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On logging into Oneiric, my repeat key functionality doesn't work. Holding in a key will not repeat. I can work around this by going into System Settings>>Keyboard and slightly adjusting the delay and/or speed and then the repeat keys will work for that session only.

Shutting down and restarting again breaks the repeat keys.

What can I do to fix this?

Jorge Castro
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Jim Holman
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7 Answers7

23

Go to system settings >> keyboard and make sure that repeat and speed are set correctly.

when this doesn't work, it sometimes helps to disable repeat keys and enable it again.

R. Oosterholt
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22

The xset utility can be used to enable keyboard repeat. It works on the X.org level, so should override whatever the distribution is doing wrong.

To enable keyboard repeat, execute:

xset r on

For details, see man xset.

tanius
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11

I installed xkbset and with the xkbset repeatkeys command it is now working.

I am using Ubuntu 12.04

safavieh
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1

I had the same problem as you, but I run a VM with VMware 8.0. After a while the keys would no repeat. What I discovered was I needed to disable "Grab when cursor enters window" from within the input preferences section (Edit -> Preferences -> Input). After that change I have not experienced my keyboard no repeating a keystroke if I hold it down.

luis vega
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1

For more recent versions of Ubuntu like 16.04 and 17.10, there seems to be a different problem with repeating keys not working.

If you run xev and see a steady stream of key events with key code 221, it's probably because of a problem with the peaq_wmi module. You can blacklist it:

sudo su
echo "blacklist peaq_wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf

Then reboot your machine.

The bug is marked as fixed, so a patch will presumably come out soon.

Don Kirkby
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0

You can "re-update" the value of the keyboard/repeat option in your config, which is located in /home/ubuntu/.config/dconf/user by default.

Assuming you're updating your default config, you can do that through:

dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/peripherals/keyboard/repeat true

This fixes the random misbehavior of Ubuntu which stops responding randomly(after hibernation/suspension in my case) when keeping the key pressed even though it's already ON(set to true). This the same as updating it through unity-control-center, but with this you can schedule it or run it as needed in a convenient way. Tested on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

nullptr
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I had the same problem in ubuntu 17.1 I solved the problem from Sitting->Universal Access and I reduced the "Delay" and "Speed" of "Repeat Keys"

Now the Repeat keys look like this and it works well

Ahmad Shangan
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