Insertion point has run amok

[Guest]

Recently the flashing insertion point that appears in text boxes, etc., has
developed an intermittent habit on my PC of taking off on its own and
randomly generating a string of one number, usually the number "8," as if I
were holding down the 8 key. It does this in web pages, in Word, even in
Internet Explorer's address bar. It usually does it as soon as a web page
appears, but may wait awhile. In Word this evening it took off when I had my
back turned for a minute and printed several lines of 4s in a document. I can
stop it by hitting Escape, or Delete, or other keys. I don't think it has
anything to do with my keyboard. It just acts like a gremlin in my PC.
I have a healthy, fairly new PC with top-quality components and a recent,
updated installation of Windows XP. The firewall is in place, and virus and
spyware scans turn up nothing.
Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Noozer]

Recently the flashing insertion point that appears in text boxes, etc.,
has
developed an intermittent habit on my PC of taking off on its own and
randomly generating a string of one number, usually the number "8," as if
I
were holding down the 8 key. It does this in web pages, in Word, even in
Internet Explorer's address bar. It usually does it as soon as a web page
appears, but may wait awhile. In Word this evening it took off when I had
my
back turned for a minute and printed several lines of 4s in a document. I
can
stop it by hitting Escape, or Delete, or other keys. I don't think it has
anything to do with my keyboard. It just acts like a gremlin in my PC.
I have a healthy, fairly new PC with top-quality components and a recent,
updated installation of Windows XP. The firewall is in place, and virus
and
spyware scans turn up nothing.

Unplug your microphone. You probably have the voice recognition enabled.

 

[Guest]

Hi, Noozer. I've never had a microphone plugged in.
Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Recently the flashing insertion point that appears in text boxes, etc.,

has
developed an intermittent habit on my PC of taking off on its own and
randomly generating a string of one number, usually the number "8," as if
I
were holding down the 8 key. It does this in web pages, in Word, even in
Internet Explorer's address bar. It usually does it as soon as a web page
appears, but may wait awhile. In Word this evening it took off when I had
my
back turned for a minute and printed several lines of 4s in a document. I
can
stop it by hitting Escape, or Delete, or other keys. I don't think it has
anything to do with my keyboard. It just acts like a gremlin in my PC.
I have a healthy, fairly new PC with top-quality components and a recent,
updated installation of Windows XP. The firewall is in place, and virus
and
spyware scans turn up nothing.

A few thoughts:

1. Are you using a wireless kb or mouse? If so, you might be picking up
spurious radio signals from somewhere.

2. Have you tried replacing the kb and/or mouse, just to see if the problem
goes away? Either borrow one from another computer, or buy a cheap one (you
can get kb's and mice (mouses?) for $5-$10 each many places.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

No, Michael, no wireless keyboard or mouse. Just typical old-fashioned corded
ones I've been using without problems for a long time.
If I were superstitious and silly, I'd say there's a ghost in the machine,
but I'm not, so I won't say that.
Thanks

 

[HeyBub]

No, Michael, no wireless keyboard or mouse. Just typical old-fashioned
corded
ones I've been using without problems for a long time.
If I were superstitious and silly, I'd say there's a ghost in the machine,
but I'm not, so I won't say that.
Thanks

Keyboards, like floppy drives, are commodity items (made from old beer cans,
rubber bands, and mayonnaise that's gone bad). Try another. Newer keyboards
also have more buttons to make your life easier (calculator, E-mail,
massage, etc.).

They're only ten bucks. It's also prudent to have a spare or two to recover
from the inevitable Coke or coffee spill.

 

[Guest]

That crossed my mind, too. It doesn't seem logical to me that a keyboard
would occasionally, spontaneously generate only numbers and nothing else, but
what do I know? I may look into swapping in a new one just to be sure.

Have you or anyone you know of ever heard of this problem before? This is
weird.
Thanks,

 

[Guest]

That crossed my mind, too. It doesn't seem logical to me that a keyboard
would occasionally, spontaneously generate only numbers and nothing else, but
what do I know? I may look into swapping in a new one just to be sure.

Have you or anyone you know of ever heard of this problem before? This is
weird.

Actually, that's a fairly common failure mode (although I've seen it MUCH
more often with the Alt and Shift keys). Some bit of detritus gets stuck in
the key, and periodically short out the contacts causing the keyboard to
transmit that keystroke. Turning the keyboard upsidedown and shaking it
(vigorously), and/or blowing it clean with a can of compressed air may
eliminate the problem. But buying (or borrowing) a new keyboard will help you
verify that the problem is the keyboard itself.

 

[Guest]

Yes, but it isn't always the "8" key. About 5--10% of the time it'll print 4s
(it did just now in a Google search text box), and I believe I've seen 3s at
least once.

My Intel D915GEV mainboard doesn't normally give a POST beep, but lately
it's been doing that sometimes (like a few minutes ago), and I think this
insertion-point problem often (always?) occurs after that. It sounds like a
normal, happy boot-up beep, but seems to be telling me there's a problem. I
wonder if I should reinstall the BIOS. Intel has a system that seems to make
this a fairly safe procedure.

 

[Guest]

OK, I figured it out. The little bit of electronics in the keyboard finally
gave up and about half the keys suddenly stopped working. The key contacts
were OK.
I have to laugh. I picked up a $5 keyboard from Fry's to tide me over until
I can get the one I really want. It's actually not too bad.