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Firefox not responding to keyboard input

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I'm having issues with Firefox temporarily no longer responding to keyboard input.

I have two machines, both running Windows 7. On my laptop, I never have any issues but on my desktop, I find that Firefox sometimes blocks keyboard input. It will allow me to enter one character in any text field, and no more. Any further input is ignored. This applies to the address bar, the search box and any text fields in the displayed web page, in any tab. All keyboard navigation seems to also be ignored.

I've tried Reset Firefox and Safe Mode, they don't appear to change anything. I've also tried uninstalling Synergy and changing from my regular English-International keyboard layout to US English, but this still seems to occur. I am also running Workrave which can interrupt keyboard input, but since I can add 1 character, I suspect that Workrave is not the problem.

Sometimes it can seemingly be unblocked by pressing Start+F9, CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, restarting firefox or opening a new tab, but this seems to only be a temporary solution, the problem soon reoccurs. This bug has been present for some time, I first noticed it in v28 (although it may be even older), I am currently using v31.

One thing I've noticed is that it never occurs until after my screen has been locked at least once.

The trouble-shooting information attached will not be entirely accurate because I'm using my laptop to type this - Firefox is not accepting keyboard input right now on my desktop! However, the two environments are similar.

Thanks, Tadhg

I'm having issues with Firefox temporarily no longer responding to keyboard input. I have two machines, both running Windows 7. On my laptop, I never have any issues but on my desktop, I find that Firefox sometimes blocks keyboard input. It will allow me to enter one character in any text field, and no more. Any further input is ignored. This applies to the address bar, the search box and any text fields in the displayed web page, in any tab. All keyboard navigation seems to also be ignored. I've tried Reset Firefox and Safe Mode, they don't appear to change anything. I've also tried uninstalling Synergy and changing from my regular English-International keyboard layout to US English, but this still seems to occur. I am also running Workrave which can interrupt keyboard input, but since I can add 1 character, I suspect that Workrave is not the problem. Sometimes it can seemingly be unblocked by pressing Start+F9, CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, restarting firefox or opening a new tab, but this seems to only be a temporary solution, the problem soon reoccurs. This bug has been present for some time, I first noticed it in v28 (although it may be even older), I am currently using v31. One thing I've noticed is that it never occurs until after my screen has been locked at least once. The trouble-shooting information attached will not be entirely accurate because I'm using my laptop to type this - Firefox is not accepting keyboard input right now on my desktop! However, the two environments are similar. Thanks, Tadhg

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Some have reported that pressing F9 and the Windows key simultaneously one or more times has worked to fix issues with the keyboard not working.