hey guys I have a question for you about what I am enduring myself in real time, it is quite frustratingly painful. I came home this evening and noticed my computer was wide awake (had put it to sleep before going to dinner). Firefox was frozen, Thunderbird was trying to open a million windows, my CPU and memory usage were a million percents. I figured I had the virus. I rebooted to see if it was something stupid, same thing on startup. Firefox slow, Thunderbirds all over the place, so I shut down, booted from memory stick OS and the screen was flashing, failure to find all kinds of stuff... when the live boot reverted to command line I was getting all kinds of characters popping up and I couldn't type reboot without getting re00005ikppbp000o5o05t. I had to press the button on the computer (I know that's bad). The only thing I can think of is that I just got a new keyboard (pic related). Is it theoretically possible, that someone loaded a virus on that keyboard and it got loaded into my computer somehow through the PS/2 port? Suggestions please.
Keyboard virus
also if that's the case that it's a malignant keyboard virus, it seems that it's infected something below the OS because like I said it affects booting from the USB stick as well. I am at a loss.
Sounds like you have seminal fluids in your keyboard.
I've only had it a week though. Old USB keyboard didn't give me a virus it just stopped working after a few years. Is USB safer than PS/2?
Well someone could theoretically load code into the plug and play drivers for the keyboard. Where did you buy it from?
craigslist. Does PS/2 keyboard have drivers loaded on it? I thought they just all worked the same and the software was just on the computer.
>keyboard virus
ok smart guy, what is it then?
Or loaded up a macro to one of the fancy programmable keys?
Is the macro stored on the keyboard or the computer? And if its the case, who in their right mind would make a macro to open thunderbird 1000x and then go pressing the 5 and 0 keys?
You can control a computer pretty good without using the mouse
+r cmdformat /?
Your keyboard is just dead/dying. I had the same issues with a crappy Compaq laptop where it would repeat the number "7" and repeat shift and enter at random.
fuck if you are sure, then I got screwed, its brand new (to me). It really seems like a virus though, everything runs slow.
USB keyboards can have embedded malware you moron
There is a fairly easy way to test if it really was the keyboard, but you'll have to risk possibly infecting another computer
what about doing it the other way, plugging a non-infected keyboard into my suspect computer? Or do the virus go away when the keyboard isn't plugged in?
nsa plz go
You'll need one to fix your puter by the sounds of it
I don't think this is possible via ps/2
maybe the keyboard is broken and just sending crazy signals to the pc and it is just doing what the keyboard tells it to do?
I do have access to another keyboard, but im afraid that the virus might load itself onto that keyboard, and then when I give it back to my mom it would infect her computer. Then my whole family would be in the same boat. I can't do it with a clear conscience.
With the computer off, give all those top buttons a good mashing to make sure none are stuck down
I jumped the gun and good thing too. I took the screws out and there is a USB stick hidden inside. How fucked am I?
>Is USB safer than PS/2?
if anything it's less safe. a usb keyboard could have a built in flash drive with malicious code on it. plug that shit in without autoplay disabled and welcome to some chinese guy's bitcoin botnet.
holy shit user I didn't know USB to PS/2 was possible. boot to VM on shitty PC see what kinda malware it is
...
>I don't think this is possible via ps/2
built-in hardware keylogging, and during periods of user inactivity it uses keyboard inputs to open up a terminal and start downloading and executing shit.
what about the first PC though, do you think i can just cut the wires and it will be ok or am i already infested? Also how do I make a VM?
Literally all you had to do was unplug it while the computer is running, and if it still happens reboot.
If it happens after reboot then it's a virus not a dying keyboard.
I did reboot, but without the keyboard I can't type so I plugged it back in. How long would it take for the virus to download? I unplugged it after 3-4 minutes, but I don't know when the computer woke up during dinner, or what bad stuff it may have been up to.
Also I have an external hard drive I use for back-ups, should I plug it in and copy my important files, or will those be infected too? If there is a risk of infection and I shouldn't plug it in, should I move the external drive off my desk so it doesn't get infected by proximity osmosis?
Read my post very carefully.
Unplug the keyboard.
Reboot.
If you don't get the same input and firefox windows then it's the keyboard.
If you do it's a virus not your keyboard.
If you have a password then your computer should automatically input a string into the password box as soon as you click it. If you have to plug your keyboard in to get that string of characters it's just a busted keyboard.
Just calm down.
Actually you would have mentioned if you had a password because it's doing this in command line when you first boot up, which means if it doesn't happen the second you get to windows you're fine.
it depends on the malware
regardless of what happens, you need a new keyboard
take another picture, no blurry bullshit or this is bait.
it's bait, otherwise he'd do the simple tests other anons provided
ok here you can clearly see the keyboard wires are soldered to the USB. I did do the tests and it's intermittent. I do need to plug it in to put in my password, then I can unplug it and the windows stop popping up etc. til I plug it in again. But like I said, I need to plug it in to type stuff like web adresses. Stuff just keeps popping up after that.
unfortunately it exists user, I googeld it.
dang user. buy new keyboard and run virus test and then back data up and do fresh install of your os of choice. then find the guy who sold you that keyboard and beat him with it.
how do i wipe the hard drive when I still get crazy keys when booting from cd/USB? Can it be done from the BIOS? That's the only thing that seems to be immune from the virus.
just throw your shitty computer in the trash you retard, you're obvious bait
i considered that friend, but it works pretty good without the keyboard. I just have to click each letter on the screen. For instance this message took me 2 minutes 13 seconds to type. Have a blessed day. 2:46*
Cant you just use the on screen keyboard if you have windows? Its in ease of access mode
i was, but it's pretty slow. Right now I'm typing on the gummys without the top or the keys and it is working fine, I might just try to figure out which key the mail is and unwire it for safety sake.
also I cut that usb stick off and smashed it with a hammer so it cannot do any more damage
yes and if it works without virus keyboard plugged in use a different keyboard to do reinstall. also why not find the guy on Craigslist and kick his ass?
this thread has been pretty amazing so far
that a tech illiterate crossposter correctly deduced it was a keyboard virus
that someone out there actually made a keyboard virus and had the electrical engineering know-how to put it together
that people buy used keyboards from internet people when they are like $12 on amazon new
>smashed
cyka blyat, now we'll never know what the malware was
ok I am going to get my mom's keyboard and try it, but can I be sure the virus won't load onto it, and give my mom a virus?
it was $3 ok? and I am mentally preparing to kick his ass, to everyone who suggested it.
as long as your moms keyboard doesn't have the same USB issue it should be fine but I'm not 100% sure user. this thread is awesome I also agree you shouldn't have smashed that USB tho.
i didn't hit it that hard, who should I send it to for analysis?
why would you touch something every day another guy has probably jizzed on several times to save $9???
and I wanted to see what kind of payload that usb had
in return for those blessed digits, I'll mail it to you just give me an address and tell me how you would do it safely. With all these scoundrels in the world, this is knowledge we need to pass on to our grandchildren.
you probably wouldn't mail to Canada would you user?
I've seen this before, OP. It's unlikely to be a virus, as those won't just output random stuff, but try to be actively malicious & stealthy. What you've got here is more likely case of a possessed keyboard. I assume you got it second hand, or bought it from a very mysterious looking salesperson.
Anyway, you can try to fix this yourself by sprinkling it with holy water and demanding the demon to return to the depths of hell, but you're better off getting a professional exorcist, because if you don't do it right the demon could attach itself to other peripherals like your mouse, printer, headphone, or maybe even your tv remote, alarm clock, or thermostat.
You may think about keeping it as a novelty, which is understandable, but this could potentially be very dangerous. It is probably a non issue in your case, but just in case: you need to make sure no female virgins ever get close to it.
Good luck!
i know this post was in jest, but seriously while the keyboard was fucking my shit up, the scroll wheel on my mouse stopped working! That's why I thought it was a virus of the peripheral persuasion. However, on replacement of the keyboard, it seems that the good news has spread unto the mouse, and all is well again in the eyes of our lord.
I haven't seen this pic in forever.
OP you're shit bait.
Nobody is this retarded.
>but I need to use this virus to do my work
herp derp no
I'm just glad everyone else decided to be helpful and solved my problem. You negative nancies can go eat bricks
>t. Pooloo didnt read the thread: the post
No problemo my friendo. I would run your PC in safe mode and try to see if the USB still works, maybe you can access it and figure out what the malware is and submit it to Goycrosoft or Malwarebytes