Windows Installer and Keyboard not working

Hi I hope I am posting this in the correct forum....
Helping a friend with his computer and we have been having more and more problems. The most current ones that we need to resolve before moving on are these:
He tried to do a repair of windows and evidently something went wrong... now he cannot use the keyboard. We tried to figure it out and as close as I can tell it is not finding the drivers.
Second problem is similar... he cannot download the microsoft updates including SP2 because he gets an error with windows installer and the update aborts. We have been to microsofts support site and tried doing all 4 of their suggestions to get installer back but it still does not work.
Can anyone offer other suggestions to get these problems fixed?
I know he is still battling some trojans that will not clear because "they are being used" but I can post that in the other forum.
Thanks tons

 

It looks as you started a thread in the malware section.

My advice is to finish that first!! depending on what kind of malware (if any) you have, it can have adverse effects on your pc (possibly causing Windows Installer to not function properly).

In my opinion i would try a different keyboard to see if just the keyboard or if it is the drivers, and then finish the malware cleaning before posting other problems. Hope you this helps!

 

Thanks but the problem is.... we cant do anything else until we have a keyboard... do you know how hard it is to try and maneuver without a keyboard? And without the installer we cannot even run some of the suggested spyware programs... and yes, we already tested the keyboard on another computer and it worked just fine. In device manager there is a yellow icon on the keyboard and still when we try and update driver it tells us the best one is already being used. We cannot "rollback" and still it does not show a driver. Another thing.... when we go to properties.. he only has 2 tabs... General and Driver. There is nothing for Details and Resources.
any other suggestions?

 

yes... yes i do understand how hard it is NOT to have a keyboard.

I do have maybe one more thing that might help you.. it may take a while and be kind of annoying but it could be very useful.

In XP go to Start>Accessories>Accessibility>On Screen Keyboard.

Using your mouse to click on each letter you have the ability to "type".I know when i've only had a mouse this was a very useful feature.

 

Thank you... I was not familiar with that feature.. now one more question.... is there a way to access this so that he can run the repair installation of Win xp??? it will work fine for him IN windows.. but he needs to be able to type the keycode while installing man what a complicated mess huh?

 

Or since you have access to device manager, delete it and reboot. But again its not wise to do anything unless the malware people ok it, as it can damage/prevent any fix there doing from working right or cause issues that way.

 

I was going to say that too... Since you have "access" to a keyboard, I would finish all the things they want you to do and then when the system is nice and clean, work on the drivers.

Malware (from my experiences too) can be a HUGE pain in the butt and you wouldnt want to hinder anything that would fix it.

Sorry bout your "mess" but the guys should have ya fixed in no time

 

HORRAY...
He has is keyboard working!! thanks... we will now work on those varmints !!