COMPUTER problem

[Juls64]

2 days ago, while online, my computer began to act strange. i'm wondering if it could be a virus and what to do. if i push the shift key it comes up with the messages like no cd in drive, or it will turn mute on or off. the numbers will all be the related symbols like percent, parenthesis or whatever. the capital letters go from lower case to upper on their own. the keyboard is possessed. do i have a virus, or did something just get fouled up with the keyboard. everything else seems ok. i have updated viruses and scanned it several times. used go back. nothing seems to work. perhaps i should try another keyboard.

sorry, but without the shift key, its hard to capitalize or punctuate correctly.

any ideas


juls

 

[ckharlan66]

You have already done the first thing I would have done. So I will start with step two.

I would try a different keyboard if I had one handy.

If you don't then try reinstalling the drivers for the keyboard to see if they have become corrupted.

Then we will see what happens from there and see if anyone else has any input.

Good luck.

Chad

 

[plsdiver4377]

I've seen 3 things that can cause this type of problem:

1. Bad keyboard, although this is usually the least likely (unless you spilled a coke in it ).

2. Bad Motherboard (the last time I had a keyboard act up for no apparent reason this was the problem).

3. Bad RAM stick (this can cause some of the most outrageous PC behavioral problems I've ever seen, and with the newer AMD/mobo combos seems fairly common).

Personally I've never seen a virus cause the problem you're describing, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I'm sure this is clear as mud. :winky:



Good Luck with it.

 

[chrpai]

Some 'intersting' computer advise here....

Lets start with

What brand/model of computer are you running?

What operating system are you running?

 

[Juls64]

now so I can type. I put a different keyboard on last night and it worked so I think its related to that. The sound did not work then, however. But the shift key was toggling the mute on and off so I think it was muted when i switched them. I will reload the driver tonight and see if that helps. Its a Gateway computer with a Pentium 4 processor running XP. I've had it 1 year and have had no problems.

Juls

 

[GeekDiver]

Not saying this is a virus since your and getting better results by swaping the keyboard but a virus can remap keyboards. I would sug for good mesure you always keep your av software up to date and I would also install a firewall and some type of Adware/spyware killer such as Spybot SD. Most AV software will not detect/remove adware which can cause alot of problems and can be hard to get rid of. Here is an example of what's possible for a virus

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/keypanic.trojan.html

 

[Juls64]

Geekdiver-

I have Norton systemworks and its set to run weekly. It works pretty IMHO.

Anyway, I have keyboard # 3 hooked up now and it seems good so far. The original one has the same problem everytime I reconnected it. The second one I tried worked OK but it was from an ancient computer and there were a couple glitches.

Thanks for the replies everyone! This board is good for more than just diving!

Juls

 

[Juls64]

I found out last night that some teenage kids (friends of my kids) were playing grab a** and either spilled something in the keyboard or knocked it off the desk or something. That is what has been wrong.

Then no one tells me so I spend 3 days doing everything imagineable to try to figure it out. On top of being maddernhell, I feel like an idiot.