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What causes ST keyclicks to get stuck?


zzip

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Since first owning an ST, I noticed that sometimes a key would get stuck, or keyclick sound would just keep repeating until you press a key.   It often happens at boot time when you haven't even pressed any keys.   It's something I always took for granted.    Last night I noticed it was happening on the emulators too.   What causes these phantom keypresses?   Is there anything that can be done to fix the issue? 

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The whole keyboard, better said IKBD chip, ACIA - TOS protocol is just not perfect - works not flawless in all situations . It would need more, longest code for all cases.  The rule is simple: don't touch keyboard or move mouse in first couple second after reset.  

I really did not notice those repeating keypress situations, well - except when moved accidently mouse.

So, what can be done is to let good old TOS in piece while TOS getting ready for all nasty user demands ?

 

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21 minutes ago, ataricrypt said:

Hit reboot...

STOP! DONT TOUCH ME, says the ST.

.... Few seconds later and the ST is your friend again ?

 

Bugged me this since 87 lol 

I swear I don't touch the keys!  but in an emulator the reset button is done with a mouse click, so it's hard to avoid touching the mouse in that case :)  

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I've seen this caused by debris on the PCB connections under where the plunger goes.  The one I just cleaned up on my channel was suffering from that behaviour a fair bit until I cleaned it up. (Video coming in a week or so - it's on Patreon already as early access though).  The problem is after years of use you get tiny bits of the black conductive stuff just sat there on the part the rubber plunger joins up.  So its super easy for a bit of conduction even when you aren't pressing the key.  Typically you have a press the keys down all over until you work out which one it is, and then it stops.  But I am sure that's what causes the "ghost" press on power up.  My own ST had this issue too, but no longer suffers from it after cleaning.

 

A word of warning about cleaning - you can find that some keys dont work AT ALL after wiping gently with IPA!  But there's a solution to that too (again covered in my video that will go public in a week or two).

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