Observed in wild: Sticky "ALT" key. Independent confirmation?

catsittingstill · 05-14-2008, 02:34 PM

I reviewed a manuscript last week, and took a lot of notes on inconsistencies, etc. In general I was very happy with how the Kindle performed, but I did note one thing.

The "ALT" key that one holds to get certain punctuation marks sometimes seems to "stick." That is, I would let go of it to continue typing, but no letters would print, j and k would move the cursor through the note, and the backspace key would delete the entire text of the note rather than just one letter. Pressing and releasing the "ALT" key again usually fixes the problem.

I am thinking about calling Amazon about this, but thought I'd check whether other Kindle users have observed this phenomenon? Before I realized what was happening I noticed that the text of the note I was typing would occasionally just disappear. Has anyone noticed any problems of that sort?

Ervserver · 05-14-2008, 09:13 PM

Just checked ours, no sticking

TallMomof2 · 05-15-2008, 09:33 AM

No sticking here, either.

Alisa · 05-15-2008, 01:42 PM

Not here.

honeybunny · 05-15-2008, 02:11 PM

Maybe the one specific unit had a gunked-up Alt key?

catsittingstill · 05-17-2008, 09:01 PM

Hi Honeybunny--

It's quite possible that it's just my unit that has it; before calling Amazon tech support (which I do plan to do) I just wanted to see if anyone else was noticing the problem.

I just felt like it would be useful to know.

Would you mind trying it on your Kindle? Just add a couple of notes to something and use the alt key to get two or three of the punctuation marks in your annotation.

Arg, now that I'm trying to duplicate the problem, the alt key isn't sticking anymore. Sigh.

Anyway--I haven't given you karma yet because it wasn't clear from your post whether you'd tried it. If you'll try it for me, I'll give you karma. It won't be much, because I'm not a long-time poster with lots of karma myself, but it will be a little boost to your rep. :-)

honeybunny · 05-17-2008, 09:14 PM

LOL, I am not in it for the karma. That's funny that you use it as an incentive.

Let me try it for you....

OK I did this:

testing sticky alt key thing. <alt>6<alt>7<alt>8<alt>96789

On the ones where I used Alt, the proper symbol came up. Then the 6789 came up without the alt. So I don't think my alt key was sticking. Was this an appropriate test?

catsittingstill · 05-18-2008, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeybunny

LOL, I am not in it for the karma. That's funny that you use it as an incentive.

Let me try it for you....

OK I did this:

testing sticky alt key thing. <alt>6<alt>7<alt>8<alt>96789

On the ones where I used Alt, the proper symbol came up. Then the 6789 came up without the alt. So I don't think my alt key was sticking. Was this an appropriate test?

(shrug) well, you know, it was the only incentive I had :-)
Yes, that was the sort of test I had in mind. Thank you for checking!

05-14-2008, 02:34 PM	#1
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	Observed in wild: Sticky "ALT" key. Independent confirmation? I reviewed a manuscript last week, and took a lot of notes on inconsistencies, etc. In general I was very happy with how the Kindle performed, but I did note one thing. The "ALT" key that one holds to get certain punctuation marks sometimes seems to "stick." That is, I would let go of it to continue typing, but no letters would print, j and k would move the cursor through the note, and the backspace key would delete the entire text of the note rather than just one letter. Pressing and releasing the "ALT" key again usually fixes the problem. I am thinking about calling Amazon about this, but thought I'd check whether other Kindle users have observed this phenomenon? Before I realized what was happening I noticed that the text of the note I was typing would occasionally just disappear. Has anyone noticed any problems of that sort?

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05-14-2008, 09:13 PM	#2
Ervserver Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 1008294 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Iowa, USA Device: Nook Simple Touch	Just checked ours, no sticking

05-15-2008, 09:33 AM	#3
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	No sticking here, either.

05-15-2008, 01:42 PM	#4
Alisa Gadget Geek Posts: 2,324 Karma: 22221 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Paperwhite, Kindle 3 (retired), Skindle 1.2 (retired)	Not here.

05-15-2008, 02:11 PM	#5
honeybunny Connoisseur Posts: 96 Karma: 76 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Brisbane, AU Device: Kindle 2 GSM	Maybe the one specific unit had a gunked-up Alt key?

05-17-2008, 09:01 PM	#6
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	Hi Honeybunny-- It's quite possible that it's just my unit that has it; before calling Amazon tech support (which I do plan to do) I just wanted to see if anyone else was noticing the problem. I just felt like it would be useful to know. Would you mind trying it on your Kindle? Just add a couple of notes to something and use the alt key to get two or three of the punctuation marks in your annotation. Arg, now that I'm trying to duplicate the problem, the alt key isn't sticking anymore. Sigh. Anyway--I haven't given you karma yet because it wasn't clear from your post whether you'd tried it. If you'll try it for me, I'll give you karma. It won't be much, because I'm not a long-time poster with lots of karma myself, but it will be a little boost to your rep. :-)

05-17-2008, 09:14 PM	#7
honeybunny Connoisseur Posts: 96 Karma: 76 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Brisbane, AU Device: Kindle 2 GSM	LOL, I am not in it for the karma. That's funny that you use it as an incentive. Let me try it for you.... OK I did this: testing sticky alt key thing. <alt>6<alt>7<alt>8<alt>96789 On the ones where I used Alt, the proper symbol came up. Then the 6789 came up without the alt. So I don't think my alt key was sticking. Was this an appropriate test?

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