Simple problem = very weird experience

[TOK]

I have my most recent project playable, but had something happen tonight the really screwed me up for bit.
Playing Defender and everything was going great, and all of a sudden the game slowed down perceptibly. It was playable, but not right. Firing was real slow, and hitting the 1 & 2 player buttons to exit didn't respond.

I ESC'd back to MaLa and could just see a dialog box flicking on and off real fast in the background. So fast that I couldn't even see the gray, just the square shape. I used the mouse to dump out of the front end, and when I got to my Windows desktop I couldn't click on any of the icons or get in the Start menu.

I figured something was just flaking out so I restarted. Same issue.
I then shut the cab off and cold booted... Same issue! To eliminate MaLa as the source of the problem (I was thinking about the losing focus issue I've heard mentioned), I started from the CMD prompt. Same issue!
I fired up another game (Dig Dug) and it was fine. Hmmm.
Back to Defender and it's freaking out and running slow again.
I was starting to get worried my IPAC was crapping out or something. Fiddling around in Notepad, the keystrokes would make a sound, but nothing would appear when I hit the buttons...

This was when I accidentally stumbled upon the problem. The button mapped to Fire in Defender had stuck, and it's either mapped to Alt or Ctrl. It freaked my whole system out.  Since Dig Dug uses one button, it somehow didn't affect it. Really crazy, because the erratic behavior in both Windows and MAME made the problem seem much deeper than it actually was. What a relief it was something goofy! 

[spacies]

Heh,

Sometimes it is frustrating to even try to change the button config back to normal.
You end up with a whole heap of crap. Ctrl or Left Alt or Space or Z.   

I also like the 'sticky keys' button shortcut that pops up the first time you mash button 1.

 

[sodapopinski]

Sometimes it is frustrating to even try to change the button config back to normal.
You end up with a whole heap of crap. Ctrl or Left Alt or Space or Z. 

that used to drive me insane. i just make sure i clear it with ESC first.

[Kaytrim]

That is why I remapped all my inputs to all alphabetic or numeric keys.  You never know what background process may connect to a Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key combo.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[SirPeale]

You can turn that feature off, you know.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/accessibility/stickykeys.mspx

[TOK]

It does sound like a solid idea to re-map without the CTRL/ALT keys. I've always liked to just plug and play with the IPAC and MAME defaults, and its never been a problem until now. Of course, now that I've experienced the wig-out it causes, I'll also know exactly what to look for next time. 

[leapinlew]

I had a similar issue, but more interesting because it involves me.

Some people were playing my cabinet when it started running slow. Once I managed to get out of the game and back to the desktop - they had managed to launch 2 copies of the same game. Not sure if they did it by hitting the 1p button real fast or what.