Okay, so I though I was crazy. Like as in “insane” or “defective.”

I have been using ThinkPad computers for some time now, and pretty much every time I type my name the crazy things BEEP! back at me with a loud system beep sound. Now, if it did that every time I typed an obscenity, or maybe if I typed a weak password or something, I would accept and understand this amazing audible prompt that almost always snaps my head back and makes me flinch. But no… I happens every time I type my name.

Once again, a post on Omar Shahine’s blog has improved my life.

Turns out it’s not me, and that technology is to blame. Phew – I was starting to get worried after going through three ThinkPads, all with the same ritual behavior. The beep actually happens when any three keys are pressed all in the same row when at least two of the keys pressed are in this list of characters:

4567rtyufghjvbnm

Now, how’s that for obscure? the best technical guess I had was that maybe I was brushing the little-red-eraser-like-mouse-nub-thing (which probably has a real name) and it was complaining at me for rubbing it the wrong way while typing.

But it was my name, after all. My name is Greg Hughes. As in 4567rtyufghjvbnm. Lots of keys all on two rows, and I type fast and probably overlap keystrokes. Yep, that explains it.

And best of all, the problem can be solved. This blog post tells you how. I have made the change and what do you know – no more screaming ThinkPad. Thank goodness!

I hope this helps someone else. It’s restored a small but welcome slice of sanity to my life.

[tags]ThinkPad, error, beep, alert, typing, type[/tags]