Do you mean that all the text is entered in uppercase?

You can try to press the Shift key and possibly other modifier keys like Ctrl and Alt a few times in case Firefox thinks that they are in pressed down mode.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

• Do not click the Reset button on the Safe mode start window or otherwise make changes.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

Thanks COR-EL The problem is not there all there time (OK at the moment) and not in Win7 All keys enter a if shift is held. I have tried as suggested with modifier keys. Starting Firefox in safe mode did not help. Appearance is set to default. I have also changed keyboards (PS2) and checked for keyboard driver updates. I will try suggested fixes again next time I have the problem and re-post. Regards pedro59

Did you make sure that CAPS lock isn't pressed?

Thanks again cor-el Yes. Caps lock is not pressed. Pressing caps lock caused alphabetical characters to be entered as lower case and not in upper case as expected. All other characters such as . are still entered as < as if shift were pressed. I also tried uninstall / re-install but could uninstall using all Firefox suggested methods. These methods just locked the computer and required a hardware reboot. Can you provide me with a link to an uninstall program on the Firefox site that I could use if all else fails. Regards pedro59

Yes, that looks all like symptoms of a pressed Shift button.

If you want to uninstall and reinstall Firefox then make sure to delete the Firefox program folder to make sure that there aren't any leftover files in it.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox

You can find the latest Firefox release in all languages and for all Operating Systems here:

• Firefox 16.0.x: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.

See "Creating a profile":

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues

There may be extensions and plugins installed by default in a new profile, so check that in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & Plugins" in case there are still problems.

If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.

See:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

Try to boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode
• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode

Hi cor-el I first tried Safe Mode with networking and all characters entered normally. When I tried Enable VGA, again in Safe Mode, the problem was there. Do you have any thoughts before I change profiles or re-install? Regards pedro59

Hi cor-el I tried all the recomendations including creating a new profile. I was unable to do this as I encountered the same problem as if the shift key was pressed down. It was'nt. I had to remove ALL Firefox information and do a clean re-install. I first exported the book marks only to a USB key and imported them after re-installation. Fx now appears to be running OK The problem appears to have been with the way all parts of Fx were running on my machine. On checking the problem appears to coincide with the release of 16.0.2. I am set for automatic updates. This may be of some help to you and others. I will run the new installation for a few days and if no further problems mark it as solved. Regards and thanks for your help. Regards pedro 59

Hi cor-el With reference to my previous reply the problem seems to be back again. It is definitely related to keyboard entries as remembered information loads OK with a mouse click but I cannot correctly enter information with the keyboard. Do you have any further suggestions? Regards pedro59

What kind of keyboard are you using (battery operated;wireless or a direct connected USB)?

Did you try another keyboard?

Hi Cor-el I am using a directly connected PS2 keyboard. I have tried a different PS2 keyboard with the same result. Since the re-installation I have updated Adobe Flash Player. Today I have had one good start and one bad start to Fx that repeated the problem. I have also had one start where the fault ocurred part way thru entering information. Is it worth uninstalling and re-installing an earlier version of Fx. Regards pedro59

Hi Cor-el The problem appears to have gone with the upgrade to V17.0. There must have been some conflict between my WinXP and V16.0.2 as the problem appeared at the time of upgrade to V16.0.2 and dissapeared with V17.0. I did not have the problem with Win7 on another machine.

I will mark the problem as solved when I have used Fx for a few days and the problem does nor re-occur.

Thanks for your help. Regards Peter Dalton