keyboard locks up and occasional beeping

The following problem seemed to start yesterday after downloading an update to Firefox along with a plugin to sync bookmarks. However, this might be coincidental since I had an identical problem last week, which magically seemed to disappear after I left the computer alone for several hours. Once it started to run ok last week, I updated Symantec, performed a virus check (no viruses), ran AdAware, ran Spybot and defragmented. Then, for a week the pc worked perfectly until now.

At the outset of the problem yesterday, I was using Outlook Express when I noticed that my keyboard stopped functioning correctly. There were many missing letters to the message I typed. So I rebooted, tried Notepad, which worked fine initially and then the same keyboard issue occurred. Then, the computer spontaneously locked. When I tried to enter my user name and password, it would switch off between letting me type, not letting me type, typing random letters by itself, and making beeping sounds. The beeping sounds change from a beep when I tried to type a letter to occasionally sounding many beeps in a row without my touching the machine at all.

Just in case the problem was related to downloading the firefox update w/plugin, I restarted in safe mode and rolled back the machine to the day before and it seemed to work fine again...until I restarted it this morning. Same issues occurring. Machine gave me problems entering my login and started beeping.

I restarted in safe mode but I experience the same issues. However, every so often the machine works ok for a few minutes at a time. It allowed me to start AdAware in safe mode but then the keyboard spontaneously locked during its run and I could not log in again due to keyboard issues. I also connected a separate keyboard and it sometimes allows me to type and sometime not. Presently, I can't log back on to see the results of AdAware because I can't control the keyboard.

I haven't even been able to complete the preliminary steps you suggest before posting this issue. I'm also uncertain if this is a malware or hw problem. The laptop is several years old at this point. Thanks in advance for advising.

 

Ok, my computer has returned to normal for the time being just as it did last week when the same issues occurred. Igave me the chance to run all of the prlim steps indicated.

- At the outset I checked symantec for the viruses it had found recently. There are 2 files sitting in quarantine that i tried to delete. When I tried to delete them I received feedback that they were deleted, yet they still seem to be sitting in quarantine. When I try to delete them it now says it can't because it's already been deleted or it's in an email, which is not the case since the path shows that both viruses were sitting in subfolders of java/cache/...). I also noticed that my Symantec AV sw can no longer scan my computer. It simply indicates that it has encountered a problem and needs to close. It appears to have been disabled (by the virus?).

- Had to run avg instead of counterspy. It found 1 threat -- Worm.AimVen. I "applied all actions". (I then went to the add/remove software application in the control panel and removed AIM. However I see that there is still an AIM95 folder on my hard drive with a data file in it.)

- bdscan found 10 infected files, I believe they were mostly if not all variations of Generic.Peed.Eml.

- Active scan found 1 item -- Spyware:Cookie/Tribalfusion


Attaching files to this email and a follow-up.

 

more attachments

 

I reran avg realizing that I ran it the first time in safe mode. Upon rerunning it, it found 6 malware items, 5 were tracking cookies and 1 was the Aim.Ven worm again. It quarantined Aim.Ven when I applied all actions. Attached is a report that says it found nothing, which is confusing to me.

 

I think I got everything except "market research", which I did not see in the add/remove programs area. I searched my computer for it but still did not find it. My computer is operating normally but my fear is that the symptoms have disappeared only to return again soon, as they did this past week. Some questions for you:

1. Are the symptoms I experienced consistent with the viruses we deleted?
2. My Symantec AV still cannot scan, should I replace it? If so, what do you recommend?

Thanks, Tim!

 

Ok, will do. Many thanks again, Tim! Do you think that the locked keyboard, random keystrokes and beeping were symptomatic of the types of viruses deleted?

 

Aaahhh!!! My worst fears have materialized. After going thru all of the final steps recommended, installing new spywire, AV, firewall, etc. computer was running fine for a day. And just now, I began to experience the same issues. Loss of keyboard control and beeping. Could I be reinfected or do you think it's a hw problem? Using a different keyboard seems to help only some of the time oddly enough. There are times when the machine enters characters by itself and won't let me control it. What do you suggest? Thx.

 

While awaiting your response I decided to once again go thru all prelim steps and post new scan files. I'm in the middle of the process and while using bdscan it has found a bunch of viruses in my email folders, which are being deleted. They all seem to be of the generic.peed.eml variety, the same ones we deleted yesterday. I installed a sw firewall yesterday but the constant requests to allow access to the computer are confusing. When I look up whether the requests are legit, the answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no. I might have inadvertently allowed access to something that could have reinfected my computer, or the scans did not pick up all of the instances of the virus yesterday. I will post logs later this evening or tomorrow

 

Re: trouble again - keyboard locks up and occasional beeping

Per my posting yesterday, my problems recurred. I ran all of the prelim steps again. Bdscan got rid of about 7 instances of the "generic.peed.eml" virus in my email folders. I ran Panda scan twice since I saw no link to "get report" after closing the pop-up window. Nevertheless both scans were completely clean. Now using Comodo firewall but quite frankly I find it's confusing know what to let thru and what to block. Could that have let the same exact virus thru to my computer. As I type this message I see that whatever problems I'm having are again recurring (keyboard is intermittently not registering the keys I type. I plugged in another keyboard and now I can type again. Hardware problem? Motherboard? See attached logs. Thanks.

 

more attachments.

 

Tim, i followed steps until Blacklight ok. All was clean as far as I could tell. Once I clicked to go to blacklight there was no content on the page. So I googled F-secure and eventually found a beta product that might be a later version of what you wanted me to use. You might check out http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml to see if this is where users should be sent in the future. However, I ran it twice and it did not work for me. The app took hours and hours to run and then it did not provide a report. Instead it said that IE could not access the page. Subsequently my computer starting acting up again to the point where I could not log on after the keyboard spontaneously locked. Beeping and no control of keyboard when I turn on the computer, with the user field and password fields flashing/highlighting characters that I did not type. Net, I've given up. Today purchased a new computer. My hope is that it was a hw problem and not a virus so I won't get reinfected with anything when I try to load some of my files into the new computer. I have scanned the files I'm going to load (Mcafee and bit defender) and they seem clean.

AAARRRRRGHHHHHHH! Thank you for your help, anyway! What would your best guess be on the nature of the problem at this point?

 

Ok, will try to check it out when I have some spare time. Trying to make up for lost time this week already. Thanks again for your efforts.