Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

T400/410/420 and T500/510/520 series specific matters only
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Sense
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Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

#1 Post by Sense » Thu Aug 27, 2015 2:06 pm

I noticed that sometimes when I type, I get a beep. Doing a google search showed that it happens when three keys are pressed at the same time. Only some combinations cause this. For example: FGB, 567, HJK, plus many more.

Is this some kind of wizardry by Lenovo to give us typing lessons?
What is the purpose of this?

I haven't disabled it yet, but here are the instructions if anyone wants to:
1. Right click on my computer, select properties, then click Device Manager
2. Click view -> show hidden devices; this will reveal Non-Plug and Play Drivers, expand it and double click Beep
3. Click the Driver tab, and press the Stop button to turn off.
4. Lastly, select Disabled for Startup Type to make sure it won't start next boot.

The default setting is System if you want to revert back.

*You, the user, are the only person responsible for your actions and performing. I take no responsibility.
Thinkpad:
T420 i7-2620M 2.70Ghz 16Gb RAM 500Gb NVIDIA NVS 4200M and Intel HD Graphics 1600x900
SL500 Core 2 Duo T6570 2.1GHz 4Gb RAM 250Gb NVIDIA G105M (dead screen)

automobus
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Re: Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

#2 Post by automobus » Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:48 pm

Sense wrote:Is this some kind of wizardry by Lenovo to give us typing lessons?
No. I guess, this is some kind of cost-reduction by IBM, to "simplify" or "de-feature" products. Having used a few ThinkPad T,X and keyboard Model M side-by-side, I believe IBM reused electrical/wire design of Model M in ThinkPad products. IBM's Model M is widely regarded as inferior to Model F, one reason being its complete 2-key rollover and very limited 3KRO.

Re: ThinkPad 600X - key rollover on arrow keys?

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Re: Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

#3 Post by jdrou » Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:52 pm

I think this is pretty common on most keyboards. Only some very high-end or "gaming" keyboards will reliably work with multiple keys pressed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_%28key%29
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Re: Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

#4 Post by rkawakami » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:40 pm

If you don't want to go poking around Device Manager, I think you could do the same thing in BIOS. At least for my T420 (and others before it), there's a setting under Config/Beep and Alarm named Keyboard Beep that will disable the beep. I tested it out using W7 and it works.
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Sense
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Re: Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

#5 Post by Sense » Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:41 pm

rkawakami wrote:If you don't want to go poking around Device Manager, I think you could do the same thing in BIOS. At least for my T420 (and others before it), there's a setting under Config/Beep and Alarm named Keyboard Beep that will disable the beep. I tested it out using W7 and it works.
Great alternative. I tested it and it works!
Thinkpad:
T420 i7-2620M 2.70Ghz 16Gb RAM 500Gb NVIDIA NVS 4200M and Intel HD Graphics 1600x900
SL500 Core 2 Duo T6570 2.1GHz 4Gb RAM 250Gb NVIDIA G105M (dead screen)

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Re: Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

#6 Post by dr_st » Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:18 am

jdrou wrote:I think this is pretty common on most keyboards. Only some very high-end or "gaming" keyboards will reliably work with multiple keys pressed.
Most desktop keyboards are somewhere in between. They are not as bad as laptop keyboards, that is, most 3-key combinations work. But they are not full n-key rollover like high-end mechanical keyboards.
Current: X220 4291-4BG, T410 2537-R46, T60 1952-F76, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G
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Re: Pressing Three Keys Simultaneously Causes Beep

#7 Post by Mike Blake » Sat Aug 29, 2015 12:51 am

I had a similar problem once that turned out to be the Accessibility option "StickyKeys."
--Mike Blake

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