Welcome to SecurityForumz.com!
FAQFAQ      ProfileProfile    Private MessagesPrivate Messages   Log inLog in

Bizarre! Keyboard events

  
   Security Forums (Home) -> General Discussions RSS
Next:  (Full) Agent and Pegasus safety questions  
Author Message
Rob

External


Since: Oct 07, 2003
Posts: 3



(Msg. 1) Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 1:39 pm
Post subject: Bizarre! Keyboard events
Archived from groups: alt>comp>virus, others (more info?)
My friend's got a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Windows XP home.

At some point when using the laptop, keyboard events start getting fired
into Windows. The sequence seems to be <down> <right> <delete> repeating
forever. Only a reboot will stop it. Obviously this makes the system totally
unusable - it's enough of a problem to get it to reboot cleanly without
deleting half the contents of the desktop!

This behaviour seems like a virus, but I guess it could be some sort of
hardware problem.. Though I haven't known a virus to make itself known so
annoyingly and obviously in years.

I have downloaded the latest Norton definitions and a full scan finds
nothing. The latest Stinger also finds nothing. Have also tried the web
based Housecall and Panda scans. Nothing found. No odd-looking processes are
running in taskmgr.

One thing that seems like a pattern though - the first thing I did was try
to back up all her documents to a CD-R. Nero complained that 2 differently
DOS-named files had the same Joliet name. When I went through the wizard to
start again (I was going to switch off Joliet support) the odd behaviour
started. This happened the first 2 times. The 3rd time was 5 minutes after I
left (of course) so I'm not sure what triggered it that time. It wasn't Nero
that time though.



Does anyone know what this could be? She's going nuts! And I can't find
details of anything like it on the web.


Yours hopefully,

RL.

 >> Stay informed about: Bizarre! Keyboard events 
Back to top
Login to vote
Botchka

External


Since: Oct 07, 2003
Posts: 1



(Msg. 2) Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 1:39 pm
Post subject: Re: Bizarre! Keyboard events [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
Does your friend have Microsoft Office XP installed? If so, there is a
speech recognition tool that has known to cause problems like you suggest.


"Rob" <rangelife DeleteThis @blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7mzgb.121$TG6.1302670@news-text.cableinet.net...
> My friend's got a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Windows XP home.
>
> At some point when using the laptop, keyboard events start getting fired
> into Windows. The sequence seems to be <down> <right> <delete> repeating
> forever. Only a reboot will stop it. Obviously this makes the system
totally
> unusable - it's enough of a problem to get it to reboot cleanly without
> deleting half the contents of the desktop!
>
> This behaviour seems like a virus, but I guess it could be some sort of
> hardware problem.. Though I haven't known a virus to make itself known so
> annoyingly and obviously in years.
>
> I have downloaded the latest Norton definitions and a full scan finds
> nothing. The latest Stinger also finds nothing. Have also tried the web
> based Housecall and Panda scans. Nothing found. No odd-looking processes
are
> running in taskmgr.
>
> One thing that seems like a pattern though - the first thing I did was try
> to back up all her documents to a CD-R. Nero complained that 2 differently
> DOS-named files had the same Joliet name. When I went through the wizard
to
> start again (I was going to switch off Joliet support) the odd behaviour
> started. This happened the first 2 times. The 3rd time was 5 minutes after
I
> left (of course) so I'm not sure what triggered it that time. It wasn't
Nero
> that time though.
>
>
>
> Does anyone know what this could be? She's going nuts! And I can't find
> details of anything like it on the web.
>
>
> Yours hopefully,
>
> RL.
>
>
>

 >> Stay informed about: Bizarre! Keyboard events 
Back to top
Login to vote
kurt wismer

External


Since: Jul 04, 2003
Posts: 1566



(Msg. 3) Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 1:39 pm
Post subject: Re: Bizarre! Keyboard events [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
Rob wrote:

> My friend's got a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Windows XP home.
>
> At some point when using the laptop, keyboard events start getting fired
> into Windows. The sequence seems to be <down> <right> <delete> repeating
> forever. Only a reboot will stop it. Obviously this makes the system totally
> unusable - it's enough of a problem to get it to reboot cleanly without
> deleting half the contents of the desktop!
>
> This behaviour seems like a virus, but I guess it could be some sort of
> hardware problem..

try that the other way around...

> Though I haven't known a virus to make itself known so
> annoyingly and obviously in years.

which is why you should try that the other way around...


> I have downloaded the latest Norton definitions and a full scan finds
> nothing. The latest Stinger also finds nothing. Have also tried the web
> based Housecall and Panda scans. Nothing found. No odd-looking processes are
> running in taskmgr.

more evidence that it's not a software problem...

[snip]
> Does anyone know what this could be? She's going nuts! And I can't find
> details of anything like it on the web.

does the laptop have a ps2 receptical that you can plug an external
keyboard into? it's been my experience (though by no means is my
experience in this particular instance extensive) that plugging an
external ps2 device into a laptop will disable the onboard equivalent
(ie. a ps2 mouse would disable the touch pad)...

the point of the exercise is to basically try a different keyboard,
which becomes harder to do with a laptop but hopefully possible with
the above info - test it out, of course, if the built in keyboard still
responds after an external ps2 keyboard is plugged in then the only
thing i can suggest is to take it in for servicing and tell them you
suspect a hardware problem with the keyboard...
--
"hungry people don't stay hungry for long
they get hope from fire and smoke as the weak grow strong
hungry people don't stay hungry for long
they get hope from fire and smoke as they reach for the dawn"
 >> Stay informed about: Bizarre! Keyboard events 
Back to top
Login to vote
Joep

External


Since: Sep 25, 2003
Posts: 20



(Msg. 4) Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 4:28 pm
Post subject: Re: Bizarre! Keyboard events [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
I have Toshiba, Although not the exact symptoms as you describe it did also
show weird keyboard related issues. Keys would swap, or would behave like
ALT - Key was pressed. This Toshiba came with it's own keyboard config tool
for defining actions connected to different keys and key combinations. I
always suspected this utility / driver had something to do with it. It never
showed right after starting Windows, it only appeared after the PC was
running for a while, and not always.

--
Joep



"Botchka" <nospam.DeleteThis@here.com> wrote in message
news:2tmcncxzjqZ2WB-iXTWJjg@comcast.com...
> Does your friend have Microsoft Office XP installed? If so, there is a
> speech recognition tool that has known to cause problems like you suggest.
>
>
> "Rob" <rangelife.DeleteThis@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:7mzgb.121$TG6.1302670@news-text.cableinet.net...
> > My friend's got a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Windows XP home.
> >
> > At some point when using the laptop, keyboard events start getting fired
> > into Windows. The sequence seems to be <down> <right> <delete> repeating
> > forever. Only a reboot will stop it. Obviously this makes the system
> totally
> > unusable - it's enough of a problem to get it to reboot cleanly without
> > deleting half the contents of the desktop!
> >
> > This behaviour seems like a virus, but I guess it could be some sort of
> > hardware problem.. Though I haven't known a virus to make itself known
so
> > annoyingly and obviously in years.
> >
> > I have downloaded the latest Norton definitions and a full scan finds
> > nothing. The latest Stinger also finds nothing. Have also tried the web
> > based Housecall and Panda scans. Nothing found. No odd-looking processes
> are
> > running in taskmgr.
> >
> > One thing that seems like a pattern though - the first thing I did was
try
> > to back up all her documents to a CD-R. Nero complained that 2
differently
> > DOS-named files had the same Joliet name. When I went through the wizard
> to
> > start again (I was going to switch off Joliet support) the odd behaviour
> > started. This happened the first 2 times. The 3rd time was 5 minutes
after
> I
> > left (of course) so I'm not sure what triggered it that time. It wasn't
> Nero
> > that time though.
> >
> >
> >
> > Does anyone know what this could be? She's going nuts! And I can't find
> > details of anything like it on the web.
> >
> >
> > Yours hopefully,
> >
> > RL.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Bizarre! Keyboard events 
Back to top
Login to vote
Rob

External


Since: Oct 07, 2003
Posts: 3



(Msg. 5) Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 10:44 am
Post subject: Re: Bizarre! Keyboard events [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
Thanks, I'll look for something like that.


"Joep" <joep.DeleteThis@diydatarecovery.nl> wrote in message
news:cdf1a$3f82cde2$3eddca68$25258@nf1.news-service.com...
> I have Toshiba, Although not the exact symptoms as you describe it did
also
> show weird keyboard related issues. Keys would swap, or would behave like
> ALT - Key was pressed. This Toshiba came with it's own keyboard config
tool
> for defining actions connected to different keys and key combinations. I
> always suspected this utility / driver had something to do with it. It
never
> showed right after starting Windows, it only appeared after the PC was
> running for a while, and not always.
>
> --
> Joep
>
>
>
> "Botchka" <nospam.DeleteThis@here.com> wrote in message
> news:2tmcncxzjqZ2WB-iXTWJjg@comcast.com...
> > Does your friend have Microsoft Office XP installed? If so, there is a
> > speech recognition tool that has known to cause problems like you
suggest.
> >
> >
> > "Rob" <rangelife.DeleteThis@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> > news:7mzgb.121$TG6.1302670@news-text.cableinet.net...
> > > My friend's got a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Windows XP home.
> > >
> > > At some point when using the laptop, keyboard events start getting
fired
> > > into Windows. The sequence seems to be <down> <right> <delete>
repeating
> > > forever. Only a reboot will stop it. Obviously this makes the system
> > totally
> > > unusable - it's enough of a problem to get it to reboot cleanly
without
> > > deleting half the contents of the desktop!
> > >
> > > This behaviour seems like a virus, but I guess it could be some sort
of
> > > hardware problem.. Though I haven't known a virus to make itself known
> so
> > > annoyingly and obviously in years.
> > >
> > > I have downloaded the latest Norton definitions and a full scan finds
> > > nothing. The latest Stinger also finds nothing. Have also tried the
web
> > > based Housecall and Panda scans. Nothing found. No odd-looking
processes
> > are
> > > running in taskmgr.
> > >
> > > One thing that seems like a pattern though - the first thing I did was
> try
> > > to back up all her documents to a CD-R. Nero complained that 2
> differently
> > > DOS-named files had the same Joliet name. When I went through the
wizard
> > to
> > > start again (I was going to switch off Joliet support) the odd
behaviour
> > > started. This happened the first 2 times. The 3rd time was 5 minutes
> after
> > I
> > > left (of course) so I'm not sure what triggered it that time. It
wasn't
> > Nero
> > > that time though.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Does anyone know what this could be? She's going nuts! And I can't
find
> > > details of anything like it on the web.
> > >
> > >
> > > Yours hopefully,
> > >
> > > RL.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Bizarre! Keyboard events 
Back to top
Login to vote
Rob

External


Since: Oct 07, 2003
Posts: 3



(Msg. 6) Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 10:45 am
Post subject: Re: Bizarre! Keyboard events [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
Ta for the advice. Will try external keyboard. Kind of defeats the object of
having a laptop though Smile

"kurt wismer" <kurtw.RemoveThis@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:VGBgb.8839$oO4.509390@news20.bellglobal.com...
> Rob wrote:
>
> > My friend's got a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Windows XP home.
> >
> > At some point when using the laptop, keyboard events start getting fired
> > into Windows. The sequence seems to be <down> <right> <delete> repeating
> > forever. Only a reboot will stop it. Obviously this makes the system
totally
> > unusable - it's enough of a problem to get it to reboot cleanly without
> > deleting half the contents of the desktop!
> >
> > This behaviour seems like a virus, but I guess it could be some sort of
> > hardware problem..
>
> try that the other way around...
>
> > Though I haven't known a virus to make itself known so
> > annoyingly and obviously in years.
>
> which is why you should try that the other way around...
>
>
> > I have downloaded the latest Norton definitions and a full scan finds
> > nothing. The latest Stinger also finds nothing. Have also tried the web
> > based Housecall and Panda scans. Nothing found. No odd-looking processes
are
> > running in taskmgr.
>
> more evidence that it's not a software problem...
>
> [snip]
> > Does anyone know what this could be? She's going nuts! And I can't find
> > details of anything like it on the web.
>
> does the laptop have a ps2 receptical that you can plug an external
> keyboard into? it's been my experience (though by no means is my
> experience in this particular instance extensive) that plugging an
> external ps2 device into a laptop will disable the onboard equivalent
> (ie. a ps2 mouse would disable the touch pad)...
>
> the point of the exercise is to basically try a different keyboard,
> which becomes harder to do with a laptop but hopefully possible with
> the above info - test it out, of course, if the built in keyboard still
> responds after an external ps2 keyboard is plugged in then the only
> thing i can suggest is to take it in for servicing and tell them you
> suspect a hardware problem with the keyboard...
> --
> "hungry people don't stay hungry for long
> they get hope from fire and smoke as the weak grow strong
> hungry people don't stay hungry for long
> they get hope from fire and smoke as they reach for the dawn"
>
 >> Stay informed about: Bizarre! Keyboard events 
Back to top
Login to vote
kurt wismer

External


Since: Jul 04, 2003
Posts: 1566



(Msg. 7) Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 10:45 am
Post subject: Re: Bizarre! Keyboard events [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
Rob wrote:

> Ta for the advice. Will try external keyboard. Kind of defeats the object of
> having a laptop though Smile

it's just to diagnose the possibility of a hardware fault in the one
built in... if that does turn out to be the problem then obviously the
ideal solution would be to have the built in one repaired/replaced...

--
"hungry people don't stay hungry for long
they get hope from fire and smoke as the weak grow strong
hungry people don't stay hungry for long
they get hope from fire and smoke as they reach for the dawn"
 >> Stay informed about: Bizarre! Keyboard events 
Back to top
Login to vote
Display posts from previous:   
   Security Forums (Home) -> General Discussions All times are: Pacific Time (US & Canada) (change)
Page 1 of 1

 
 You can post new topics in this forum
You can reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum



[ Contact us | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy ]