Shift keys not working properly

Question

I have recently returned to using my netbook and have discovered that the shift keys work for certain characters but not for others. Typing most lower-case letters is okay, but I cannot type uppercase q, w, r, y, u, etc. This also applies to the curly right curly brace, the pipe character, etc. Is this a hardware or software problem? The netbook is from ASUS, though I forget the exact model, and there may have been water damage. Solutions? EDIT: I have recently found out that I can type the symbol or capital letter by letting go of the shift key first before letting go of the symbol/letter key. For example, to type a capital R, I have to hold down the shift key, then hold down the R key, then release the shift key.

Answer 1

It sounds like you are running with the wrong keymap, eg using a European keyboard but with the keymap set to US English, or some other combination.

Try the following

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
sudo apt-get install console-common
sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-data