Keyboard settings often not remembered

Ubuntu 9.04

* Go to System->Settings->Keyboard
* Change the keyboard repeat delay and repeat rate
* The new settings work
...
* Reboot your machine or put it into stand-by and wake it up again
* Find that "often" the *effective* settings are back to defaults
* Go to System->Settings->Keyboard again, the slider values there still reflect the custom settings
* Nudge one or both sliders (off and on the current possition for example), the custom settings are now back in effect.
...

I cannot find a repeatable situation in which the settings are not applied and Ubuntu runs with default values. I am using a USB KVM switch and a USB keyboard. Layout is 105 key international, German elliminate dead keys keymap. Also attached to the computer via USB is an infra-red wireless keyboard/mouse combo. Maybe it's a problem that Ubuntu assigns the custom settings depending on which keyboard it finds first, but I was told that it doesn't maintain separate per keyboard settings. It's however extremely annoying that something basic as this is broken. Thanks for looking into it!