BleepingComputer.com: Keyboard inputs multiple characters when I press one key

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone on here could give me a couple of pointers on a rather large issue I'm having with my HP laptop (Vista 32bit), mainly the keyboard is inputting multiple characters on screen when i press only one key. I've just joined the site after finding what I thoguht were some answers on here through google, however I've gone as far as I can (through my limited knowledge!) and am now at a brick wall, so apologies in advance if my explanation lacks the detail required.

A couple of nights ago, whilst bored, I stupidly tired to ownload and instal a crack copy of Reason 5.0. As soon as I ran the file I got warnings from AVG of a trojan. It held the trojan in the virus vault and I ran full scans with Spybot and AVG, some malware was found and i thoguth that was the end of it but within about 20 minutes I started getting various I.E windows popping up ( usually use chrome or Firefox) with pages advertising anti-virus and some odd games wesbites. I also then lost the normal use of my keyboard. After looking online for a few forum suggestions it was obvious that the trojan had caused this, I then installed and ran Malwarebytes. After one of the scans a restart was needed. none of this solved the problem. Yesterday I spent some time again reading online for a solution followed some instrauction from a post on here somewhere to install autorun. There was a file called Ip in Ip Tunnel Driver and a couple of others called IPX filter something (sorry, i cant remember their names now) that stood out as being strange, which said in Autorun 'file not found' .Someone on another forum had found the same files in their autroun log and it was suggested they were dubious files. As advised I went into safe mode, ran autorun and un-checked the files, and restarted in normal mode...no joy at all.

Extremely frustrated I ran scans again which allegedly found nothing so I did a full factory reset using the HP Recovery (after backing up of course) but this still did nothing. to key in anything on the laptop i either have to use an external USB or the on-screen keyboard.

It was suggested to me that there could be possible permanent damage to the keyboard itself caused by the trojan, this sounded a bit silly to me but like i said, my knowledge is pretty limited. Could it be possible that the keyboard itself now needs replacing!? I took it apart last night to check that there wasn't some kind of freak coincidence that the keybaord has some dirt/dust in it at the same time the trojan appeared but couldn't see anything that looked bad, in fact, the underside looked fairly clean.

I read the message to new users firstl so apologies for more than one question here but as far as I can see i've got two options, one to buy a new keyboard first and try that or secondly format the machine and do a full re-instal of Vista. (i don't have the money to buy Windows 7 right now or I'd do that instantly).

Anyone know if trying the new keybard thing is a waste of time?

and secondly, where can i get the installation disc(s) for Vista?... as everywhere i've looked so far talks only of the recovery disk (which i presume is the same as the recovery partition on the hard drive). I don't want to fork out 40/50/60 quid, as i've seen on ebay for discs and a new copy of vista.


Sorry for the essay and for any info i've not made clear, hope someone's got some top tips they can help me with.

Cheers

Have you tried cleaning your keyboard? Stickiness under keys can cause this same issue.

First run RKILL

then run MALWAREBYTES Tutorial For MBAM .Then go HERE to mop up anything left by mbam, Tutorial For Eset Make sure to disable Avast before running the eset scan.
Go ahead and run a scan with SUPERAntiSpyware.
Also run THIS before the eset scan. Or at least once a week.
1.Download TFC to your desktop, or other location.

2.Save any unsaved work. TFC will close all open application windows.

3.Double-click TFC.exe to run the program.

4.If prompted, click "Yes" to reboot.
Save your work. TFC will automatically close any open programs, let it run uninterrupted. It shouldn't take longer take a couple of minutes, and may only take a few seconds. Only if needed will you be prompted to reboot

Do not post any logs here, I cant help you with malware I can only suggest certain tools to use.If you problem persist then start a topic HERE

This post has been edited by rockmilk: 06 October 2010 - 09:34 AM

Yeah, tried taking it completely apart last night and it's fine.

I've rang HP and they're sending me the installation disk so I can try formatting the entire drive then a clean install.

It's only a tenner for a new keyboard, i may buy one of those too unless anyone comes back with any other suggestions.

Thanks for suggestions rockmilk, I'd already tried Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware but tried those again with your other links but no joy unfotunately! Nothing found any problems...still no properly working keyboard.

Have tried to uninstall the driver for your keyboard then rebooting?

Start button lower left hand corner>right click computer>properties>device manager>Uninstall your keyboard driver, when you reboot your machine windows will automatically reinstall the driver.

Yip! already tried that a few times, did it once more for luck but still no luck

Have you tried another keyboard?

Yeah, I've used a USB keyboard and that works fine but I don't want to be carrying an extra keyboard everywhere with me for work. I've ordered a replacement keyboard for the laptop just to try that too.