Virus/Trojan that affects XP keyboards?

[Channel Hopper]

I can't see anything that might confirm there is one, but a customer's PC has lost all outside recognition of the keybard and mouse.

I have tried both a PS2 and USB connection to verify, and I can't get either to function, so I can't go into boot menu, or beyond the welcome screen.

I don't really want to slave the hard drive unless I really have to as it is a pain to reach.

Has anyone had similar ?

 

[aceb]

You should be able to get into bios or attempt a boot with no drives connected at all. You may need a PS2 keyboard in case the bios needs some form of legacy USB support enabled for them to work before loading windows. I've heard a couple of stories of people killing the PS2 ports by plugging the devices in the wrong way round but never had the issue myself. Another option would be to put a Windows disk in when you start it, it should ask if you want to boot from CD, another way of testing the KB without having a hdd connected.

 

[compufunk]

I'd be very surprised if a virus had knackered the keyboard. I think you are looking at a lower level problem either with the BIOS or the hardware.

As aceb said, you should be able to use the keyboard without any HDD installed.

In case the BIOS setting have canged, I would erase the CMOS settings either by using the jumper for this task on the mainboard, or you could remove the battery on the main board. That will get the BIOS back to its default state.

 

[Analoguesat]

Could be a mobo fault as well - Ive seen mobo's go dead on the ports on our work machines.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Thanks. I will pull the battery tomorrow to reset the BIOS

 

[Topper]

If it happens to be a Dell, I have had in the past two or three that do very odd things when the CMOS battery has completely failed

 

[Channel Hopper]

Yes, it is a Dell (SX240 ?)

Battery out, will reconnect tonight

 

[h-magic]

Funny thing. Same thing happened to me two weeks ago.
All USB ports went dead after windows started.
Did a system restore and all was ok but never understood why it happened.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Very strange, this happened just under a month ago.

 

[Topper]

Yes, it is a Dell (SX240 ?)

Battery out, will reconnect tonight

May be worth it to check the battery voltage before reconnecting then

 

[Lazarus]

Frankly, I'd fit a new one anyway.

Available dirt cheap - I got ten of them for not much more than a quid: CR2022 types are the usual, and they do for calculators (!), and other bits and pieces of electronic kit too.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Frankly, I'd fit a new one anyway.

I don't think I need to, it's been out for 24 hours and has shown 3.1V during the whole time. I'll put it back in tonight and double check before switching on tomorrow morning - fingers crossed.