My keyboard is totally unresponsive and it can't even get to the boot menu or BIOS. It also doesn't work within Ubuntu running off the DVD. Obviously this suggests physical damage, however, I find it odd that my system stopped booting to Windows a day later, which suggests that something else is awry, maybe the SSD is failing, boot file is corrupted, or a virus is at play.
1) Is it just a coincidence that the kb stopped working a day before the system stopped booting?
2) Does Acer use some sort of proprietary software/firmware that controls the built-in keyboard outside of Windows which may have become corrupted?
Details as follows:
After waking the computer up the keyboard stopped responding. I had engaged in suspicious activity in the days prior this (PowerISO installed unwanted Avast, which I uninstalled but did not restart as it recommended, and I downloaded and installed an untrusted torrent file :-O ). Windows Defender never noticed anything even after being briefly disabled by Avast.
I spent half a day going through the usual steps to try to fix it: uninstalled driver, reinstalled driver, a couple of repair procedures for when Avast potentially wrecks a system, several dozen restarts, and trying a dozen times unsuccessfully to get to restore points (including from safe mode) only to be told the restore attempt failed probably because anti-virus software is blocking access to a file (according to Windows).
I was about to move on to try a full system recovery when the system suddenly only booted to the repair manager. The repair manager is unable to find any users, and therefore, without access to an admin account, it has no options other than restart.
However, I can still access my files from Ubuntu (running on the DVD) and they seem intact. Thankfully I will be able to recover all of that.
However, the keyboard doesn't work under any circumstances.
So, to reiterate:
1) Is the keyboard physically wrecked or does Acer use some software/firmware to control it that could be damaged and therefore repaired?
2) Would welcome any advice as to how to restore my boot manager to get back to Windows without ordering OEM recovery discs and reinstalling.
1) Is it just a coincidence that the kb stopped working a day before the system stopped booting?
2) Does Acer use some sort of proprietary software/firmware that controls the built-in keyboard outside of Windows which may have become corrupted?
Details as follows:
After waking the computer up the keyboard stopped responding. I had engaged in suspicious activity in the days prior this (PowerISO installed unwanted Avast, which I uninstalled but did not restart as it recommended, and I downloaded and installed an untrusted torrent file :-O ). Windows Defender never noticed anything even after being briefly disabled by Avast.
I spent half a day going through the usual steps to try to fix it: uninstalled driver, reinstalled driver, a couple of repair procedures for when Avast potentially wrecks a system, several dozen restarts, and trying a dozen times unsuccessfully to get to restore points (including from safe mode) only to be told the restore attempt failed probably because anti-virus software is blocking access to a file (according to Windows).
I was about to move on to try a full system recovery when the system suddenly only booted to the repair manager. The repair manager is unable to find any users, and therefore, without access to an admin account, it has no options other than restart.
However, I can still access my files from Ubuntu (running on the DVD) and they seem intact. Thankfully I will be able to recover all of that.
However, the keyboard doesn't work under any circumstances. So, to reiterate:
1) Is the keyboard physically wrecked or does Acer use some software/firmware to control it that could be damaged and therefore repaired?
2) Would welcome any advice as to how to restore my boot manager to get back to Windows without ordering OEM recovery discs and reinstalling.
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