Author Topic: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever  (Read 1033 times)

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Offline MetalJunkie

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Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« on: March 14, 2017, 12:54:22 AM »
This is it. This is the one that drives me off the deep end. I don't know what else the fuck to do.

My roommate has a Republic of Gamers laptop. He's actually had it for several years now. Yesterday he called me saying he couldn't type his password at the login screen - the keyboard wasn't working. I drove home, turned on his computer, turned on the on-screen keyboard and clicked his password in. Once I logged into Windows, his keyboard was working fine. Good deal.

Earlier today he sent me a text saying it wasn't working again. I told him to pull up the on-screen keyboard, click it in, then he'd be good to go. Only he couldn't pull up the keyboard. I came home to take a look, and sure enough, I couldn't click on anything. It took me a minute to notice the blue outline around buttons I was clicking. I turned up his speakers, and lo and behold, narrator was on. Everything I clicked was being spoken out loud, but I couldn't pull up the keyboard. After a restart I got logged in. Tested the keyboard in various programs, seemed good to go. This was all on my lunch break.

I came home from work tonight, and he presented me with a new problem. Escape was pulling up his Windows menu, and the Windows key was doing nothing. Their functions had switched. I opened up a web browser to test his keyboard and... nothing. It was like all the functions of the keys had randomly switched. Nothing would type, some keys would open windows, or execute a search function, or open tabs, but none of them would type. SOOO I restarted.

Bad move.

Back to the login screen and I can't log in because narrator keeps turning on and preventing me from accessing the on-screen keyboard. None of the "disable narrator" shortcuts work. In fact, it will say narrator exited, but it turns narrator on rather than allowing me to pull up the Ease of Access menu when I click that EoA button.

I've tried restarting it.
I've tried "beating the narrator" by quickly moving the cursor to the EoA button.
I've tried a USB keyboard. Same problem of swapped functions
I've tried restarting with no USB devices plugged in at all.
I've tried booting into safe mode. Won't fly.

I have no idea what else the fuck to do. He has pictures of his kids since they were born and I don't want to lose them.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 12:43:37 PM by MetalJunkie »
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Offline Prog Snob

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Re: First computer problem I haven't been able to solve.
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2017, 01:53:19 AM »
What about uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers for the keyboard? Was there a recent Windows Update that coincided with the onset of this issue?

Offline Prog Snob

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Re: First computer problem I haven't been able to solve.
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2017, 01:56:36 AM »
Is it possible that there is a trojan/worm/rootkit?

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Offline Bolsters

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Re: First computer problem I haven't been able to solve.
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2017, 02:14:24 AM »
He has pictures of his kids since they were born and I don't want to lose them.
I've removed photos from Windows user folders by booting into Ubuntu from a USB stick and just copying them. Those folders are not encrypted by default. Even if you can't solve this problem yourself it'll be no sweat getting any files off of it before more drastic measures are taken (such as resinstalling the OS).

This doesn't appear to be a hardware issue (since the USB keyboard is also experiencing the problem), so you should be able to boot into another OS and have it function correctly.

Offline MetalJunkie

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Re: First computer problem I haven't been able to solve.
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2017, 02:24:49 AM »
I'll have to check back in a little bit with results. I'm doing the "Keep Your Files" Windows reset to see if that does the trick.
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Offline MetalJunkie

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Re: First computer problem I haven't been able to solve.
« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2017, 12:43:02 PM »
Damn it.

GODDAMMIT.

So last night I spent an hour downloading an Ubuntu boot disc on my computer (slow internet where I live). I still couldn't log in to my roommate's and couldn't do a shift+click to restart, and I also couldn't boot to safe mode. So what I did was the ugly way of getting into the PC troubleshooting - I killed the computer during bootup three times in a row so it would automatically trigger it. From there, I did the "keep your files" Windows reset just to try it for shits and gigs. Went to to bed and woke up earlier this morning.

Somehow got the on-screen keyboard working at the login screen and logged in. All his programs and games had been uninstalled, but thankfully his music and pictures of his kids were still there. I grabbed my flash drive and went to work. Once I got the third folder moved over, it finally happened. I tried to select a folder and noticed it automatically selected multiple folders in that drive. I kind of ignored that until I opened his pictures folder and tried to scroll through it with the scroll wheel. It didn't scroll, but the thumbnails changed size... That's when the light bulb in my head sprang on. No. There's no way. It couldn't be that simple.

Fuck me.

The god damned CTRL key was stuck down. Nothing worked because everything was being typed in conjunction with CTRL.
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Online hefdaddy42

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Re: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« Reply #7 on: March 14, 2017, 12:55:14 PM »
 :eek
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline MrBoom_shack-a-lack

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Re: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2017, 01:20:59 PM »
 :lol I had similar incidents where my joystick cable was pushing down ctrl and my pc went full retard and I was like wtf is going on, until I noticed.
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Offline Kotowboy

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Re: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2017, 04:53:52 PM »
LOLZ

Same problem with my wireless mac keyboard. I thought I had a virus becasue every key press would make the keyboard / screen go apeshit.

Turns out after a week or so of rebooting every time I had a problem...to using an onscreen keyboard & mouse...

Finally figured out CMD was stuck down :lolpalm:

So I binned the keyboard and got a £15 Logitech wired keyboard. :tup no more problems.

Offline Cyclopssss

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Re: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2017, 02:41:12 AM »
Sorry, I laughed. I probably would have bought and dumped two pc's or laptops in that timeframe....
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Offline Prog Snob

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Re: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2017, 03:38:36 AM »
 :lol

Offline rumborak

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Re: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2017, 07:22:04 AM »
Modern keyboards are such a clusterfuck. How many function keys do we really need?
If it was up to me I'd get rid of Alt, Caps Lock, Windows key, "Insert", the whole numblock, and at least half of the F Keys.
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Offline BlobVanDam

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Re: Computer problem [resolved] - biggest facepalm ever
« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2017, 07:26:35 AM »
I honestly use all of those constantly aside from caps lock. You could always get yourself one of those little 60% or 40% keyboards if you're that bothered by them all. :lol
I wouldn't exactly call it modern either. That layout has been standard for over 20 years, and that was just to add Windows keys to the layout that had been standard for years before that.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2017, 07:33:50 AM by BlobVanDam »
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