Heya Nick!

Don't bother messing with that base file, you're probably right about not using OS files from previous versions of Chinook.

Well, I've got another idea.

Could you install Xmodmap?

Try running in Xterm once before and then again after the gconftool command:
xmodmap -pk

This will display the assigned codes for all of the keys.

I noticed that the D-Pad changed on where it was located after changing that base file and running the gconftool command.

Only problem with comparing before and after is that it's not showing all of the keys for me but rather keys 55-255. I think maybe Xterm can't retain that lengthy of an output.

Any suggestions?

Also, any guess as to what the key "mode_switch" might do?

I've seen it assigned to key 255 before, but not right at this moment. I'm wondering if this could be a cause for some of the problems we're seeing.