Shift key problems.

[hrasdt]

I recently updated my system after letting it sit for a few weeks, and it installed 124 new packages. When I rebooted, it wouldn't let me type a capital x character with the left shift key. After some experimentation, it turns out I can't type any left or right Shift-[number]s, except for % and ^. Also, I can't type any bottom-row capital letters with the left shift key, except for B and N, and no shift-punctuation, except for :, ", { and }.
As I sort of like typing parentheses, asterixes, and capital letters, any help would be appreciated

Background info: running amd64 Gentoo with the latest portage, ati-drivers-11.5, and xorg-server-1.10.2. The X log mentions something about AIGLX process switch VT error, but I can't figure out if that's keyboard related, or a result of graphics drivers updating.

[Jonathan183]

I doubt I'll be able to help much ... but suggest you check if the shift key works in a terminal so at least you can narrow it down to X or otherwise.

[MikeTbob]

You might try re-emerging the xorg drivers, after an xorg-server update this is usually needed. Try running revdep -rebuild also

[hrasdt]

I checked in a console, and it still refuses to recognise them. showkey tells me my keyboard is Unicode, is this mucking it up? If so, how can I fix it?
In showkey, the working pairs generate different patterns compared to wonky ones. For example, pressing shift-a generates ~4 events: 42 press, 30 press and release, and 42 release. This matches what should happen, or so I believe.
The dodgy ones generate much longer sequences: >10 42 press events, and only one 42 release event. No mention whatsoever of the x key. :/
I'm revdep-rebuilding right now, I'll update this post when it finishes.
[edit] Nope, nothing seems to be broken. I'll leave it on tomorrow to rebuild the whole tree, can't hurt.
[edit]
Ok, so it turns out it was actually a hardware error, which makes sense. The keys weren't recognised in the GRUB command line, and the clustering matches a bad contact for a pin. Sorry everyone, that should have been the first thing I checked :S