2.5.x / keyboard goes whacky (linux)

Sometimes when I use the windows key with the arrow keys the keyboard goes whacky and I can nolonger type anything in. It used to be that I could switch to console and then back to X would fix it but not this time. This happens when I'm in X, using afterstep as the windowmanager where I define the left windows key + arrows as pointer movement.

As far as whackyness goes, the capslock key no longer works and it's as if every keypress generates 2 bytes (as if the kboard went into unicode).

I looked in dmesg and there's only 1 line of clue:

atkbd.c: Unknown key (set 2, scancode 0x1d0, on isa0060/serio0) pressed.

X version: 4.1.0 (debian 3.0)
afterstep: stable-cvs20020826

Only recourse I have now is a reboot.

        All people are equal,
        But some are more equal then others.
            - George W. Bush Jr, President of the United States
              September 21, 2002 (Abridged version of security speech)