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Weird keyboard problem - any ideas?

Tiktaalik

Half True Scotsperson
Joined
Sep 29, 2006
Messages
3,666
I'm having a weird keyboard issue. I'm missing letters and spaces when typing, but only in certain programs. It works fine in Word and seems to be working okay here. But it's terrible on Facebook and LinkedIn has issues,too. Tha makes me think it's not a hardwear issue but some kind of driver issue? Oh - I missed a "t" there - see what I mean? It's on my laptop, BTW...

Thanks for any help, my "help" programs haven't been any...
 
What operating system? XP SP3?
How much CPU and memory?
I vaguely remember this kind of a problem with XP SP3 and too little memory.
 
It's an HP G62 notepad running Windows 7 on a Pentium R 2.3Ghz CPU. I seem to have plenty of room on it and the problem doesn't occur, as far as I can tell, when I'm working off-line on Word...

ETA: 3.00 g RAM...
 
When malware infected my computer, the keyboard acting up was the first symptom. That's when I bought a Mac.

Malware is removable, of course, and there are many other things it could be. The forum has plenty of computer experts on it that can help you. I'm not one of them.
 
One of my customers had a similar kind of problem. If he was typing in the browser, whether it was email, facebook, or anything else, he kept having dropped characters. Anything he did outside of the internet browser worked fine.

This was a brand new computer, lots of memory, lots of disk space, and according to the performance monitor had lots of resources free and the CPU barely being used.

I swapped the keyboard, no change. I uninstalled the browser and reinstalled, no change. I tried various other things and had no joy.

Finally I loaded a different browser. He had been using Internet Explorer (version 7 at that time, I think) and I installed Firefox and made that his default browser. And that fixed it.

My best guess is that particular version of IE conflicted somehow with something else in the system (this was a fairly high-end Dell system). When IE wasn't running, no problem. I always suspected that if I had reloaded the OS (Windows Vista) without the various extra bits Dell put on there it would have solved the problem, but the customer was ok with using Firefox, and that was much less work.

However, later I tried IE 8 on the same system and it worked fine. By that time the customer was used to Firefox so I didn't switch him back.

So you might try a different browser.
 
That sounds exactly like what's happening with me, although it just started recently and I haven't changed my browser. I'm also using IE 7. Maybe I'll upgrade...I'm running AVG personal version so I should be pretty safe from malware, but I'll do a complete scan to be sure.

Thanks for the suggestions...
 
Heh, almost sounds like a keylogger at work in your browser. Might be able to see what sort of plugins are running in IE and disable ones that aren't needed. Also, do the usual steps for malware and get a copy of Malwarebytes installed. This site has been very helpful for removing the nasty stuff.
 
Heh, almost sounds like a keylogger at work in your browser. Might be able to see what sort of plugins are running in IE and disable ones that aren't needed. Also, do the usual steps for malware and get a copy of Malwarebytes installed. This site has been very helpful for removing the nasty stuff.

I had a recent one that ended up disposing of the laptop in question. It happens.

The virus in question created a partition (hidden, of course) on the main hard drive, prevented all methods of restoration, was invisible to all utilities, and was fundamentally unsalvagable.

It got chucked in a skip.

Google the abnow virus. With caution.
 
Upgraded my version of IE. Didn't help, unfortunately. How do I see what plugins are running in IE and how do I tell if I need them of not?
 
Upgraded my version of IE. Didn't help, unfortunately. How do I see what plugins are running in IE and how do I tell if I need them of not?
Click the Tools menu and then "Manage Add-ons".

However, as a diagnostic measure, you might try downloading and installing Chrome or Firefox and see if the symptoms change. Either one is fairly quick to install, and you can always uninstall them later. I've never had any ill effects from doing this.
 
I had a recent one that ended up disposing of the laptop in question. It happens.

The virus in question created a partition (hidden, of course) on the main hard drive, prevented all methods of restoration, was invisible to all utilities, and was fundamentally unsalvagable.

It got chucked in a skip.

Google the abnow virus. With caution.

A bit late now but even if it was as bad as you said it was wouldn't a new hard drive be better than trashing it or was the laptop not worth saving even if it didn't have the HD problem?
 
I had a recent one that ended up disposing of the laptop in question. It happens.

The virus in question created a partition (hidden, of course) on the main hard drive, prevented all methods of restoration, was invisible to all utilities, and was fundamentally unsalvagable.

It got chucked in a skip.

Google the abnow virus. With caution.

Looks like a variation of TDSS/Alureon, probably hard to remove, but a reformat should have taken care of it. They are a pain to remove. Usually the best course is to get the machine working, back up data and reinstall.
 
If you go to all programs, accessories, system tools, there is an IE no add ons icon. Try that.

:)

Doesn't seem to have helped. I'm also not sure which add-ons to disable in the Manage Add-Ons section - maybe all of them? Some of them seem important (AVG is listed in there)...

The good thing is, it doesn't happen when I'm off-line. Maybe I'll try a different browser but the thing that puzzles me is that this just started happening - could an update to Windows have messed something up? My AVG Personal Version (not the free version) doesn't find any malware or device issues.
 
I am using AVG also, but Chrome for browsing. I was having the same issue as the OP was a couple of days ago, but now I am not, and I didn't do anything to fix it. Does this help in diagnosing the problem?
 
I am using AVG also, but Chrome for browsing. I was having the same issue as the OP was a couple of days ago, but now I am not, and I didn't do anything to fix it. Does this help in diagnosing the problem?

!!! Actually, today the problem seems less frequent - maybe it will just go away on it's own, like a computer flu! Hope so, but I'd like to know what is causing it...
 
!!! Actually, today the problem seems less frequent - maybe it will just go away on it's own, like a computer flu! Hope so, but I'd like to know what is causing it...

I am beginning to think that whatever virus or such was causing it has been removed by AVG. Perhaps you are now 'breaking fever.'
 
Maybe it's a problem with AVG being over-aggressive monitoring your web sessions? Perhaps a sub-optimal update? I am stuck with MacAffee at work and every so often it very kindly schedules a coffee break for me.
 
Doesn't seem to have helped. I'm also not sure which add-ons to disable in the Manage Add-Ons section - maybe all of them? Some of them seem important (AVG is listed in there)...

The good thing is, it doesn't happen when I'm off-line. Maybe I'll try a different browser but the thing that puzzles me is that this just started happening - could an update to Windows have messed something up? My AVG Personal Version (not the free version) doesn't find any malware or device issues.

Well, that means it is not an add on.

I have some guesses but nothing good.
-uninstall/reinstall the keyboard in device manager
-driver for your network card
 
It seems to have stopped happening. Curiouser and Curiouser. Thanks for the suggestions, though...
 

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