Solved Weird problems persist despite clean reinstall.

[ArlisT]

I'm not sure if this is the proper forum for this, so if anyone knows a more appropriate one, let me know.

After a long time of weird little problems with my computer (Dell Optiplex 7010 Win 7 Pro), I finally broke down and did a clean reinstall, but a few of these weird little problems persist.

One: Several times a day I get 4 or 5 rapid fire pop up windows asking me if I want to turn on sticky keys. This can happen when my wireless keyboard is on the table by my sofa, and my hands nowhere near it, so it's not because I'm repeatedly pressing the shift key. I went in the Ease of Access control panel and unchecked all the Sticky Keys boxes, but the pop ups keep happening, and every time I restart the computer, Ease of Access has turned itself back on and starts reading itself to me as soon as I open the control panel, so I have to turn that off again and proceed to 'Make the keyboard easier to use', where all the sticky key preferences I clicked off are now clicked back on.

Two: When I'm browsing, and I click on a link, it automatically opens in a new window. It's not set to do that. Everything's normal, and then this will start out of nowhere. I sometimes right-click to open links in a new tab, but this is just straight up clicking on a link and it opens in a new window. Once that starts the only way to stop it is to restart the computer, but then it's just a matter of time before it starts again. I tried uninstalling Firefox, including settings and all, and did a clean reinstall, but the glitch persists.

Three: Sometimes I'll go to select a line of text to copy, and as soon as I click, the whole paragraph will be selected. I try to unselect by clicking on another spot, but then either that paragraph is added to the selection, or the first selection is unselected, but the paragraph by the new point will be selected instead. Also when this happens, my scroll wheel stops working, and I have to use the scroll bar instead. Again, once I restart the computer, these problems are fixed. Until the next time it happens, that is.

4: I'll be typing and when I hit a number or punctuation, I'll get the shifted symbol instead - that is, I'll try to type a 3, but I get #, or type an 8, but I'll get *, or I'll try and type a period, but get > . I tried pressing the shift key just to test, but whether I hold the shift key down or not, I get the symbol instead of the number or punctuation mark. Again, restarting fixes this, but today I had to restart the computer 3 times just to be able to enter my Win 7 activation key, because partway through I'd have to enter a number and just get a jarring *DING!* instead! I activated it first thing when I reinstalled 3 days ago, but today, when I opened the control panel, the computer informed me I entered the wrong activation code, so I had to activate it again.

Maybe it's gremlins. Anybody know an incantation? The ones I usually use when dealing with computer issues don't seem to be working. Or maybe I should just take a hammer to the damned thing.

 

[townsbg]

It sounds like an issue with your keyboard. Try a different one to troubleshoot. I'm suspecting stuck keys.

 

[ArlisT]

So, yeah. It was totally the keyboard and mouse.

Unplugged wireless keyboard and mouse and used a spare set from another computer for a few days, and magically, weird problems disappeared. Just took delivery on a new wireless illuminated keyboard and mouse today. All is well. Thanks for the help.

 

[townsbg]

It sounds like a few keys are stuck then. It could be gunk or something sticky. You might try to pry off the keys and see if you can clean them but why bother if you got a new one, unless you want a spare. Less likely is a keyboard malfunction but I don't think that's the case.