Both Control Keys don't work

[MoXame]

Hi, this is my first question in the forum!

I have a problem. On my Laptop (HP 630) both ctrl keys don't work with Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon 64-Bit. All other keys work fine though. The ctrl keys also work fine when working with Windows.
I also checked it with an external keyboard which works fine.

So my question is how to fix it? I think it's a driver problem but that's sounds very weird to me because I never had that kind of issue.
Thank You for helping

[sleeper12]

You can try these, might work, might not:

press the Alt + Ctrl + Fn keys.

OR

I'm on Mint 18, so your choices here may be different:
In Menu under All: Keyboard, Layouts, Options, Ctrl key position, check box you prefer

[MoXame]

Hi, the shortcut didn't work
It seems that the ctrl key isn't even recognized by the system because when I switch the ctrl key with the alt key, the alt key(old ctrl key) doesn't work either.

I really have no other idea what to do ...

[sleeper12]

Do you have gnome-tweak-tool installed? Possible fix if you do (if not, ignore):

"I opened gnome-tweak-tool to see if i had any extensions that may be interfering and while i was looking noticed a 'Keyboard and Mouse' tab. When I looked under that I noticed the 'show all input sources' slider was set 'off'

I turned that on and also turned on 'Show location of pointer' and suddenly the Ctrl key works as expected.

I am now going to reboot and see if the fix is persistent.

Yep, after a reboot the fix is still working, yey!!"

[redlined]

Hi, the shortcut didn't work
It seems that the ctrl key isn't even recognized by the system because when I switch the ctrl key with the alt key, the alt key(old ctrl key) doesn't work either.

I really have no other idea what to do ...

hi Moxame! (and sleeper12!:D) I have a bad key issue I've had to work around on this laptop (waiting for replacement keyboard #2 now), anyways one tool I learned of while searching is terminal command xev I ended up working with dconf editor but think there is a simpler way using cmdline and xmodmap which we can try and get sorted here if you'd like.

one thing to try that I found on a quick search was simply run command setxkbmap and see if it resolves the issue (worth a shot!) otherwise I am using these two pages to work through this:

one mentions gnome-tweak-tool as suggested by sleeper12

this is what I am looking at for testing keys, getting keycode and try to puzzle the rest out here

let's see if the keys tell anything at all to system, please open terminal and copy&paste then enter this command:

Code: Select all

 xev | grep -i keyrelease -A5

it will open a little test box leave focus as terminal and this event box and one at a time press CTRL (left) then CTRL (right) then Ctrl+c to exit out of the event box. Then copy/paste the results in [code] [/code] box done by pressing </> icon above your reply edit box.

[sleeper12]

Another possible fix:

"<Menu <Windows <Movement Key <Choose 'Super'
make sure Ctrl isn't selected as the system thinks you are trying to move a window when you press CTRL."

[MoXame]

Another possible fix:

"<Menu <Windows <Movement Key <Choose 'Super'
make sure Ctrl isn't selected as the system thinks you are trying to move a window when you press CTRL."

Okay, tank you. I'll try that later.

[MoXame]

let's see if the keys tell anything at all to system, please open terminal and copy&paste then enter this command:

Code: Select all

 xev | grep -i keyrelease -A5

it will open a little test box leave focus as terminal and this event box and one at a time press CTRL (left) then CTRL (right) then Ctrl+c to exit out of the event box. Then copy/paste the results in [code] [/code] box done by pressing </> icon above your reply edit box.

Xev reports nothing. It seems like the system doesn't recognize the key at all. In Windows everything works (keyboard wise).

[MoXame]

Another possible fix:

"<Menu <Windows <Movement Key <Choose 'Super'
make sure Ctrl isn't selected as the system thinks you are trying to move a window when you press CTRL."

Hi, thank you. That didn't work either
When I look at the Keyboard Layout and look at the keyboard every key is recognised except both ctrl keys.

[JerryF]

Just a shot in the dark. In System Settings, Keyboard, Layouts, check what you have as your keyboard.

[sleeper12]

Maybe Mint has your wrong keyboard model You can try changing it: Menu, Keyboard, Layouts, Keyboard model.

[redlined]

let's see if the keys tell anything at all to system, please open terminal and copy&paste then enter this command:

Code: Select all

 xev | grep -i keyrelease -A5

it will open a little test box leave focus as terminal and this event box and one at a time press CTRL (left) then CTRL (right) then Ctrl+c to exit out of the event box. Then copy/paste the results in [code] [/code] box done by pressing </> icon above your reply edit box.

Xev reports nothing. It seems like the system doesn't recognize the key at all. In Windows everything works (keyboard wise).

this is terrible! did you try setxkbmap ? it worked some magic in one thread I read, worth a try

otherwise, I found advice to update grub with a dumbkbd boot parameter which does disable integrated keyboard indicator lights (e.g. caps lock, numlock, wifi, mute, etc) as well keyboard reset params may help solve this. I will search for some clarity on that and post back what I find.

[MoXame]

let's see if the keys tell anything at all to system, please open terminal and copy&paste then enter this command:

Code: Select all

 xev | grep -i keyrelease -A5

it will open a little test box leave focus as terminal and this event box and one at a time press CTRL (left) then CTRL (right) then Ctrl+c to exit out of the event box. Then copy/paste the results in [code] [/code] box done by pressing </> icon above your reply edit box.

Xev reports nothing. It seems like the system doesn't recognize the key at all. In Windows everything works (keyboard wise).

this is terrible! did you try setxkbmap ? it worked some magic in one thread I read, worth a try

otherwise, I found advice to update grub with a dumbkbd boot parameter which does disable integrated keyboard indicator lights (e.g. caps lock, numlock, wifi, mute, etc) as well keyboard reset params may help solve this. I will search for some clarity on that and post back what I find.

Setxkbmap didn't work. In my keyboard layout I only have my German layout.
I will try the grub thing later although I think it won't work

[MoXame]

Ok guys, after a long time I now tell you, that the grub thing didn't work either. I think I'll try Windows again and see if it isn't a Hardware issue.

[brawaga]

In my particular case Ctrl keys did not work as a modifiers for keys like Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and others, but did work with mouse click. I noticed that problem occurs when Skype call starts, and when I restarted Skype, it's gone. There are also some issue reports connecting video calls with keyboard problems, so likely crap makes Skype to be more and more Microsoft. Oh, seems I mixed names up again.