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This is not a problem of mine, but of a friend who call me every time there is some trouble with his computers. I will visit him next weekend and need some good hints for the problem investigation.
His newest PC, a small cigar box thing, is between 1 and 2 years old, and should be quite modern. (Sorry, I don't have the brand or model at hand.) He is running Windows 10.
For a couple of days, the Start Menu has been popping up, and then disappearing, at irregular intervals of a few seconds, as if he were randomly hitting Ctrl-Esc every few seconds. Intervals are not fixed, neither between popups nor how long the menu is displayed. When it pops up, it steals the focus, making it impossible to get any work done. If he opens the Start Menu explicitly (by clicking the Windows icon), and it takes him a few seconds to find the right entry, the menu closes.
It sounds very much like a faulty keyboard. But the thing is that if he disconnects his wireless keyboard completely, by unplugging the dongle, the problem remains. The mouse uses the same dongle, and is disconnected as well. I strongly suspect a hardware fault within the cigar box, but I think it strange that a hardware fault has this single
effect and no other visible signs.
He has tried to do a complete reinstall of Windows 10; the problem remains.
In between the Start Menu popups and closes, he has managed to start Notepad to do some simple typing. There is no sign of "ghost characters" that he didn't type himself. There doesn't appear to be noise on the keyboard input line, unless there is some filtering of keyboard input to Notepad that isn't applied to the opening of the Start Menu.
When I visit him next weekend, what should I do to try to identify and isolate the problem?
(I am not a hardware man, so I have no fancy electronic test equipment!)
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But "malware" - is that a likely problem when the problem remains after a complete reinstall of Win10, completely recreating the directory structure? Where did the malware hide during the reinstall operation?
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In the MBR? In the EFI partition? In BIOS flash memory?
Virus writers have become extremely clever at hiding their stuff in all kinds of unexpected places. Booting the computer from a known good CD-ROM or thumb drive and running an anti-virus is the first thing I'd do.
Malwarebytes, Kaspersky, and others provide free scanners that boot from an external device. They are the first things that I would try.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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OK, I will check it when I visit my friend.
How is it: When you reinstall Windows with reformatting of the disk (as he says he did), isn't both MBR and EFI partition rewritten, so that any malware hiding there is wiped out?
BIOS flash is still a possibility.
Another question: I can understand the rationale behind ransomware, but why would a malware writer choose to generate this behavior as the only visible indication (and very much so!), no other sign of anything?
If this is meant as a pre-indication of a real ransom threat coming later, it is silly to make the PC impossible to use even before the 'real' threat has been presented - the victim wouldn't see it when he can't use his PC!
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trønderen wrote: but why would a malware writer choose to generate this behavior as the only visible indication (and very much so!), no other sign of anything?
Maybe just because they can? Maybe that's the whole point of the virus, to annoyingly launch the start menu, with no other ulterior motive. Just a digital "Kilroy was here" kind of thing?
Keep Calm and Carry On
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Certainly a possibility. If it is so, I guess that we will se more reports of the same.
(No malware writer develops such a virus for my friend's computer only!)
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Is it possible it is just his keyboard glitching on WindowsKey or something?
Is it a wireless keyboard (bluetooth)? Or is it wired?
Have friend try another keyboard.
Or, is it possible that there is suddenly a bluetooth keyboard in the vicinity that is somehow connecting to his computer?
Just some thoughts.
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raddevus wrote: Is it possible it is just his keyboard glitching on Windows Key or something?
This was my first thought ... maybe food or spilt drink on that key. Swap with a keyboard, where the problem does not exist, and see if it stops.
I once had a funky keyboard that was affected by the humidity ... It had a manufacturing defect, a hairline connection issue. When the weather was hot, the key stopped working intermittently, but was fine any other time.
Graeme
"I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks one time, but I fear the man that has practiced one kick ten thousand times!" - Bruce Lee
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My first thought as well. But the problem persists even when the keyboard is completely disconnected, by unplugging the keyboard/mouse wireless dongle. That rules out the keyboard as the culprit.
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Failing malware, try [manually] reinstalling the keyboard driver - delete the old one then install a new one. I had a Logitech keyboard driver go funny ... my game did unusual things when it shouldn't. Reinstalling the driver fixed it.
Last thought, it could be a connector/chip/circuit issue on the motherboard.
Graeme
"I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks one time, but I fear the man that has practiced one kick ten thousand times!" - Bruce Lee
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I have been thinking the same.
BUT: When you reformat the disk and reinstall Windows from scratch, I'd think that you get a new and fresh keyboard driver with the OS reinstallation.
I also suspect a connector/chip/circuit issue. That is why I had my friend open Notepad and start typing - I'd think that this kind of noise would appear in Notepad just as much as in the desktop input. But none such was observed.
I did tell my friend to grab the PC by its neck and shake it while telling it in a stern voice to start behaving. Of course this was said as a joke, but if there is a bad connection somewhere, a little shaking could both break the connection permanently, or cause it to settle down with better contact. I might try to give it a (not too violent) shake when I get there, to see if it has any effect on the issue. (It is a tiny cigar box thing, so it is perfectly possible to shake it, and it has a solid state M.2 disk - the only movable part is a fan.)
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All good analysis of the problem.
I remember way back in the day (building 386 systems) we installed a mainboard into a case.
Booted it up and it went crazy in Windows 3.0 and would then crash.
We took the mainboard out of the case, and placed it on the workdesk and booted up.
No problems.
Hmm...
Examine the mainboard. Oh, one of the circuits crossed into the standoff hole.
When the screw was tightened into the standoff on the mainboard it closed the circuit and caused undefined behavior.
Maybe something similar here. Especially since it is a cigar box.
Good luck. Hope to hear what you find.
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See if the problem persists even after a clean boot. Disable all startup programs. Use Sysinternals AutoRuns utility to find and disable everything that runs automatically when Windows starts and when the user logs in.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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It persists even after complete reinstall of Windows 10, with (quick) disk formatting.
I would think that any strange startup programs would be wiped out by that, but I will keep the tip in mind when I visit my friend, and check it.
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Try getting a Linux bootable thumb drive and booting from there? I don't know Linux, but does the Windows key trigger an equivalent to the start menu there? If so, and the problem persists, it would definitely seem to be hardware.
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You could try running a Linux from a thumb drive. You could then use xev (in an X environment) or showkey (from the command line) to see if any bogus keystrokes were being generated.
<°}}}>«<
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I doubt it is a virus.
The following google search returned the best collection of suggestions. And demonstrates it is not a unique problem.
"start menu" intermittently opens up
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You might also try:
1. running the DISM and SFC /scannow commands.
2. Sign in under a different username (or create a new user profile/account) and see if it happens with that account.
3. If the wireless keyboard and mouse use any software/special drivers, try uninstalling that.
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Another way to check whether it is a fake/broken keyboard problem can be use a "key logger" application.
A few (many) years ago I made an application that caught all keys pressed. It was an application to program a programmable keyboard. All pressed keys (with the exception of Ctrl+Alt+Del) were redirected to the application to allow programming of any key.
The application was of course reported by security application as keylogger. A Windows keyboard hook was used to remove the pressed key from processing and storing it in the sequence for programming.
It was (I think) in the time of Windows XP and it requested to allow the hook. (Needed for this purpose.) I do not know whether it will work on Windows 10 (with the hook).
Application[^], product support page[^]
Another way is to use Workrave[^] -> System tray: right click -> Statistics -> Activity.
This will report only key presses.
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My vote would be an out of date driver.
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I'm going with hardware because I've seen issues like this before and every single one of them was related to either the keyboard or mouse. If he's using a wireless keyboard I'd replace the batteries and/or switch to a wired keyboard.
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If all else fails, try to disable Cortana, or Cortana's access to the microphone.
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Do you think Da Vinci would have been more productive with CAD and Photshop?
I find myself doing things that seem harder than they were before. Sometimes, I think it's about getting old; then I remember I'm not using the same skills I used to: I'm using Visio and create 10 pages of diagrams and still feel unsatisfied.
I finally resort to pencil and paper away from the computer and ... success.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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I used to do drawing for my woodworking projects and kinda wing it with measurements, but I have TurboCAD and became fairly proficient at drawing so now I use it to do my woodworking projects. I akin it to typing as opposed to had writing, you can move thing around, change them, etc..
Makes life a lot easier.
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
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