using arrow keys in the guest sometimes inserts numbers

[Stéphane Charette]

I use my linux guest (with guest additions installed) as a C++ development environment. There are 3 editors I use, depending on what I am doing: gedit, Source Navigator, or Eclipse. Sometimes when I use the up or down arrow key to move around in my source file, VirtualBox will end up inserting numbers into the source.

For example: I'll be at the top of a source file, wanting to move down, so I hold the "down arrow" key. After moving a certain number of line (let's say 30) I then see a huge sequence of the number "2222222222222222222222222" inserted into my source, as if I've stopped holding the down arrow, and as if I'm now holding the numeric keypad "2" button.

Same thing with the "up" arrow inserting "8888888888888888888888888".

This is not repeatable, but happens to me a few times per week. Also note this is not new behaviour: at one of my previous employers I was working at in late 2007, I ended up purchasing a new keyboard for my computer since we thought it was a keyboard hardware problem.