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Question

Strange StickyKeys or CTRL plus key type of problem

Feb 2, 2015 1:33AM PST

One of my PC's running Windows 7 Pro has just suddenly started acting very strangely.

Basically when I press the "r" key, the run dialog box opens. The same issue happens when I press other keys on my keyboard - it is as if I am pressing the CTRL-key plus the other key. This happened suddenly without warning and I have been unable to get rid of it.

I have tried the following (none of which made any difference):

1. Explicitly turned off stickykeys in the ease-of-use/acessability options. [they weren't switched on, but I unticked everything anyway]

2. Tried a different USB keyboard
3. Tried the on-screen keybaord

4. Tried booting in safe Mode and using 1-3 above.

5. Edited the registry (which was fun when you can't enter "r" into the search box as run immediately opens), and changing the following:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\StickyKeys - changed Flag to 506 (also tried 26)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\Keyboard Response - changed Flag to 122
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility\ToggleKeys - changed Flag to 58



6. Reverted to an earlier image of my C: drive from earlier this month and made the above changes to that restored image.

7. Run an anti-virus check using Avast (which normally runs in the background anyway) - it came up clean.

None of it made any difference - they keys are still behaving strangely.

Can anybody suggest what is causing this issue and how I can resolve it?

Is it software or hardware (even BIOS) related???

I've tried all that I could think of, so any helpful suggestions greatly appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: keyboard
Feb 2, 2015 2:20AM PST

I'd start with trying another keyboard.

Kees

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Other keyboard makes no difference
Feb 2, 2015 3:23AM PST

I already tried a different keyboard (see item 2 in my original post) - neither that not using the on-screen keyboard made any difference.

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Re: keyboard
Feb 2, 2015 3:56AM PST

With me, the run box is windows-key + R, not ctrl+R. With "basically the same happens", do you mean that pressing E also opens the windows run box, or does that open Explorer (that's what windows-key + E does).

If the on-screen keyboard (I wouldn't even know where to find it and how to use it, but it seems you do) does it also, it certainly isn't hardware. Then I should start looking for a keyboard remapper running. Does the same happen in Safe Mode?

On the other side, if the earlier image was working OK when you made it, and working wrong when you restored it, it doesn't seem like a software or settings issue either. After all, that keyboard mapper wasn't running then and the registry and driver were OK also.

So it's kind of a mystery. How about a clean install of Windows on a spare hard drive?

Kees

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Answer
(NT) Does it work in SAFE MODE?
Feb 2, 2015 5:05AM PST
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No
Feb 2, 2015 6:10AM PST

No. I tried it in save mode and get the same issue.

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Now we have to suspect something broke or bad.
Feb 2, 2015 6:27AM PST

Broke as is unknown at this point or bad as in bad infection. Some rootkits install on boot and hijack the keyboard.

When I need to test I boot up any of my live CDs. Since you may want to run Windows, try a Bart CD. Here's a link on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Boot_CD_for_Windows

I'd test to see if this is working from UBCD.
Bob

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Answer
Have you shorted the CMOS?
Feb 2, 2015 7:35AM PST

Sometimes a glitch gets into the BIOS program and stays there till it's rebooted by shorting the CMOS chip.

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Issue possibly resolved?
Feb 2, 2015 11:36PM PST

Thanks for your suggestions - some of which I have tried:

I have managed to resolve the issue - but to be honest I am not sure how!

In addition to the steps outlined in my original post I tried the following:
* Booted up in safe mode - made no difference
* Rebooted the BIOS by taking out and then reinstalling the BIOS battery - made no difference
* Ran various rootkit scans (Kapersky tdsskiller and Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit beta) - both came up clean; keyboards still didn't work

* Booted from a Ubuntu distro on a USB - all of the USB keyboards I used worked fine! However on rebooting into Windows I was getting the same issue. Pressing "r" caused the Run dialog to appear, "e" caused Explorer to open and so on - as if the CTRL key was being pressed at the same time.
* I tried the keyboard in different USB ports - still not working properly.

So I rebooted using a PS2 keyboard (luckily my motherboard - a Gigabyte X58A-UD3R - had PS2 ports).....
and the keyboard worked!

I then reinserted the original USB keyboard - and it worked as well! As did the other USB keyboard that I had tried.

Now I have no idea what the problem was or why putting in a keyboard into the PS2 port worked and cleared it all up; but it did. I reinstalled my most recent image of my C: drive (as I had reverted to an older one in case something had recently changed in my system) - and the keyboard works OK.

So somehow the problem was solved!

I will post again if the issue reappears - but for the moment, keep fingers crossed.

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did you unplug the computer
Feb 3, 2015 2:22AM PST

at the same time you took the BIOS battery out? If not, then power may still have been on the USB circuit. Always unplug the computer when doing that. There's a special chip for kbd on the motherboard, maybe it was involved.