Keyboard repeat problem on an Inspiron 1501

[Bruce Cran]

Bruce Cran wrote:
> I'm seeing a problem on my laptop with FreeBSD 7.0-RC1 and xorg 7.3 -
> but the problem's been around for a few months.  When I keep a key held
> down it'll repeat at most around 10 times before stopping.  Often it
> won't even repeat at all, and I have to keep pressing the key again each
> time, which is quite annoying.
> 
> My keyboard settings in xorg.conf:
> 
> Section "InputDevice"
>     Identifier  "Keyboard1"
>     Driver      "kbd"
>     Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
>     Option "XkbRules"   "xorg"
>     Option "XkbModel"   "pc105"
>     Option "XkbLayout"  "gb"
> EndSection
> 
> 
> I've checked it's not a problem with the keyboard by switching back to 
> the text console; the keys repeat properly there.  Has anyone else come 
> across this issue?

I found what the problem was: the Dell Inspiron 1501 has a BIOS issue 
where it constantly emits scancodes apparently related to the power 
state, which interrupts the current keypress.  Updating to the 2.6.3 
BIOS and removing and reinstalling the battery solved the problem.

-- 
Bruce