I have a Gateway system that came with a KB-0532 keyboard, version T, that is driving me insane.
Some of the keys have alternate characters, appearing in blue. For example, the quotation mark/apostrophe key alternates to a pair of 'slanted' apostrophes; the pipe/backslash key alternates to angled brackets.
This could be handy, however, the keyboard will, every few moments, arbitrarily start using these alternate characters. I can temporarily solve the problem by quitting the application and restarting it. When I'm working on a web project, and have several windows open in Dreamweaver, it's a serious inconvenience. I have searched high and low for a solution to this problem but cannot even find a reference to it. The computer came without any keyboard-related documentation, nor can I find any on the Gateway website.
I've tried to reinstall the driver, looked for new drivers, and even reinstalled the OS. Nothing works. I'm desperate for any advice you can offer, and am grateful in advance.
Same keyboard, same problem for almost 2 years now, and just now figured out how to fix it!! Try a simple left ctrl-shift, your language tab up top will switch between US English/Canadian English/Canadian multilingual, or whatever you set it for. I occasionally want the alternate characters applied, so now I can switch back and forth easily. You may need to set the language tab to your preferred settings. Hope this helps!
kjag - you are the best!!!!!!!!! This was driving me nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thank you all. I ultimately found that next to EN on the lower task bar is something that looks like a steam train but is actually an icon for the keyboard! When I clicked on it I found that there were three choices: US, Canadian Multilingual Standard, and English (Canada). When I checked "US" the problem went away. However, this is an unsatisfactory solution for someone writing in Canadian Standard English.
Might there be a key marked "Fn" or something like that nearby the shift, ctrl or ALT keys that you might accidentally touch? I have only seen such alternate symbols on laptops usually, and they are often a "numpad". Look for a "Fn" or "F Lock" or something similar and see if that will toggle it on or off.
Sounds strange. Is it only "special characters" that are behaving strangely? Are all the letters still OK?
Do you have a little blue box with the letters "EN" on it in the taskbar? It soundslike you may be changing keyboard layout. This can be done by hotkeys (I think it's ALT+SHIFT to toggle) or by clicking the blue box with EN (assuming you have english keyboard layout) Try pressing ALT+SHIFT and see if this changes things. If so, that's your problem.
I use Norwegian keyboard layout myself, but windows by default installs english support, and it's fairly easy to change this by accident. You can remove the problem entirely by going to START->Control Panes -> Regional settings and remove the keyboard layouts you don't want.
Old thread, but just want to add that none of these solutions will work for some people. I think a majority of users don't realize that how many languages appear on the language bar, how to switch between them using hotkeys, and whether the language bar even appears at all, are ALL user configurable. I have exactly one language defined-US English-because I removed any others. I don't have the language bar (or a keyboard icon, or anything pertaining to this subject) appearing on my taskbar, because I have no need for it. And for the same reason, I disabled any hotkey activity pertaining to language, since for one thing I use dozens of hotkeys I've defined to do other things, they all use different combinations of the Ctrl, Shift, and Alt keys, and if I didn't disengage language hotkeys they would just get in the way. -BUT-... despite all of the above, I too was using the exact same Gateway keyboard, and I too had *lots* of very weird problems with it when I tried using it on a different computer. In the end I simply junked it since I had others I could use, and never really found a solution, but I can confirm that none of the replies in this thread, well-meaning though they undoubtedly were, would solve my problems with that keyboard.
Keyboard language problem using shift keys (getting blue letters)
-On taskbark, click keyboard icon...
The Fn key (bottom-left) invokes the second function of keys that have a second function (in blue).
The Fn function can be locked on or off by holding the Fn key and pressing the Padlock key.
Padlock is the second function of the Scroll key (near top-right)
Thank you, the Alt Shift seems to have worked, I don't have the Fn or EN keys on my board.
Best regards from Cpthook.
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I should add that this problem can occur in any application, and while it is happening in one application, I can switch to another application, or open a new one, and the keyboard will work fine for a few moments.
Thank you...that was one of the first things I checked.
I have tried to change it by using the Shift Alt key combination but it just makes it upper or lower case. First off, how does one go about activating the Blue characters, knowing that might help me in turning it off. Sorry but i'm a real dummy at this.. Any help would be great, right? So why would the question mark now work here? I've met my frustration level!
I have the same problem. It only happens when I'm writing emails in Thunderbird. None of the proposed solutions works for me.
kjag, I could not ever possibly thank you enough. Thank you!!! You CANNOT imagine the frustration this has caused me.
THANK YOU!!!
Cheers,
Darrell in Toronto (Bananapatch)
yes, it's happening to me as well and it's driving me nuts. If someone knows how to fix this problem, could you please teach us.
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