character repeat (doesn't, then does)

[jbarry]

I wasn't sure how to search on this problem, so I apologize if it's been answered too many times previously. For months I've had to manually strike a key for each action I want it to perform. Nothing happens if I continue to hold down the key, that is, it doesn't repeat.

I notice this always when I boot up and start working, usually in a terminal window or in vim. Then later in the day, for who knows what reason, suddenly the character repeat action kicks in for me. I've looked through a lot of documentation and config files but cannot find a clue to suggest what might be causing this problem.

Has anybody heard of this problem before?

[Mike Hunt]

Have you tried a different keyboard?

[jbarry]

Well, I found that in xorg.conf the line

Option "XkbVariant"

had a setting which made no sense.

After commenting it out, the problem seems to have disappeared.