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[PlainTextMan]

Allow me to add my probably useless comments:

I never had the issue exactly as you describe it here, but I know that with many games occasionally if the game registers a keydown event and does not subsequently register the keyup event (if that is how the game's input system works, and many do including DF) either because of lag or because you alt-tabbed or whatever, then that key sticks like a *****. Most people freak out at this (probably not a tech support person tho...) but my solution is just to ensure the game window is focussed and then hit the stuck key once more to gen a keyup and get it unstuck (sometimes defocussing the window first can help too).

But most likely you have already thought of all that.

I find DF's default key hold and repeat settings (in init/*.txt) to be set to very annoying values, and ALWAYS tweak them after a fresh download! The defaults often cause my keys to get stuck at times or start repeating unwantedly.

But that some of your keys were to become unresponsive entirely? That is creepy strange. I'd love to hear a follow up from you if you do get it solved though.

Ah, and as a GNU/Linux/Ubuntu fan I at least have to irritate you with this suggestion: THROW OUT THAT CRAP OF YOURS AND GET A REAL OPERATING SYSTEM!!111 etc.

[Mcducks22]

It happened to me too. I just press "alt" and it immediately stops. I have no idea why, but it works for me.

[DrKillPatient]

If you want to confirm that it's the new Windows upgrade rather than a hardware problem (motherboard, etc), and have a USB drive with 50MB of space free, put Damn Small Linux on it and boot from the USB. Get DF-- which works with Linux very easily-- and see if the keys keep repeating. I personally suspect it's a fault of the upgrade process, since every time I've seen anyone go from Vista to 7 without wiping everything clean, something screws up.

[whosayswhatnow]

If you want to confirm that it's the new Windows upgrade rather than a hardware problem (motherboard, etc), and have a USB drive with 50MB of space free, put Damn Small Linux on it and boot from the USB. Get DF-- which works with Linux very easily-- and see if the keys keep repeating. I personally suspect it's a fault of the upgrade process, since every time I've seen anyone go from Vista to 7 without wiping everything clean, something screws up.

This. Vista is a little bitch to remove fully from a computer but if you don't it leaves some rubbish around that cause all sorts of errors. I haven't met keys perma-sticking before but I have wiped/reinstalled for mates when they were having problems after upgrading and suddenly, as if by magic, everything worked properly again.

[Merkuri]

I did a "custom" upgrade because there's no direct upgrade path between Vista x64 and Win7 x32, but I am starting to think that it wasn't as clean a process as I thought.  I think thi weekend I'm going to reformat and do it again from complete scratch.

Anybody know how to do a reformat from the Win7 DVD? I didn't see that as an option when I installed last time (otherwise I would have taken it - I like to completely wipe my machine from time to time to start from a blank slate).

[PlainTextMan]

I vaguely recall once that I had to corrupt a working FAT32 filesystem that had windows on it before Windows installer would give me the option to not upgrade but rather do a clean install. It was some significantly older version of windows, though. In my case I injured the FS by connecting the HDD as a secondary in my Linux machine and then setting a few permissions and finally piping some /dev/zero into the HDD block device (that was just the shortest and easiest way for me at the time). I could probably just have formatted it, but this was faster.

So if you are willing to re-install windows and in fact willing to wipe the drive first you can always try corrupting the drive's current FS to see if the windows installer option magically appears after that. (and using DSL as mentioned above could be used to do that if you don't have another PC or HDD handy)

[Merkuri]

I reinstalled Windows and used the option in the installer to format the drive first (there was an option there in the Advanced settings), and the weird keyboard issue in DF has gone away.  Yay!

Still installing Windows updates, including SP1 for Win7, so we'll see if the problem comes back after a particular update or set of updates, but I'm hopeful that I just had a bad Windows install.

Haven't checked yet if the Mass Effect problem went away, too.  Crossing my fingers.

[Merkuri]

Aw, carp, the problem's back!

I'm guessing it's either Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 or the Norton security suite that my ISP gives me because they were the two major things I installed between now and the last successful run of DF.  *grumble grumble*

Edit (to avoid 3 posts in a row): Yup, it is apparently part of the security suite that my ISP supplies.  I seem to have been able to remove just that part and not the whole antivirus suite.  I blamed this on Windows 7, but apparently it wasn't Windows 7 at all - it was just that when I reinstalled my ISP's security suite I got all of their fancy new stuff with it - stuff that apparently screwed with my keyboard. 

[Thief^]

Glad you've sorted it!

[fractalman]

[snip]
Edit (to avoid 3 posts in a row): Yup, it is apparently part of the security suite that my ISP supplies.  I seem to have been able to remove just that part and not the whole antivirus suite.  I blamed this on Windows 7, but apparently it wasn't Windows 7 at all - it was just that when I reinstalled my ISP's security suite I got all of their fancy new stuff with it - stuff that apparently screwed with my keyboard. 

Futzing carp, is THAT what I'm going to have to deal with to fix EXACTLY the same problem on this notebook i'm currently stuck using?
GAH!

[Caldfir]

It could possibly be Norton (or some other program that is running).  I personally know that if I have photoshop open, the escape key doesn't register in DF ever, which is super strange. 

If it was indeed the service pack, you can try running DF in a compatability mode (right click->properties->compatability tab) and see if that changes anything. 

The fact it is ONLY affecting DF and another game suggest that perhaps there is an incorrect translation being done between the graphics library and windows, and the fact it seems to be a precisely repeatable pattern supports this notion.  You could try the legacy (non-SDL) dwarf fortress download, and see if that one works. 

[fractalman]

Thanks, I'll use the old one whenever I'm stuck on the notebook.