[Madrag]

hello all,

This is really weird, today, my mac randomly beeps and at the same time, places the text +/= into the field or text of the active program (ex: if I'm in safari, it places that text in the google search, or if I'm in textEdit, it places it once)

This behaviour is random and I haven't found the source.

I'm starting to get mad, and so I'm dumping the system and restore it from my backup.

What I fear is that it may be a virus (although I scanned everything!) and even with a new system, the other partitions might infect the system one...

anyone heard of something like that?
is it a virus?

many thanks in advance!

[Laurence]

It is not a virus. It sounds like something is wrong with the keyboard or connection to the keyboard. Just to eliminate a software issue, create a new user and then REBOOT the computer. Hold down the shift key from the boot chime until you see the "welcome to macintosh" screen. It should say "Safe Boot" beneath the welcome. login as the new user and test in that account. If it continues there then there are two options. restore from backup or try a new/different keyboard.

[Madrag]

I'll try the safe boot and see what happens...

[Madrag]

I've logged as a different user, and after about 30 minutes of testing, everything is working, and no symptom at all of that damn "+/="...

I would like to asssume that it might be something with my account.

I'll trash it (i've got a nice pre-problem backup).
(I'll trash the entire system)

The problem now is that I'm having problems with diskUtility's restore function (I started another thread with het topic).

Hopefully a new system wiill sove this...

[Spheric Harlot]

My guess:

You are a laptop user who's switched on the num lock key (F6)?

This turns the right half of the keyboard into a numeric keypad (functions as per the small print in lower right-hand corner of the keys), while every other key is deactivated and merely beeps when you hit it.

A reinstall will not fix this "problem".

Simply hitting F6 again will, however.

(provided, of course, that this is actually your problem)

-s*

[Xeo]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
(provided, of course, that this is actually your problem)

I have my doubts about your theory. It is a rather odd key combination that has no easy way to accidentally hit with consistency.

It is an odd problem, indeed. Keep us posted.

[Madrag]

I found out the problem!

(actually, Laurence was right)
the keyboard has some kind of malfunction, and some keys get stuck (it turned to a less random behaviour and started doing it constantly...), and the keyboard couldn't be used at all.

I think this was related to humidity ;(

thanks a lot for all the replyes!

[direktor]

10 years ago, right after I had gotten my 7100/66, I had this weird thing going on where I'd leave any app open, and if there was a cursor/test field active, I'd return to the computer to find some weird sentence there. I can't remember the text exactly, but it was definitely strange.

Over time, it became more and more frequent, until the point it was happening while I was actually typing my own things!

I was convinced it was a virus, but then, just as now, there were extremely few real viruses on Mac OS. Eventually, through my new best buddy, the internet newsgroups, I found out that it was a prank pulled by the ROM in my new, cheap non-Apple keyboard. Apparently some programmer in Taiwan thought it would be funny.

That keyboard got destroyed by a skate deck soon thereafter.