me. When ever I type this symbol:
'
by pressing the key once, nothing happens. If I hit the key again, two become visible (ie '') so I have always just hit the key twice and deleted one.

Similarly, whenever I hit this symbol:
" (yes, same key, with shift)
I get the same thing.

I was able to handle the hit-twice-then-delete-once issue. But recently I have noticed (only it seems in Google Earth, Youtube and Gmail - all Google right?) that the @ key and the " key have been swapped around, but only for those sites/applications.

I have no idea how to fix this problem and am wondering if anyone else has experienced the same or similar. I am running a Dell Inspiron 1501 (meaty!) that is around 2 years old and the problem only arose when I switched back to the original Vista install late last year.

I don't even know what to search for online to get help.

You are my only hope.....

posted by micklaw to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Best answer: Double check which keyboard version you are using.

Go to Control Panel, Regional and Language Options, Keyboards. Make sure the keyboard is the correct one.
posted by Man_in_staysis at 7:42 PM on February 12, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks Man....., no luck. I tried changing that setting to a couple of languages/settings but nothing changed.

What specifically should I be looking for here?
posted by micklaw at 10:33 PM on February 12, 2009

If you're desperate, and your computer isn't too carefully personalized, you could try just restoring the computer to factory settings (using the restore disk that probably came with the laptop). Could work...dunno. Good luck.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 10:37 PM on February 12, 2009

Hey there Mick, are you referring to the actual Google Earth app, or to Google Maps? The reason I ask is that while Google Earth is a standalone app, if you're using Google Maps, that means all three places you've noticed the weirdness are taking place in your browser...

I suppose it'd be good information to have anyway, but if we did drill the problem down to be JUST happening in your browser, I'd ask you whether you're running Firefox or Internet Explorer -- I'd also try to verify the "Only happens in my web browser" theory by asking you if you get the same behaviour with apostrophes in, say, notepad, wordpad, Microsoft Word, or any other app you can enter text into that isn't a browser.
posted by Jinkeez at 6:33 AM on February 13, 2009

This happened to me when I accidentally hit CTRL ( or ALT, or maybe both) and another key, but I can't remember for the life of me what it was. My google-fu fails me. It wasn't a number, I'm certain of that.
posted by fiercekitten at 11:57 AM on February 13, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for trying so far. I might play with a few ctrl combos to see what I can get.

Jinkeez, it is GE and the problem is occurring everywhere, just the "/@ thing in those sites/apps mentioned. I'll keep playing!
posted by micklaw at 10:46 PM on February 13, 2009

Response by poster: I got it!!

Big ups to Man_in_staysis. You win!
posted by micklaw at 2:03 AM on February 14, 2009

Best answer: You're using the US-International keyboard layout. Change it to English - US.
posted by shinybeast at 2:11 AM on February 14, 2009

Left-Alt Shift!
posted by fiercekitten at 3:49 PM on February 19, 2009